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Level 1

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Cursor moves by itself while I'm typing

Every so often, the cursor will jump to a different part of the screen, while I'm typing. My wrists are nowhere near the trackpad when the cursor jumps (just my fingers touching the keys). I'll be typing something and when I look up, the cursor has moved and I'm typing over something I previously wrote.

I'm so frustrated with this issue and I haven't found a solution online. I purchased my MacBook Pro in June 2009 and started to notice this quirk in September. I haven't banged up or spilled anything on it. Does this happen to anyone else? Any ideas before I make an appointment with Apple? It would save me a 40 minute trip in the car with 4 kids.

Thanks so much.

Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Feb 2, 2010 2:16 PM

29 replies

Feb 11, 2010 6:46 AM in response to trhastings

Update: Interestingly enough, I turned off bluetooth and surprise, surprise - the problem stopped. I do have a bluetooth mouse in the house (pun intended). I suspect it is sitting somewhere, not eating cheese but trying to talk to my MBP. Hmm... time to put that mouse to sleep !!

Macalima Author

Level 1

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Feb 11, 2010 6:36 PM in response to trhastings

trhastings, you are funny.

I've had bluetooth turned off since day one because it drains the battery a lot faster. I don't use a mouse, either.

I'm going to get the problem checked out tomorrow morning. I'll update then.

Rod Hagen

Level 7

32,000 points

Feb 11, 2010 11:01 PM in response to trhastings

Hi tr,

If your Mac is still under warranty I'd be inclined to get it checked out . Certainly there are some cases where accidental contact may be involved, but in others it can require serious, and expensive, hardware replacement.

Cheers

Rod

Macalima Author

Level 1

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Feb 12, 2010 11:54 AM in response to Rod Hagen

The trackpad is going to be replaced. I should have it back tomorrow. Hopefully this is the solution. Fingers crossed.

Macalima Author

Level 1

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Feb 16, 2010 7:25 AM in response to Macalima

Oh good grief! I think it's a Firefox issue. It's happened twice since I got the trackpad replaced. I'm off to research this and in the interim, will go back to Safari.

Rob125

Level 1

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Mar 15, 2010 5:00 PM in response to Macalima

Macalima: You're not crazy.

I've seen this issue crop up in the last 20 days in my MBP5,5, which I bought in August 2009. Have no idea what it is, but it has an uncanny ability to completely screw me up at the worst possible time.

Mine is intermittent, but irritating as heck, and there's no way I could get mine replaced under warranty—I replaced my own hard-drive the second day that I had my MBP. (Warranty null and void, can you say?)

If you find out something, please, please, let me know. This is absolutely infuriating when I'm coding.

jamojamo

Level 1

10 points

Mar 16, 2010 2:03 PM in response to Rob125

Rob125,
Replacing your hard drive doesn't void your warranty as long as you didn't damage something when you replaced the drive. Memory and Hard Drive are user replaceable parts.

Daz1971

Level 1

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Apr 3, 2010 3:36 AM in response to Macalima

I have an iMac and the cursor is getting worse, whenever I move the mouse to where I want it, it jumps to the top or bottom of the screen, very annoying

Jun 24, 2010 5:45 PM in response to Daz1971

This problem has just shown up on my Macbook Pro (bought back in March). I saw the problem once or twice before, but rebooting worked (or seemed to). Today, though, not so much. And I don't have to be near the computer at all for the mouse to move, menus to pop up, etc.

I don't know which is more infuriating -- the mouse moving by itself, or the mouse not moving when I move my finger on the trackpad.

The person who had the trackpad replaced -- did that fix the problem, or is it still there? This is truly annoying!!

Thanks -- any information really appreciated, either in e-mail or as posted to the forum.

Jun 25, 2010 7:49 AM in response to royturner

Just spoke to Apple about the problem (phone support, the "Apple Expert"). He had me try a reset that hasn't yet been mentioned here, I don't think. Don't know yet if it worked, but here it is:
o Shut down the computer
o Hold down the shift, control, and option keys, and "tap" the power button -- not enough to turn
on the machine.
o Wait about a minute.
o Boot normally.

Supposedly, this is a more thorough reset than the one (P-R) mentioned in this thread.

He said if this didn't fix the problem, I need to take the computer to be serviced -- probably a trackpad problem. Definitely covered under the hardware warranty.

Hope this helps.

Jul 4, 2010 9:49 AM in response to trhastings

Hey! This post really helped...I was facing the same problem and when I switched the bluetooth off this problem vanished too...and I do have a BT travel mouse in my office bag...the bugger mouse does not even turn off if you don't remove its battery....Thanks a lot:)

Sep 17, 2010 5:05 PM in response to Macalima

Rod Hagen
wrote:
Mmm, before you start hanging from the ceiling here are a couple of other thoughts.

The track pads in these machines rely "capacitance coupling" to work out what is required of them. Various things can interfere with this process. Some are very simple - dirty fingers, a dirty trackpad, a powerful electrical device in close proximity (sticking your MBP next to the microwave probably isn't a good idea) , etc etc.

Others are maybe less obvious. Some people have found, for example, that the problem will occur only when using the mains adaptor, or only on battery, or only on the mains adaptor when using the two pin "duckhead plug" rather than the three pronged, and properly earthed, cord to attach it to the mains (the body of an MBP can actually carry a current itself at least in in some situations). Sometimes people find that by using an earthed cord AND earthing themselves (not wearing insulating shoes, for example) can affect it.

Jewellery is sometimes claimed to have an effect, too. Big chunky metal bracelets might not be good things to be wearing while surfing the net, but even rings and pendants have been implicated in some situations(though often the claims I've seen are anecdotal and not very clearly made)

A few people also indicate that a PRAM reset has fixed the problem for them.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10330102-263.html has some similar observations and suggestions

Others, however, have had to have the upper case and trackpad replaced under warranty to resolve the issue.

So don't give up and imagine you have to emulate a circus avc performer whenever you want to do a bit of typing! If the suggestions above don't resolve it, then take it in to Apple before your warranty runs out.

Cheers

Rod

Thanks for your explanation! I got more deep understanding about this part.

Dec 5, 2010 4:21 PM in response to Barbara.Kelly

My cursor took on a personality of its own recently...randomly appearing in previously keyed text (could be email, facebook, anything involving keying text)...inserting what I'm keying in previously keyed text...replacing previously keyed text. I was about to talk a sledge hammer to this macbook or to myself. Went to genius bar today...the tech went to System Preferences, click on trackpad icon and uncheck the "clicking" option. All seems to be right with world now!

Dec 5, 2010 5:26 PM in response to Macalima

Same thing happens to me on my Macbook Pro, but I don't know why.

Cursor moves by itself while I'm typing