Q: Magic Trackpad Erratic Movement

I'm having the exact same problem. It worked great last night, now it's unusable. Cursor won't move or moves too far, move up the screen on a tap, won't recognize taps, but taps on it's own during scrolling.

I've been using a trackpad on my unibody MBP every day for over a year, so I know how it works. And, the Magic Trackpad worked fine last night. I love the trackpads on the unibodies and that's why I got this one.

When I finally realized it wasn't me using it wrong (by checking the one on the laptop - which worked fine), I tried checking the Bluetooth connection. It couldn't find the trackpad. Said no devices present. So I turned it off and the "Trackpad is Off" symbol (with the picture of the Magic Trackpad) came on the middle of the screen. The trackpad that it couldn't find for the last few minutes. When I turned it back on, the laptop immeditatly found the Magic Trackpad, but it still wouldn't work right.

And yes, I have installed the Magic TP update. My bluetooth mouse works fine and I've had it turned off when using the Magic Trackpad. I only turned it back on because the Magic TP was so erratic I couldn't even get to this forum without using the TP on the laptop or a mouse.

Turn off the mouse. Solved the problem for me! Hope this helps. MFD

My bluetooth mouse was off when the Magic TP was on. No other bluetooth devices within 50'. In the past I've used 3 brands of bluetooth mice in this same location with no problem. I only turned the mouse back on when I had to give up on the Magic TP. I've rebooted, powered the trackpad on and off, repaired permissions, etc. Seriously, it's the Magic TP.

Same problem - and it is super annoying. Once the erratic cursor movement starts, it is very difficult to get back to normal cursor movement. I have found that I can sometimes re-establish normal behaviour by switching my magic mouse on, getting my cursor back and then continuing with the trackpad. Having the magic mouse on at the same time as the trackpad does not cause the erratic behaviour to start, as far as I can tell. I do not have the same erratic behaviour with my magic mouse, so I am assuming it is a solvable problem, and not some outside interference. At the moment I think the trackpad is unusable... Pity because for the couple of days after I first installed it when I did not have the problem I really started to enjoy using it, and was thinking of giving my magic mouse a rest.

I just had this happen to me this morning. Trackpad was working great then all of the sudden it started clicking all over the place and moving around the screen. I powered off the trackpad and powered it on but it wouldn't reconnect (nor would my magic mouse, which had been off). I had to put the mac to sleep and when it came back, the trackpad reconnected and is currently working. I love it, I hope this doesn't become a constant problem.

Count me in on this. My motor skills are just fine, and sometimes gestures are accepted, sometimes no; sometimes clicks take, sometimes no; and, of course, the cursor does what it wants. Maybe if Apple sees enough posts, we'll have critical mass and something will come of this.

Me also. Bought the Magic Trackpad the day it came out. It worked fine for a couple of hours and then became very random. Sometimes the gestures worked and sometimes they did not. I do not have USBOverdrive installed (seems this piece of software is an issue, as reported on another thread) and my other bluetooth devices all work fine. It does seem to be a software problem, but I can't pin point the exact issue. I hope Apple to resolve this with a software update soon, because when it does work, it is a joy to use.

Same here. Apple should correct it ASAP. I don't understand why they let it out when it's not properly tested and without defects. They must have known about it like with the signal and antenna on the iPhone 4. BTW, my magic mouse suffered of the same problem.

Milan

For some strange voodoo I managed to get mine working. I read somewhere here about erratic cursor movement due to a second monitor, so I unplugged mine, removed Magic Trackpad from Bluetooth, used the Trackpad preference pane to add it back, and it works! Then I plugged my second monitor back in and it still works! I hope this survives a restart. And I hope this helps someone else out there.

For me, turning off my iPhone solved it. Calling Apple now, need a better solution. Probably the bluetooth in the phone conflicting.

I'm seeing the same thing here. It's driving me nuts. I have two Magic Trackpads.

I think it's actually the Wifi. I forced my MacBook Pro to start using 5Ghz vs 2.4Ghz at home and my trackpad there stopped acting up. Unfortunately at the office we have various devices that only support 2.4Ghz, so I can't disable it there. Though my Mac Pro at the office is wired, I'm assuming other wifi traffic is interfering.

What tipped me off was noticing the exact issue you are all describing when Time Machine was backing up at home or when I was downloading something. Since I've switched to 5GHZ (802.11n), I haven't seen the issue at home.

Someone else should try!

Mine worked like a charm for a week. I put in the new Apple batteries that came today, and after 2 hours, the trackpad is drunk! Shut this and that off, and will try again.


After a restart, it works again. My magic mouse acts drunk when my Motorola V3 is syncing, but it's off at the moment, and the trackpad was still on goofballs.

Message was edited by: FP_iMacAddict!

Wow....same issue here. I just bought a Mac and I have to deal with this magic trackpad issue. I just called Apple and they have NO SOLUTION. Funny....my fix was moving my DECT 6.0 phone away from the trackpad and it would work fine. But the again...if I move to other parts of my living room, the CRAZY PAD starts moving by itself. I have a Airport Extreme and Iphone 4 in the same room, so who knows what is really causing this problem. A shame....really.