Just bought and installed Magic Trackpad on my iMac. Paired the trackpad, installed the software with Software Update. But then the cursor movement has been erratic. The cursor jumps on the screen randomly and "taps" itself. Fortunately I can still use my Magic Mouse so I have to disconnect the trackpad.
Anyone with a similar experience? Any solution?
Unibody MacBook Pro 2.53GHz/iMac Core2Duo 2.66GHz/iPhone 3Gs 32GB,
Mac OS X (10.6.4)
One other thing to consider is to make sure nothing else is touching your magic trackpad, especially the Lightning cable that's used to occasionally charge it (or some may keep it permanently connected). I had a jumpy cursor suddenly and I couldn't figure out what it was until I noticed that part of the cord was very slightly touching the upper corner of the trackpad. Once I moved it out of the way, suddenly the cursor was behaving normally again. Just something else to consider for folks.
I didn't have this problem, and now I do. It doesn't seem to be an issue in the bedroom where the dual-band Technicolor router lives, but if I take my late 2012 Mac mini into the living room and hook it up to the TV, then it turns to crap. I don't have any other input devices that really work in this situation. There's no place to use a mouse as we have a glass table in there. It's insanely frustrating.
I've tried it all. Taken my phone out of the room. I've turned off WiFi on the smart TV. I've re-paired the trackpad. I've cycled BT off and back on and that seems to be so far the only reliable way to fix it for any amount of time. It really is a Class A PITA. Especially since I love using the Magic Trackpad so much. If I could afford one of the new ones, I'd get one since at least then I have the option of a USB connection when things get dicey.
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.
Like Peterm7, I tried turning off the Magic Mouse as well but it doesn't work.
In fact I remember when I used the Mighty Mouse in my office years ago I had the same problem. I think it has something to do with signal interference. Hope Apple releases an update to fix this problem soon.
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.
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.
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.
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.
