Trackpad Stuck on Drag

Realbrick: I forgot to mention that I did try using the computer without the battery (just running off the wall charger). It didn't help. My battery is getting old so I thought it might be the source of the problem. I'd been using my computer with it plugged in for a couple of months and that seemed to keep the problem at bay for awhile, but the issue came back. That's when I tried using the computer and just running off the wall charger. But since the problem still occurred without my battery plugged in I don't think my battery can be blamed.

Restarting never seems to help the issue for me. The problem just fixes itself whenever it wants to. There must be something happening to fix the issue but I cannot for the life of me pinpoint what it is.

The problem has gone away again but this last time it was around for longer than ever before. Previously it would happen for a few hours or a day. This last time it was at least a week. I'm glad I'm not experiencing the issue now, but would really like to find a solution because I'm guessing I'll have the problem again.

I'd like to add some merit to the post above:
I've yanked out my battery while I was Drag-Locked, and the problem still persisted. Thus, the battery is probably not putting damaging amounts of pressure on the trackpad... otherwise removing the battery would fix it...

Unless the battery already permanently deformed the trackpad itself.. which would be unfortunate. And poor engineering on Apple's part.

But seeing as my Mac CLEARLY registers clicks when drag-locked, the clicker/button is perfectly functional... I'm leaning towards a software-based glitch for this problem.

This is clearly a software issue, and the cause of it was the trackpad update from a little over a month ago. Come on Apple, we already know what the cause is. It shouldn't be that difficult to fix. At least give us a way to rollback that update without reinstalling the entire OS.

This (to me) is obviously a software *+not hardware+* problem, as I encounter this bug even when using my Intuos 4 mouse, not the Magic Trackpad.

WORKAROUND: Until Apple gets their act together, this should work for Magic Trackpad owners. Take the batteries out of the Magic Trackpad. This will release the locked situation. Put the batteries back in, you're good to go until the next time this annoying bug manifests itself.

While merely a workaround, IMO this method beats the heck out of force-restarting my Mac. HTH.

Just tap and drag down with one finger, that should start it and stop it, come to think of it, it's a pretty cool feature, but a friggin annoyance when you've got no idea what's going on. I was bashing my keyboard esc esc esc and two finger clicking my trackpad, and nothing.

lightly tap immediately follow by a drag, that should start your problem, do it again and it should go away.

Have a nice day!

i've only tried this once and it worked: open up the Trackpad preferences and uncheck the "Dragging" checkbox and then recheck it. You might need to do it two or three times to make it work (i had to do it twice). hopefullly it'll work again next time.

The "fixes" cited repeatedly throughout this thread seem to reflect an old joke: "I can quit smoking anytime I want to. In fact, I've quit smoking seven times already this year."

Some tweaks seemed to work occasionally, and temporarily, for some of us. But if the problem recurs, whatever you did was NOT a "fix." If it doesn't work the first time for a solid majority of users, it's DEFINITELY not a fix — just a coincidence, judging from the substantial weight of the evidence in this thread alone.

FTR, I haven't had the problem much over the last few weeks. Maybe once or twice.

I think you haven't had the problem because the heat wave has passed. Where do you live? My trackpad was replaced, coincidentally, just as the worst of summer's heat broke, and I haven't had the problem again, but I don't think it's because of the new trackpad. I'm also pretty sure it's not totally software related as one can replicate it OUTSIDE of the OS. Some freaky, unfortunate combination? I dunno.

janemilliman wrote:
I think you haven't had the problem because the heat wave has passed... Some freaky, unfortunate combination? I dunno.

I'm no engineer, so I can't speak knowledgeably to the technical aspects here. Casually I do know that said heat wave is a very relative thing. I'm in Miami, with temps still in the 80's. Not scorching, not the triple-digits reported a few days ago in some cities, but still nothing to shrug off.

Maybe it could make a difference — but I'm almost always inside an air-conditioned building when I use my Mac. When I go from one place to another, it's in an air-conditioned car. And my MBP usually lies concealed in a nicely-insulated carrying bag that prevents it from undergoing any significant temperature change anyhow.

It might seem fair enough to go with the "freaky, unfortunate combination," EXCEPT for the fact that (to the best of my knowledge), this has emerged only in the last few months — and with no previous trackpads, presumably of comparable materials and construction — and with comparable variations in heat, humidity, etc. IMHO, that still seems to point toward software (update) and/or hardware.

Same problem here.
The right-click with a double-finger tap did the trick for me (this time). I hope this double-finger tap (right click) will work all the times to unstuck this left-click.
I am amazed how Apple is lazy in fixing issues like these, where people are complaining since a long time.

I have an early '09 MB and i'm having the same thing happening almost everyday, it's just SO frustrating, i really thought it was only my macbook, (maybe dirt got stuck down there or something) i even bought applecare just so that i could bring it to a mac store, dumb me.

I hate it when this happens, it doesn't seem to care to anyone except us.

As Defconmike and several others have stated, this is a feature that is enabled by default. However, when you don't know it's a feature, it seems like it's a bug. When this happens, tap the trackpad once and immediately swipe. That's the way you activate it in the first place. To view an example, go to System Preferences -> Trackpad, and hover over One Finger -> Dragging and One Finger -> Drag Lock. You'll see a video on the side demonstrating this (I think the video is a tad slower, action wise, than what you need to be to dis/en-able the function.

Having said that, I haven't yet paid attention to what I've done to activate it when I don't want it activated. Whether it is activating randomly or I'm moving fast enough that the system interprets my actions as Drag Lock activation. I also haven't yet tried operating without Drag Lock enabled to see if it activates without me explicitly wanting it activated.

"It's not a bug, it's a feature." lmao

I have the same problem as everyone else. I know for a fact that is NOT a hardware issue because I have taken mine to my local Apple store and had my trackpad replaced and still have the same issue. Hopefully this gets fixed soon because I'm sick of having to restart my computer!

I have the same problem and it occurs regularly.

I have found an easy solution, besides from restarting (not an option for me).

What I do is do several double-finger taps (tap with your fingers in a vertical position) across the trackpad, from right to left.

That does the trick for me, every time. Weird solution, but it works.