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How to force a reset on Magic Trackpad

Hi,

I have owned a Magic Trackpad for a few months and it works great. I left for vacation and I left it in a shared project room at work and somebody else paired the device while I wasn't here (somehow). This person is in a different state and now that I tried to use it, it has his name in it and although I am able to pair it, only cursor movements work (and they are sort of erratic) and the multi touch gestures do not work at all. I've searched the forums and nobody seems to have had this problem before. Any ideas on how to reset the Magic Trackpad to its factory settings so that I may pair it again. What is interesting is how that person was able to pair the device when it was already paired to my MacBook Pro and now I can't do the same thing. I've tried removing the device, changing the name, updating the services, etc. through the Bluetooth preferences pane. I feel like I need a hardware or low-level solution.

MacBook Pro 15'' Unibody (2009)
Snow Leopard

Thanks in advance!

MacBook Pro Unibody 15'', Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Jan 14, 2011 7:20 AM

Best reply

Steven Arnold

Level 1

4 points

Posted on Jun 28, 2017 12:16 AM

Here's the real answer. First, turn the trackpad off. Do this by holding down the power button for five seconds; watch the light turn green, then turn off. If the green light starts flashing, then let up on the power for a second, then hold again until it turns off.

Then press the power button again and continue until the green light starts blinking -- and CONTINUE to hold the power button, causing the green light to continue to flash. Meanwhile, go to the Bluetooth preference pane (hopefully you already did this), and observe the new device appear in the panel. Click "Pair". You should be continuously holding the power button on the trackpad during this process.

Once the dialog indicates the device is paired, you can let up.

View in context

34 replies

Nov 2, 2012 7:34 PM in response to coqui_pregunton

Has anyone noticed today that you CANNOT purchase the Magic TrackPad ?????????????

Sajolin

Level 1

0 points

Dec 28, 2012 9:33 AM in response to coqui_pregunton

Its easier. I had the same problem and solved from bluetooth preference panel. Just select the trackpad from the list and click on the little gear and chose rename and thats all.

beiside

Level 1

0 points

Dec 31, 2012 12:01 PM in response to jawkat

Thanks a lot! Your solution worked for me as well, I was adding my trackpad again by clicking on the Trackpad icon in system preferences.

Jan 29, 2013 4:38 AM in response to kyle.cottle

This worked for me as well. I turned off the trackpad, held the button down, and once it started blinking I paired it to my MBP. Scott Rose is right; I kept the On/Off button held in the entire time that I paired the device and it worked. Thanks, kyle.cottle!

sydlow

Level 2

477 points

Feb 17, 2013 9:31 PM in response to Scott Rose

Scott Rose wrote:

...

2. Hold down the power button on the Magic Trackpad for another 5 seconds until the light starts flashing... BUT KEEP THE BUTTON HELD DOWN WHILE YOU TRY TO ADD IT TO YOUR NEW MAC. The act of you keeping the button held down will prevent the Magic Trackpad from falling back on communicating with the previous Mac.

Scott is spot on - thanks!

Mar 14, 2013 12:19 PM in response to coqui_pregunton

I was having this same issue. Computer would see the magic trackpad in the bluetooth settings but wouldn't find it in the trackpad settings, thereby not allowing multitouch gestures and occasionally screwing up basic functions. I also noticed that it wouldn't let me change the name either. I thought this was odd and might be related.

Turns out my whole problem was having USB overdrive installed. When I upgraded this computer to Snow Leopard, I had installed usb overdrive to help integrate my very old but still useful Kensington Expert Mouse Pro. I think in the end I didn't end up using USB overdrive but it wasn't harming anything so I left it there. In another forum, I found mention of USB overdrive being a problem with the trackpad. I uninstalled it, rebooted and followed the orginal instructions and now the trackpad works flawlessly.

so if this is still an issue for OP, do you have usb overdrive or any other 3rd party input managers installed in the system prefs? if so, get rid of them and see if this fixes the problem

Good luck!

Jul 4, 2013 10:48 AM in response to kyle.cottle

Yup, holding the button down through the entire pairing definitely worked.

Jul 5, 2013 5:35 PM in response to Scott Rose

Thanks, Scott -- I was letting the button go after seeing the fast blinks. Holding it down was what got me over the hurdle!

Apr 21, 2014 9:24 AM in response to Scott Rose

Holding the power button while trying to pair worked for me as well on 10.8.5 iMac and bluetooth setup assistant

Broido

Level 1

0 points

Apr 28, 2014 4:58 AM in response to Scott Rose

This is IT.

Thank you so much!

igorm

Level 1

4 points

May 10, 2014 4:45 AM in response to Scott Rose

This should be written on the back of the trackpad ....

May 18, 2014 7:09 PM in response to Scott Rose

Worked perfectly (Snow Leopard & separately Mavericks). Thanks Heaps - Matt

matsvm

Level 1

10 points

Jun 3, 2014 3:01 AM in response to WillSandalls

Thanks for this reply!

I won't never had figured out, usb overdrive was the problem!

Jul 22, 2014 1:12 AM in response to coqui_pregunton

Hi all, I meet same issue, but none of the answers in this thread is helped me.
Anyways I find out what if you using Wireless Keyboard and Magic Trackpad both of them can get into interference, or one of them can make much radio noise and cause invisibility of other.

First of all turn off both devices (hold down power button about 3-5 seconds until flash light is turned off).

Then remove both devices from bluetooth devices manager

Turn on device (wireless keyboard or magic trackpad) and hold down power button until it starts flashing - on this step continue holding power button

Go to bluetooth device manager your device should be already there - click on pair and continue holding power button until pairing is complete

Repeat same steps for second device if needed.

ab_ba

Level 1

8 points

Sep 8, 2014 7:46 PM in response to coqui_pregunton

If your trackpad is paired with another computer nearby, when that computer is on, the trackpad will not pair with your new computer. But it will pair when that computer is off. This is totally obvious in hindsight, but it's been tripping me up for the past month. Sometimes the trackpad would pair with my new computer, sometimes not. I had moved my old laptop downstairs to be our media server when I upgraded my laptop. I didn't notice till I was screen sharing with it that the trackpad was still paired with it. I deleted the trackpad from bluetooth on the old computer, and it's working fine now with the new computer. I do wish that this would pop up an error message.

How to force a reset on Magic Trackpad