Problems with wacom Tablet

Question

Level 1

24 points

Problems with wacom Tablet

Just recently I have found the mouse and pen on my oldish Wacom are very jittery when my laptop is plugged into my 24 LED monitor, I have tried all the variations of disconnecting the 3 leads and none solve the problem. If I unplug them all and use the wacom direct via USB with laptop it works fine, even if in close proximity to the monitor, I think it is fair to say there must be some kind of fluctuation in the supply of power etc that come from the monitor. needless to say it is almost impossible to make adjustments in either Aperture of Photoshop with this very erratic behaviour.

Any ideas?

2.6GHZ MacBook pro 13.3, Mac OS X (10.6.6), 8gb ram, 500 Gb 7,200 rpm hardrive (custom job)

Posted on Jan 21, 2011 1:02 PM

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Answer 1

BSteely

Level 5

7,643 points

Jan 23, 2011 6:55 AM in response to leex

Likely it is airborne interference from the monitor, which is referred to generically as EMI (electromagnetic interference). That's not going to be easy to fix except by, as you have noticed, proximity.

Can your workspace be rearranged in a manner suitable to you where the two are farther apart? How far does the Wacom have to be moved before it settles down?

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Answer 2

leex Author

Level 1

24 points

Jan 23, 2011 8:11 AM in response to BSteely

Hi thanks for the response.

I am not sure this is the problem because if I disconnect the monitor and leave every thing in its place (and the monitor is still in effect turned on) the movement stops. Also the wacom tablet does have a long cable and this combined with the distance of the laptop from the monitor can be about 8 foot from the screen which would seem rather a long distance to suffer interference no?

As I said this problem started recently, I have been using this combination for at least a year.

I am wondering if something may have occurred with the latest system up date, maybe a power management issue?

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Answer 3

BSteely

Level 5

7,643 points

Jan 23, 2011 8:24 AM in response to leex

Are there other USB devices plugged into the hub ports on the monitor? If so, does unplugging them help with the problem?

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Answer 4

leex Author

Level 1

24 points

Jan 23, 2011 8:50 AM in response to BSteely

Wow very prompt!

Ok, trust me when i say i have tried every combination of turning off, unplugging all other electrical devices in the room, disconnecting all USB etc and trying different combinations connected, the only common denominator is if any one of the 3 cables from the monitor is connected to the laptop (power, usb and video) then the jitters start, it is impossible to use for delicate work on photos and problematic just using in the finder etc (oh and I have tried quitting all programmes etc).

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Answer 5

BSteely

Level 5

7,643 points

Jan 23, 2011 9:01 AM in response to leex

I see. Maybe you are correct about a power problem. Try this; go ahead and plug the three cables back into the laptop, e.g. MagSafe, USB and Mini DisplayPort, but then unplug the monitor from the wall outlet. Does the problem go away in that case?

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Answer 6

NullUnit

Level 1

114 points

Jan 23, 2011 2:25 PM in response to leex

Is your WACOM driver up to date?

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Answer 7

leex Author

Level 1

24 points

Jan 23, 2011 2:34 PM in response to NullUnit

yep i tried that.

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Answer 8

leex Author

Level 1

24 points

Jan 24, 2011 4:05 AM in response to leex

This morning I started to use the tablet and it seems the jitters have disappeared, there is nothing different in my set up etc so I am a bit foxed, i wonder if something might interfere with the monitor and this is transmitted to the laptop via the various connections, the wall here are quite thin so maybe something in the neighbours apt perhaps? Anyway I will post any updates that are worth mentioning.

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Answer 9

leex Author

Level 1

24 points

Jan 24, 2011 4:42 AM in response to leex

Maybe spoke too soon the jitter have returned after maybe an hours use... This is very frustrating.

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Answer 10

BSteely

Level 5

7,643 points

Jan 24, 2011 6:25 PM in response to leex

Did you try leaving all the cords connected between the monitor and laptop but unplugging the monitor from the wall? Just curious if that helps.

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Answer 11

leex Author

Level 1

24 points

Jan 25, 2011 2:19 AM in response to BSteely

Hi, Hmmm, not sure i tried that (I have unplugged it, but maybe disconnected it as well). At the moment it seems to have abated somewhat, yesterday it was working ok for a while then the problem returned, so I decided to unplug all the cords and let it sleep whilst I was out, when i got back the tablet was back to normal, I will be using it today so if the problem starts up I try what you suggest.

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Answer 12

Mar 20, 2011 3:46 PM in response to leex

Hey Leex,

I've had the same issues with my Wacom bamboo connected to my macbook pro. What I have noticed is that it seems to work perfectly if it's got a good power supply source and isn't sharing it with too many other devices across an extension board. For instance at home when I plugin my laptop power cable its fine but if I'm connecting it to the work station in office which shares power on a board of about 4 other adapters I get the jittery thing.

I rarely use my macbook pro unplugged so I admit I haven't even tested it like that but It's curious that it seems to be ok when its not sharing a lot of power with other devices on a board.

I too like yourself have wondered if it's a systems update problem but the problem is pretty inconsistent with that given that it reacts differently in various situations.

Let me know how you went with that issue?

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