Mid-2011 13" Macbook Air Trackpad problem.

Help is at hand Dylanito,

I share you frustrations. I have walked in your shoes, so I can talk from experience (see my previous posts). My trackpad on my MBA was possessed. It did what it wanted to do.

So I took my MBA to my local Apple Store and had the trackpad replaced. The MBA is now working perfectly. I did suffer with the trackpad problem for some months and all I wanted to do is put my MBA in a blender and turn it to dust. But now, I am happy once again and the MBA is doing what it is supposed to do. 🙂

Yes, I've read all of yoru posts, Vanquished. Thanks for the enocouraging words, and I look forward to getting this fixed, and we'll go from there. My only question though, has it remained fixed for you? It seems like if so many people are having the same problem that it might be a lifecycle issue where ALL trackpads for the MBA will just crap out eventually. How long has your been fixed? It would just be a real bummer to have to deal with this every year or so.

@ Dylanito

The problem is simply and effectively solved by replacing the trackpad. Even under warranty, this needs not to be done in the country of purchase. My USA purchased MBA was repaired in Amsterdam about 6 months after purchase completely free of charge, and within 2 days. After the repair, all problems gone.

Hey no worries Dylanito,

Yes the track pad on my MBA now works perfectly. It's been two months now and I hope it will stay that way! Sure, it would be a bummer if I had to have the trackpad replaced again - like some people have posted on here. I shall just wait and see. That's all I can do for now. Good luck with your trackpad replacement!

In my case, the two trackpad replacements didn't resolve the issue. However, the problem came back on day one after the replacement. So no problem to reject the repairment within its warranty period.

The topcase replacement did the trick and the fix still lasts.

To avoid wear on the new parts I additionally changed to "tap to click" which seems the common and better setting anyway.

Conflict with Parallels Tools!

You wouldn't happen to be running Parallels, would you?

I had incredibly frustrating and vexxing problems with my trackpad for about 4 months. The TouchPad would all the sudden start to "select" everything. Sometimes it would "double click" on an area when all I did was hover over it.

I tried changing TrackPad settings, reinstalling MacOS X, cleaning my trackpad, running with/without external power, trying 45W, 85W power supplies, grounding my Macbook and wrists--everything!--but to no avail.😕

Close to sucking it up and buying a new Macbook (okay, may I WAS just using the trackpad issue as an excuse to buy one of the new MacBooks with retina display....) I tried reinstalling MacOS X one more time. Then I uninstalled and reinstalled Parallels-- still no help! 😢 Then as a last resort, I reinstalled Parallels Tools. Voi la! Everything working peachy keen again!🙂

I think regardless of whether you are actually running Parallels, the actual installation of Parallels Tools must do something funky to the OS X registry or something. I'm not a programmer, and I'm not sure if that makes any sense whatsoever. All I know is that now my Macbook Air 13" is running good as new again!

Hope this helps.

I have an idea: USE A MOUSE!!!!!!

I was having the same issue. Purchased in July 2011. The battery, topcase, and trackpad were all replaced (in three separate genuis bar visits) along with a few adjustments made to the tension screws of the track pad (on other genius bar visits). In November 2011, the issue appeared to be resolved. But it has recently resurfaced. I made an appointment at the genius bar. The tech was not able to replicate (since the machine was 'cold') and apparently did not believe me that this was an issue.

I'm a coder, and this issue has caused blocks of code to move while editing (and files to move into other folders within Finder). Not a good thing.

I'm having the same problem with my MBA 13" I got last October. The last few days the trackpads been pretty sensitive and keeps clicking when I have my thumb rested on it like I usually do and have never had the problem before.

I'm still under warrently so I'm going to book it in at the Genius Bar but was wondering if I should take everything off it and onto my external harddrive beforehand? Just thinking ahead, so if they need to send it off for repairs or replace it straight away I don't want to have to go home to bring it back again.

I had a MBA Trackpad issue, however it was not the issue discussed in this thread. The only point of my post is to say that I used the Apple Depot Customer Service and was totally amazed at how fast and effective their mail-in service was. I called Apple Support, described my Trackpad issue. The Rep. sent me a mail-in box that arrived the next morning by 10:30am. I had the MBA ready, shoved in the box, attached the label and handed back to the FedX rep. 48 Hrs. latter my MBA arrived with a great Trackpad. WONDERFUL SERVICE ...THANKS APPLE!

I made another appointment and came prepared

• A link to this thread
• I had the computer properly warmed up
• A set of specific actions that could replicate

The genius that helped me the second time did not hesitate to order the replacement of the trackpad component of the computer. So, yes, have a good backup before you go to the store. They will want to take it and begin repair work. Their work should not require a erase/install of the OS, but you never know what may happen. The repair took one day, I picked it up the next evening.

On a side note, be sure to review the work order info before signing it! The genius marked the cosmetic condition of my computer as having scratches, though there were none on my machine. I made him mark the condition as "like new." I think it's a default to do this to cover Apple in case you get the machine back and the repair tech scratches it up.

Also, they wanted my password so they could log in to test the repair. I recommend NOT giving them your password. I simply enabled the guest account and told them that they could test using Guest.

Message was edited by: Renegade Troll

Quick response, all, before I turn off emal notifications.

This problem happened to me, extremely annoyingly, earlier this year. It slowly disappeared over about a month and has not reappeared for many months now.

I have a feeling it may be a design flaw where the trackpad is getting compressed by natural loosening of the machine, but for those of you who are having extended problems I would suggest waiting it out. It doesn't seem like replacing things is fixing it for everyone, so give it a month (assuming your warranty isn't about to expire) and see what happens.

Hope that helps

I had the same issue...it was reproducable also for the genius guys and trackpad was replaced within 15min in the Apple Store and now it works fine. Will update, once it returns.

I have a similar problem with the trackpad on my MBA 13/256 purchased in mid-2011 - but it is especially infuriating in conjunction with typing on the keyboard: the cursor is jumping all over the place without even touching the keyboard, so the letters being typed are inserted in random locations, text portions get selected and erased unintentionally, etc etc.. Even this brief note took multiple restarts and corrections - maddening! - rendering the machine completely UNUSABLE for ordinary work. I am at my wit's end. This is my first Apple - what a letdown !!! I shall take it to the Genius Bar next week - without setting my hopes too high, having read all the posts.

any other ideas anyone?

lutz6238

Hey Lutz,

I haven't followed these posts in a while, but I understand your frustation. I was there. And, I was about to lose it all! But... all you can do is let go. Your trackpad, like all of ours (mine included), needs to be replaced. That's it. You're life will be so much more peaceful again after that happens. I'm convinced there is no other fix. Apple messed up, and messed up bad, but you just need to let go and accept that you have to take your computer in and have the trackpad replaced. Nothing else is going to solve it. Period. Is that a proper response to all of this from Apple? **** no! But...****..what can we do here? I would love to boycott Apple for crap like this, but they clearly won't listen, and I've used the alternatives for forever. And...in my heart of hearts, I know that when my Mac is working...it's INFINITELY better than anything else I've ever used.

Like you, I am new to Apple and this is honestly my very first Mac (or even Apple product in general). I totally lost it after this happened to me, and now that my machine is working again, I'm pretty freakin' happy, honestly. Is this excusable? Absolutely not. But, again, I'm not sure what the other option is?

On the plus of all of this, I finally took my Mac into the Genius bar...or whatever BS they call that place is. And, they told me it would be 5 days. Fine...I was expecting that. They called me back the SAME afternoon! I've been there one other time for an unrelated issue, and I must say, I'm pretty impressed with what they've done with the Genius bar.

Anyway, looks like we got our MBAs around the same time, so count yourself fortunate that it's taken this long for your trackpad to crash out. I've been using my new, replaced, trackpad for almost 5 months now, and it's a gem. If it craps out again...well, I may retract this whole reply! But...I've honestly been pretty happy with the service, and while completel frustrated in the same regard, I've realized the only thing I can personal do is let go and hope for the best.

Use a USB mouse in the meantime, and take that thing in as soon as possible! I promise, there is no other answer, as big of a bummer as it is to hear that, but you need that trackpad replaced. Period. I spent 2 months trying to find another fix. There is none. Don't waste your time. Take it in and get it over with.