Mid-2011 13" Macbook Air Trackpad problem.

I bought a new MBA on 24 dec 2012. It's as of today with the service centre as my track pad is not responding or it's become erratic. It's become impossible to use the track pad as the cursor does not follow the finger but goes around on its own. The service centre reported that now my mac is not booting. Hope my hard earned money does not go in the drain.

Rgds

Sanjay

I had this problem too....with my new MBA bought Feb 2012. Fortunately someone pointed out that there is a a problem with Parallels. and all I hadto do was "Reinstall Parallels Tool" from the Virtual Machine menu.

this appears to have totally fixed it. AND....it seems to have fixed the trackpad problem while working only on the Macside.....as well as when i boot natively to Bootcamp (to get the entire 4 G RAM). Hooray!

My Macbook Air (13 inch) just started doing this. I purchased it in December 2012, it's less then 3 months old! I ended up buying the Best Buy warranty and not apple care. I haven't taken it in yet because the problem (for the moment) has stopped.

hi guys! ok, i have read entries on this webpage and others and have some theories (or hypotheses i guess).....first of all, i have a brand spanking new macbook pro 13".(not air)...so people whose theories were old batteries, worn out trackpads, etc.....doesn't apply to me.

i haven't noticed the eratic behavior begins/ends depending on time of day, plugged in or not, but once i realized that i had zoomed (by using the default shortcut ((command -)) and when i un-zoomed it, the cursor was back to normal again. today, however, i did zoom and unzoom, but that with chrome and this was in safari...so no correlation with the zoom theory.

it is utterly annoying and this time (unlike before), the cursor would change from the regular cursor to a little hand, and their seemed to be no apparent reason (judging by the page i was viewing at the time) for the change to have occurred....it all seemed disturbingly random.

i am within my 30 days of warranty and have considered just returning it for another. but honestly, i don't believe there is a factory defect...i suspect it is something else that i (we) haven't yet isolated. but, as always, conspiracy theorist that i am, i think that it is directly related to my downloading chrome. both this time (and previously on my last computer, a 2009 mac pro 15") my problems either vanished or were significantly dimished when i removed chrome. li just added it three days ago, and two days ago i noticed the abnormalities....it just seems too coincidental to me. i think that there is an app out there that removes all parts and everything and anything that apps may just happen to bring with them and download on your computer (probably with permissions we granted in those ("i agree") documents you never read but agree to just to get something updated or loaded.

so what do you think? anyone else have similar problems? theories? i am in class now but i think i will just take the ****** off....oh yeah, by the way, the last time i "killed" chrome, but did i seem to be "punished" for having done so....my computer acted so completely spun and contrary, it was as though i was dealing with a toddler whose candy bar had just been told to sit in the corner.....i thought it was going to actually blow up or something and certainly never recover.

after some time, it settled down.....conspiracy theorist or not, you just gotta admit that that makes absolutely no sense to the rational mind whatsoever....(revenge of the machines??? haha....

The "Parallels Tool Reinstallation" worked for me as well, I applied it few seconds ago and now, after weeks of getting crazy and few hours before the next "Genius" appointment, I just solved. I'm quite convinced that it's matter of software issue more the hardware failure. the technology behind track/mouse pad like traditional mouse is so simple and so run in that it seemed soooo strage to read all these posts. Hw failure can't be more than 10% or the tests before releasing would have been a show stopper for product launch. I'll see if it happens again... thanks so much @ rcrumley !! 😉

Same thing happened to me. !st gen MacBook Air 11. Thank goodness I'm not the only one.

It does it randomly, selecting text and moving things around the screen as if they were selected. Really annoying and hard to work.

I find restarting does not help.

What's up with QC over at Apple? Those highly skilled Chineese babies just aren't as agile as they used to be?

My keyboard wouldn't work when I got the thing, Christman 2011, and Apple repaired the top case for free. I'm probably past waranty, but I hope since this seems to be such a common problem they will fix at no cost. I bought a Mac because I wanted my computer to last a long time, not break after owning it for 14 months.

- Robert

Oh, and when they repired the top case they forgot to put all the screws back in the bottom... Mayabe they just need to be tightened.

Apple has now conceded a common construction defect on some of its MBP 13's. This flaw is limited to the 13" models and results from poor tolerances in the monobody chassis and trackpad, resulting in insufficient clearance between the trackpad contacts over time.

Apple will replace your trackpad free of charge. Replacing with a new trackpad sufficiently and permanently cures the problem.

Hi, where did you find this info? I don't live in a country with a Genius Bar and would like to have some information to show the Apple Service Center. I don't have warranty left so I hope that I could get a replacement anyway...

I too would like advice as to how to have this trackpad replaced? Do I simply go in to any Apple Store? and hopefully I can expect that they will no about it...and replace it?

thanks. RLC

Noticed this behaviour today.

When I close the lid on my MBP 13 (mid-2011), when I open it again the trackpad allows the cursor to move - but I cant click anything, only allows me to drag and highlight. Keyboard also is mainly unresponsive.

Power it off (cant restart) and when it restarts the keyboard and trackpad dont work at all.

Power it off again and power it on - no problem.

Have just disabled bluetooth and cant recreate the issue....will monitor it and keep an eye on it.....

Suddenly started having problems yesterday with my Mid-2011 13" MBA after 6 months of absolutely smooths sailing (bought it in fall 2012). Regualar pointer movement suddenly started behaving as if I was click/dragging. I almost deleted files and surfing the web became impossible as I'd constantly be "picking up" graphics on a page. Updated Lion, ditched my trackpad preferences (invisible Global-something file), even logged in as a different user but the problem persisted, leading me to this thread.

I am careful with the machine but do carry it around without a case a lot and recently noticed a little creaking around both front edges so the loose screw tip caught my attention. I took it in to a dealer today and they tightened them for free with that special driver. There was almost no play on them but it seems to have corrected the issue, at least for now. The staff member did mention the issue with the battery being under the trackpad possibly causing problems for other people, but had never heard of the screw tip. He (and I) wouldn't recommend over-tightenting them of course.

Hope it solves the problem for other people!

Hello everybody

I would like to share my experience with the issue of this topic. I hope it will help some people, especially if you live in the EU.

I have troubles with my trackpad: it highlights stuff I don't want, it moves pieces of texts and pictures when I am on different website. The behavior of the trackpad is erratic.

I bought my MBA 13" mid-2011 in December and I am not anymore under the 1 year legal warranty. I don't have Apple care.

I noticed the problem with my trackpad once I installed Simcity 4, a game that uses a lot the trackpad. I am quiet sure this is reason of my problem.

So I contacted the Apple Assistance. The first time, they asked me to do SMC and PRAM which in fact didn't solve the problem.

I then read a lot of topics on the Internet about issues with the trackpad. I found also people with my model of MacBook Air having the same issue as me.

So I decided to contact again the Apple assistance and explained that I wanted to change my trackpad. I had to argue a little bit, saying that I take good care of my MBA, I've already done SMC and PRAM and that I read a lot about this issue.

The guy on the phone said there was nothing to do except go to a service center and make a reparation, at my full expense.

He told me again that I didn't have Apple Care and that my warranty was over.

I then told him that in Europe, the warranty is not 1 year but 2 years. He was aware of that and decided to escalate my call.

I ended with a Senior Advisor CPU FR who tried to tell me that 2 year ruling was a European Law and would depend on the country. I told her that was not quiet right and gave her the decisions ruling: Directive 1999/44/CE.

I also told her that Apple was sentenced €900,000 in Italy for not respecting this warranty (source).

She then and finally decided to grant me "an exceptional warranty" to change my trackpad.

I went to an Apple reparation center and after 5 days I got a new trackpad. Now everything seems to work correctly.

In conclusion, if you are having this issue or any others, do not hesitate to use this argument.

I used MagicPrefs to see what my Trackpad is registering after having experienced involuntary clicks and drags (tap to click is off) for a while now. It looks as if the Trackpad is registering a lot of taps (as clicks) in the center bottom half, which is where I usually place (and sometimes rest) my thumb. Again, tap-to-click is off.

So I pressed down hard on that area with three fingers, hoping that this would alleviate the issue. And lo and behold, the problem has disappeared. Let's see how long it will take before it creeps back in. Fingers crossed! (I hope Apple isn't going to come up with a fingers-crossed gesture)

Update:

The problem came back. I've tried everything driver / software related I could find on the net (Better Touch Tool and similar, removing .plists, looking into kexts to find where the sensitivity parameters might be stored), all to no avail. Then I used a thin paper to try and clean the edges of the trackpad where it's set into the top case. Didn't help either, the problem always came back. Now I've shoved a piece of paper under the trackpad at the bottom edge and kept it there - you can feel that there is something underneath the trackpad there when you shove the paper around underneat the trackpad.

So far the trackpad's behaving. If this is the cause, then the trackpad itself is ok, and it's "just" a mechanical problem. Maybe a manufacturing tolerance issue. I'm going to walk with this (ugly) hack to the Genius bar and ask them for advice.