My trackpad is going crazy, cursor moves on its own

I've had this problem for weeks. A couple of ants crawled from my keyboard, I thought they were responsible. I removed the backcover, inspected and cleaned, no ants, but the problem continued. I went through all the posts I could find looking for an answer. I followed suggestions, bought a triwing screwdriver, removed the battery, disconnected and reconnected the trackpad to the motherboard, reset the PRAM, cleaned the trackpad, still the cursor moved around the screen with a mind of its own. I gave up and hooked a mouse to the USB. I went to system prefs, and in Universal Access checked 'ignore trackpad when mouse is connected'. I worked for a day or so with the mouse, constantly irritated the USB port was on the left and I'm right handed. I missed the convenience of my trackpad. I wondered how it was behaving now. I disconnected the mouse, and to my surprise, my perfectly reliable trackpad was back. I guess it didn't like being ignored:)

Oh you're behaving now I thought, but what happens if I shut you down and restart?

I did and It's still behaving. Yay!

I forgot to mention the name of the free app. It's Smooth Mouse. It's suppose to make the track pad behave but it does not work for me. Maybe I'm not doing it correctly.

I am so frustrated with this new trackpad. Plus the loud clicking sound it makes is very distracting. I looked for a volume control but there is none. Wish I could get the old trackpad back. Is that possible? Can I have the old trackpad installed on my new MacBook Pro?

My trackpad worked flawlessly for two days. Tonight, I went to check my facebook account and as the page loaded, my trackpad started misbehaving again, so badly, it was difficult for me to go back to system preferences/ universal access/ mouse and trackpad, and click the 'ignore built in trackpad when mouse is connected.' I then plugged in my mouse. The trackpad quit functioning. When I unplugged the mouse, my trackpad was again working perfectly, just as I reported in my previous post. Clearly my trackpad problem is not hardware related. Was Facebook involved? I've been back to Facebook, but my trackpad continues to work properly. What is initiating this irritating behavior?

I think the New MacBook Pro has a faulty trackpad. My old MacBook Pro was PERFECT until the graphics card went out. This is the first time in my life that I have gotten a new Apple Computer and was not happy with it.

In the past it was always better than the last. But this new model, (only 3 weeks old) has an inferior trackpad.

When I made a one-to-one appointment he insisted there was nothing wrong with it but he lied. Obviously, from reading all these Support Communities the problem is huge. They should do a recall. But first they probably need to figure out how to fix it.

Makes me want to cry every time I use this new model. I paid more but got so much less. First time ever.

So sad.

Had my 2011 MBPS 13" upgraded to OS Mavericks. Had problem with uncontrolled mouse cursor. Followed tips to clean up language. Removed English, changed to Spanish, restarted, removed Spanish, added English, restarted. Works well for now.

Hello!

I have the same problem with my Macbook Pro late 2011. I tried everything everyone says here and I hope and think I have the right solution... I gave tge trackpad a light hit and since then it seems to behave... But I still have a question... what is the problem with the trackpads?

Thanks!

Solved it!

After failed attempts at resetting PRAM and SMC settings, i found an answer on a thread.

I switched my language preferences from english to french back to english (the language you choose is irrelevant), restarted the computer after each switch and the mouse has been working perfectly fine since.

...before you go thinking virus or being hacked or some third party software just get a cotton bud / cotton tip and clean firmly around the inner edges of the trackpad. Problem Solved for me - would appear that the slight build up of dirt / grime is enough to make the trackpad go nuts.

"Give the trackpad a light hit"

Surprisingly - that worked for me ...

I started having the non-responsive trackpad just today as I was working. No particular reason for that to start happening ... No spilled food or liquid, trackpad clean as a whistle. Tried a restart, tried the SMC reset trick.

But the light hit somehow did it.

This can also be a sign that your trackpad hardware is starting to fail. It is possible to disable the trackpad when you have another mouse or trackpad actively linked to your computer. I had this happen myself and took it into my Apple store and they found out that the trackpad mechanism was bad.

Wow - Tried the PRAM reset, cleaned my trackpad thoroughly, rapped it with my knuckles but changing the OS language seemed to do the trick! Not sure why, but happy to find a solution...

Thanks to Pinoncely!

I tried over a dozen different suggestions to solve my iMac’s wonky-biserk cursor problem but had no success. The source of the problem was simply that the my four year old trackpad had gone “bad”. The cursor problem was non-existent when I replaced the trackpad with a mouse or controlled my iMac with my Macbook under Screen Sharing. If you’ve got cursor problems save troubleshooting time by switching out the trackpad with a mouse first.

Trackpad was moving on it's own on login screen. WiFi and Bluetooth off. PRAM, SMC reset didn't work.

Same for me, plugging in a USB mouse (a what?!! : ) and turning off the internal trackpad from System Settings --> Accessibility, then turning back on a minute later worked!

It's now almost July 2017, brand new 2017 MacBook Pro--same insane jumping cursor problem. I can't even figure out what's triggering the insane jumping around. What does Apple suggest? Well, who knows instead I find myself here. Hit the track pad, reset SMC PRAM, no don't doesn't work. Go to Accessibility, tick the box that says turn off the track pad when mouse is present. Then turn it on again.... There's no excuse for this nonsense to go on year after year with no clear official response from engineers who've figured out the problem. It's like Apple has decided superstition and home remedies are better than science and engineering. I was going to suspend a video camera over the keyboard and screen, but I can't recreate anything like the problem when I try.

i tried everything here, zapped PRAM, reset the SMC, knuckle to the trackpad, changed languages then finally, "ignored trackpad when mouse is connected" in Accessibility—that worked, but only for a few minutes. I'm leaving it checked and staying with the mouse longer, hopefully that helps.