My trackpad is going crazy, cursor moves on its own

That new trackpad that was installed two weeks ago is beginning to behave exactly like the one that was replaced.

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!

Apple666--YOU, my friend, are a genius. The firm knuckle-strike worked like a charm, the very first time!!!

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.

You know, this really worked!!! WOW! Thanks ever so much. nancy

"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.

Yep having the same problem on a 2013 Sept MBP. But the light "hit" to the track pad every now and then seems to be working like recent posts seem to say..

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.

turn off all features of the trackpad except the essentials. I had the same trouble and this helped. I only had the problem with my 15.4 in MacBook Pro.

The hit soultion worked to me. Macbook pro 17' retina 2012. My worst 3000€ expense.

I woke to find this problem, so , I removed the batteries in the trackpad and re-installed them and all is back to normal sensitivity and speed. My batteries had 82% life left.

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.