HT203171: If your pointer is jumpy when you use a trackpad, Magic Trackpad, or Magic Mouse
Learn about If your pointer is jumpy when you use a trackpad, Magic Trackpad, or Magic Mouse
Q: Macbook pro trackpad not responsive, opening apps on it's own, moving screens on its own, help!
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Feb 7, 2013 11:52 PMby Christopher Grant,Same issue (erratic cursor movement).
Hardware:
2012 15" MBPr i7 16gb
Software:
Mountain Lion 10.8.2
Tested thus far:
Genius Bar diagnostics & triage which included PRAM, SMC reset.
They recommended reinstall of system, which they did on location.
This initially seemed to correct the problem and after 5-6 hours of
reinstalling apps and normal usage all was good.
Problem returned while watching a movie. Heat doesn't seem to be
an issue as their was more heat generated while copying files back
to laptop during reinstallation. Turned laptop off and then back on
the next day (today). No issues after an hour.
Will test:
Will hold onto laptop over this weekend and try to 'clean' the trackpad
as per suggestions here. If not will take back in to have trackpad
replaced (or battery if swelling has occured). Will give update here once
I know more.
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Feb 20, 2013 10:42 PMby jimoase,My MacBook Pro 17, 10.8.2, 16g RAM track pad is also acting up.
Erractic movement, unresponsive and when left unattended the cursor will move on its own.
I have cleaned the trackpad with alcohol. That seemed to improve senstivity for a short time.
Turning system off and back on will return normal operation for a half hour or so.
Problem seems to be getting worse with each passing day. Cursor will suddenly just move while typing. Very irritating.
Window will occassionally jump around as if a two finger gesture is being performed .... while only holding one finger on the track pad.
.... might be unrelated but keyboard goes through bouts of dropping keystrokes and then sudden gets them back.
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Feb 21, 2013 9:16 AMby TristanMyles,Had the same problem the cursor would constantly gitter left and right clicking on it's own and if I had the swipe gestures enabled it would open progrgrams, lanch pad ect, tried all the fixes in these posts. Nothing worked.
As my MacBook is the 2010 model I'm out of warrenty and I reckoned it was a moisture problem causing the capasatance sensors in the track pad to read phantom imput. So I ordered a replacement off eBay for around £40 and set to replacing it my self.
No more problems.
Apple being dicks use a bunch of security screws so if you do this your self you'll need small Torx and Tri-wing drivers as wellas Phillips (for the mid 2010 model at least) and was fairly simple to do just remove the back cover and battery and you can get at the track pad
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Feb 26, 2013 5:57 PMby solconnection,Same problem here with 2012 Macbook Pro Retina.
Trackpad becomes unusable, starts swiping between screens, clicking on things etc.
Tried PRAM, SMC, Reboot, holding down the trackpad, clicking top left and right etc and nothing.
if i polish the surface with a damp cloth and then dry thoroughly it seems to fix it for about an hour. Ive done this 3 times to fix it now, all on the same day...the trackpad and my fingers are both dry when it starts crapping out though so no idea why a clean works but it does, my hunch is some sort of static build up, also makes me think it is a hardware issue and not a software issue.
The most recent clean seems to be lasting, fingers x'd.
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Feb 26, 2013 6:16 PMby jimoase,No proven idea of what happened but my cursor stopped jumping around.
I redid the alchohol cleaning again.
Someone said press firmly on the track pad. That seemed to help
Rebooted the who system resetting the PRAM
Yesterday and today the track pad is working.... go figure.
Worse kind of fix... just happened
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Mar 1, 2013 5:20 AMby Steve Bush,I still get new posts to this thread so I thought to say again what I did to fix a suddenly really erratic trackpad. I physically removed tiny, tiny dirt material which had built up between the body and the trackpad. I used a piece of plastic "theatrical gel" (Google that so you get an idea of what it is). It's very thin, yet rigid enough to slip into the gap and slide around. One cannot slide it freely around the entire circumfrence of the trackpad, it will stop at the few contact points the trackpad has around its perimiter, yet it was enough to remove small amounts of dirt - which I could see on the pad itself as I fished the plastic around. My pad has worked normal since then. I can't think what else there is that can work for this task beside the gels - but you can find them pretty easily at photography and film supply stores.
http://www.rosco.com/filters/supergel.cfm -
Mar 4, 2013 5:12 PMby eshute,I recently had the same thing happen. I updated and the next day the track pad started working erractically, opening files, moving all over the place, etc. I tried all kinds of things, but simply cleaning the trackpad solved my problem.
To fix it, I turned the computer off, used a cleaner for my eyeglasses and made sure I cleaned the trackpad really well. I used a tip of a needle to clean out the edges of the trackpad, as it was dirtier than I thought. Maybe something about the update makes the trackpad more sensitive to dirt. In other threads I read not to use hand lotions before using trackpad and to keep the trackpad as clean as possible.
This completely solved my problem trackpad.
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Apr 17, 2013 10:43 PMby jimoase,Rather then underneath I think stuff gets caught in the crack between the track pad and the housing.
If you look close you will probably see some stuff caught in that crack on just about every MacBook.
If your pad is acting up use a piece of paper or really thin plastic and slide it in the crack to clear the debris.
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Apr 26, 2013 3:50 PMby alpacalipz,My setup is a late 2012 mbp retina (OS X 10.8.3) connected to a thunderbolt display. When I close the lid on the mbp, the trackpad goes crazy. When it's open, the trackpad works just fine. Anyone else have erratic behavior ONLY when the lid is closed? If I ever find a solution, I'll let you guys know.
