mouse cursor moves by itself on imac w/no mouse

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Level 1

9 points

mouse cursor moves by itself on imac w/no mouse

My warranty for my Intel Imac expired just a couple of weeks prior to this problem - go figure.

All of the sudden the mouse cursor arrow started moving across the screen in a straight line towards either one edge or the other by itself. It moved fast enough that I couldn't really control it to click on anything. And I wasn't waking from sleep or anything. It had been fine a few moments prior. This was with the same wireless (not bluetooth) mouse (not mighty mouse) that I have been using for almost three years without a single problem, even with low batteries. I changed batteries - no difference. I switched to another wireless mouse and same behavior. I switched to a wired mouse - no better. No mouse - still doing it. Rebooting did nothing. Creating a new profile made no difference.

And then it stopped as suddenly as it started. There had been some internet issues with my service, and even though I switched to a different network a the time, that made no difference. But as soon as my service came back, my mouse was fine again.

And then it stayed fine back with the same wireless mouse that I always used until today, about a couple weeks later. All of the sudden after working fine, it moved across the screen again, and I couldn't control it. I turned off all ethernet - no difference. I moved to the wired mouse - no difference. I rebooted and it didn't cure it completely, but the movement now seemsed to be smaller and stair-stepping to the right and then down, over and over - so a different pattern. And this was before I even logged in to a profile (still had the test one created so had to choose).

Now I am on the wired mouse logged in as me and everytime I am not doing anything, there are tiny movements (this time to the left and then down stair-step), but it seems to have stopped the screen jumps for a while again. Usually there is no movement at all, so something is still wrong. What is wrong with this computer?

I am on 10.5.8.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Sep 25, 2012 4:25 PM

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Answer 1

sbwinter2 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 25, 2012 4:26 PM in response to sbwinter2

Adding that in all my internet searches, this problem seems to usually be on macbooks or with mighty mouses, not wired mice. I can't find another with an imac and wired, or no, mouse.

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Answer 2

RRFS

Level 5

4,522 points

Sep 25, 2012 4:41 PM in response to sbwinter2

Try these two resets, don't really know if they will help:

SMC RESET

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord and ALL peripherals.
Wait 15 seconds.
Attach the computers power cable.
Wait another 5 seconds and press the power button to turn on the computer.

The 5 second timing is important to a successful reset.

PRAM RESET

Zap the PRAM

Shut down the computer.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.

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Answer 3

sbwinter2 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 25, 2012 4:47 PM in response to RRFS

Before I try this, I have read that in all of the other cases, this has not worked. Is there a reason you think this will work in this case, or is it just a good thing to try?

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Answer 4

RRFS

Level 5

4,522 points

Sep 25, 2012 6:42 PM in response to sbwinter2

Won't hurt anything. What threads have you found for this problem?

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Answer 5

sbwinter2 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 25, 2012 6:47 PM in response to RRFS

There are many if you look under "mac mouse moves by itself" or "curser moves by itself". I am not reading on "ghost mouse movements". One comment there is to turn off enable assistive devices. I am checking if that helps.

Currently the mouse just moves a hair down every second. It went from top to bottom of screen in about 30 minutes. Very weird.

Oh - also "mac mouse drift".

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Answer 6

sbwinter2 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 25, 2012 6:52 PM in response to sbwinter2

Okay. Now it has started to move again as if it is controlled by someone else. Fast moves towards the right side of the screen.

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Answer 7

sbwinter2 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 25, 2012 7:08 PM in response to sbwinter2

Now I am in Windows via Bootcamp, and the mouse is still drifting. This can't be a dirver issue/software issue since I am in a completely different OS.

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Answer 8

sbwinter2 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 25, 2012 7:44 PM in response to sbwinter2

This time tried restarting my router (in case it was some bizarre signal issue due to what happened last time), fixing all permissions and using a different wired mouse. The large movements have stopped again, but the small ones are still there.

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Answer 9

Jan 12, 2014 6:17 PM in response to sbwinter2

Did you ever figure out what was going on? My iMac is doing this currently, but only on the apple partition. My windows partition is fine--that's what I'm currently using because the mouse functions.

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Answer 10

sbwinter2 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 12, 2014 6:28 PM in response to Erimentha

If I remember correctly, once the internet problem was fixed, it seemed to correct itself over the next few days. If you read my posts, it was on both partitions with wired and wireless mice, regardless of network. I remember it felt like someone else was controlling the mouse. I ahve since updated to 10.6.8, but didn't do that until earlier this year. It was totally weird, so I hope you figure it out.

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Answer 11

Jan 15, 2014 3:40 PM in response to sbwinter2

I was having the same problem with my mighty mouse. I had a wireless one which had the mouse point moving by itself all of the sudden, so I decided that maybe a wired one would work, well, guess it didnt, I was constantly having the same problem. A few days ago, while searching for solutions online I found out that since mac mouses are really sensible, that colorful trackpads would cause such weird behaviors and so I've been working my mouse on a white sheet of blank paper, and well, it worked! I'm still analyzing it, but for now, it is working perfectly.

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