Magic Trackpad has a mind of it's own!

After a 18 months of wrestling with this erratic Magic Trackpad problem with a MacBook Pro, I've given up trying to get to the bottom of it and bought a separate Bluetooth adapter. This fixed the problem instantly and, after two months, it has not returned. All fingers point to the MPV's built-in Bluetooth rather than the Magic Trackpad, for me, at least.

Zogbort Fangle wrote:

After a 18 months of wrestling with this erratic Magic Trackpad problem with a MacBook Pro, I've given up trying to get to the bottom of it and bought a separate Bluetooth adapter. This fixed the problem instantly and, after two months, it has not returned. All fingers point to the MPV's built-in Bluetooth rather than the Magic Trackpad, for me, at least.

Wish it were that simple. I have been using magic track pad for long time, years, no problem. Changed to Maverick and it has been erratic and un-usable ever since. Nothing else changed, equipment in room, nothing. To me it is definately a software, Maverick problem yet to be addressed by Apple.

George in NY

This is driving me freaking nuts. The Magic (possessed!) Trackpad has been doing this since the Maverick upgrade. Selecting and clicking on stuff even when my fingers are no where near the pad or just when I am moving the pointer over a webpage. Has to be software and was hoping 10.9.1 would fix it but NO!

Hey guys,

I too, have had the same trouble after a good year of untroubled use and then the magic track pad started playing up. I ended up packing it away as the MTP was unusable. I dug it out again as it was driving me nuts not being able to use the full screen apps.

I read somewhere that the issue, both on magic and built in trackpads is one of static or electrostaic electricity playing havoc with our touch. The article suggested earthing out your skin on a metal part of the MTP of laptop to alliveate the problem. By placing the thumb on the side of the MTP, the issues for me went away. Release the thumb (or earthing connection), back cam the erratic cursor.

There must be someone out there in Apple universe that can solve this issue as I need my thumb for other things!

The Splash wrote:

Hey guys,

I too, have had the same trouble after a good year of untroubled use and then the magic track pad started playing up. I ended up packing it away as the MTP was unusable. I dug it out again as it was driving me nuts not being able to use the full screen apps.

I read somewhere that the issue, both on magic and built in trackpads is one of static or electrostaic electricity playing havoc with our touch. The article suggested earthing out your skin on a metal part of the MTP of laptop to alliveate the problem. By placing the thumb on the side of the MTP, the issues for me went away. Release the thumb (or earthing connection), back cam the erratic cursor.

There must be someone out there in Apple universe that can solve this issue as I need my thumb for other things!

First a link to whatever you read would be helpful. I must say makes no sense to me though. Used MTP for years with no problem, change to Mavericks and suddenly static electricity is the cause? SOFTWARE plain and simple inmy opinion!

I back with Carbonite, just found out their software apparently doesn;t play well with Mavericks. Anything written in new versions of Pages, Keynote, or Numbers is not being backed up propertly. Becomes just folder of useless metadata and unrecoverable! Thought I would mention that just in case any of you guys are backing up using Carbonite.

George in NY

There are several threads pointing to electrical interference. Here is one:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2527344?start=105&tstart=0

My MTP sits on my pull out keyboard drawer of my workstation and beside my USB Apple keyboard. There are no other bluetooth devices nearby. Yet, when i use it normally, the cursor is very erratic (will not move smoothly and is jumpy) but as soon as I place my thumb on the metal part on the side of the MTP, the smooth movement returns. I have experimented with sitting the MTP on my lap and yep, smooth operation.

Given the design of the MTP as per:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1449

I am in little doubt that the issue is electrically related. Exactly what and why is what I need answers for.

I bought a 2009 Mac Pro, switching over from my 2008. My magic track pad became very erratic in MT LION and seemed worse in Mavericks. I found that the 2009 is known for a weak bluetooth signal, and I keep my Mac Pro in an open closet about 6 feet from my desk. Sometimes it would work and other times it acted crazy. I bought a Bluetooth usb dongle by iogear from newegg link below, for 10 bucks and plugged it into my usb hub which is right next to my Magic Trackpad and bingo, it's very smooth like it should be and has had no erratic befhavior since. I tried plugging the dongle into my Mac Pro in the closet and it acted all crazy again.

The Blutooth internal card in the mac seems to share the USB bus. I tried all kinds of experiments before buying the dongle, unplugging my wifi, my router, and there were times I when I though I found the clash but then after some time it woudl get eratic again.

The one thing I have not tried because the dongle is working great is to unplug all usb devices connected to my mac pro and see if the MTP works smoothly with the macs internal bluetooth, it could be a clash on the USB bus. This could be firmware based, and or software - hardware clash between the internal bluetooth and something else but that is just a guess, worth trying though.

I have not tried removing my macs bluetooth card, and its odd to me that the dongle works when they are both on.

There was know driver to install, just plugged it into my usb hub and paired the MTP as ususall and its been perfect. Just remember I have it about a foot and a half from the MTP. It does have a flshing blue led which shows you its on and when you move your fingers around the tracks pad it blinks faster which shows you are connected to the dongle and not the internal macs bluetooth card.

I am just really happy to be able to use my trackpad again without the crazyness 🙂

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833139019

I've had my MTP since early January of this year and it routinely goes crazy. I have turned off the "tap to click" and :two finger tap to right click" and it still occasionally does it! It will even select text and execute click actions with just my hand hovering over the MTP without even touching it. It is even perfomrning repeated actions where it will send a job to print twice with what apears to me to be a single click. My suspicion is static electricity. It is very dry here in the winter and I'll see how it continues as the humidity impoves over the next month or so. Starting to think about returning it. I can't afford to have it mess up my files. I am running 10.8.5, so it not just a Mavericks issue.

I had the same problem of trackpad jumping like crazy. The discussions above lead me to believe it might be caused by some network interferences. I then realized that this problem happened when I was using my electronic toothbrushes around my macbook, so I tested it again and believe it or not, my cursor would jump around when I turned on my toothbrush!

The solution is

Go to

Launchpad -> System Preference -> Network -> Thunderbold Bridge (Turn it off).

Now the problem is gone and my trackpad just comes back normal.

Ok so I was having this problem and thought it was the static electricity or the place being too cold but that was incorrect. I actually figured it out when I plugged in my iPhone to charge as well and it too started behaving a little weird wrt touch.

Turns out there seemed to be something in the electrical supply either interference or something crazy cause when I unplugged the laptop from the power supply the mouse worked smoothly and when plugged back in it started to jump around on touch.

Hope this helps someone out there. I probably suggest getting a line conditioner or something.

Ps I was at a mall so who know what they have plugged in into their power supply.

The reference to the TS1449 Apple Support page hs limited value. Like many others (apparently), I have gone through the motions suggested in the paper, but it does not cure the problem. Also, it does not address the issue that the problem seems to occur more frequenly after installing Mavericks.

Yeah, 2014 and this issue is still out there. I'm glad I'm not the only going nuts out there.

Experienced this with my 1.5 year old external magic track pad (MTP). Decided to purchase a brand spanking new one. Same issue.

My current work around is placing my pinky along the right edge of the MTP and then doing what I need to do with my index fingur or index and middle fingure, etc. It's almost as if the grounding is not working properly.

2012 MBA13

10.8.5

Using very new sanyo eneloop rechargable AA batteries.

My desk surface is glass.

A lot of electronics in the home office but again this is something recent. April 2014ish.

I'll keep an eye on this thread. Thanks to all the folks out there providing suggestions.

MenesesInc wrote:

Yeah, 2014 and this issue is still out there. I'm glad I'm not the only going nuts out there.

Experienced this with my 1.5 year old external magic track pad (MTP). Decided to purchase a brand spanking new one. Same issue.

My current work around is placing my pinky along the right edge of the MTP and then doing what I need to do with my index fingur or index and middle fingure, etc. It's almost as if the grounding is not working properly.

2012 MBA13

10.8.5

Using very new sanyo eneloop rechargable AA batteries.

My desk surface is glass.

A lot of electronics in the home office but again this is something recent. April 2014ish.

I'll keep an eye on this thread. Thanks to all the folks out there providing suggestions.

You know every once in a while I throw on the old track pad just for the heck of it. Always hoping that someone in the apple operation has decided to fix this. Alas appears not to be! Usually takes lress than a few seconds for areas to sudenly become highlighted, for pages I didn't click to open etc. If the devices were once magic they are now dark magic 😟 $150 dollars worth of paperweights! Maybe we have to wait for Yosemite for goodness sake. Not fixing things like this in Maverick before launching the new and best thing is always a mistake.

George in NY

Love apple, Maverick not so much

Glad to hear that I was not the only one with this issue!!!!

Having investigated the matter (and bought two new trackpads since), I discovered an interesting point:

My Mac Mini is positioned right next to two screens and one back-up Mini. When the back-up Mini was powered on, the trackpad had problems - when it turned it off, it stopped. Tried the same with a portable hard drive - same result. Untechnical conclusion: seems to be an interference issue with other (powered) peripherals or computers...... (happy to stand corrected).

JWSfrom NY wrote:

Glad to hear that I was not the only one with this issue!!!!

Having investigated the matter (and bought two new trackpads since), I discovered an interesting point:

My Mac Mini is positioned right next to two screens and one back-up Mini. When the back-up Mini was powered on, the trackpad had problems - when it turned it off, it stopped. Tried the same with a portable hard drive - same result. Untechnical conclusion: seems to be an interference issue with other (powered) peripherals or computers...... (happy to stand corrected).

To me simple, non-technical, thoughts. Magic pad and mouses working great. Downloaded Maverick never worked right again. SOFTWARE! Nothing moved, added, deleted from desk or operational devices in room etc. Many have come up with stand on one foot, hop twice then use left middle finger while singing Nathiopnal Anthem tyoe work arounds. Fix the software!!! It worked for years, then it didn't!

George in NY