The trackpad on my Macbook Pro is acting crazy.

There are several possible causes for this issue. Take each of the following steps until it's resolved.

1. Follow the instructions in this support article.

2. Reset the System Management Controller.

3. If you're using a Bluetooth trackpad, investigate potential sources of interference, including USB 3 devices.

4. A swollen battery in a MacBook Pro or Air can impinge on the trackpad from below and cause erratic behavior. If you have trouble clicking the trackpad, this is likely the reason. The battery must be replaced.

5. There's a report that a (possibly defective) Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter can cause the built in trackpad of a MacBook to behave erratically. If you're using such an adapter, disconnect it and test.

6. There's also a report of erratic cursor movements caused by an external display that was connected but not turned on.

7. If none of the above applies, or if you have good reason to think your computer is being controlled remotely, remove it from the network by turning off Wi-Fi, disconnecting from a Bluetooth network link, and unplugging the Ethernet cable or USB modem, whichever is applicable. If the cursor movements stop immediately, you should suspect an intrusion.

If you trackpad is acting erratic, try reloading your computer from an older back-up and see if that fixes the issue. It did with mine when nothing else worked. I tried all the resetting suggestions, including removing the battery, adjusting the trackpad screw and trying to slide it over a bit. The only thing worked was to reload from an time machine old back-up. I went back a week, prior to my last two torrent downloads and it did the trick.

Hope that helps for others

Hi I'm had same problem then I noticed I must have turned the Mac upside down on the bed or something so the track pad must have shifted up wards u don't need to open it I just smaked the **** out of the track pad it self and it works perfect now ... sometimes u gatta slap things at the right place..... u welcome

what the heck are you referring too here? "ixed their problem by moving their trackpad (gently) to the right, since the trackpad seemed to be too snug on the left side of the macbook body edge it sits in."gal trackpad o

are you using an external trackpad or the integrated MacBook Pro trackpad?

and as others have asked if it is the internal how do you move it?

very curious, thanks to anyone who can answer this riddle ;-)

I tried many things including purchasing anti viral software disk clean etc however your solution worked in seconds.

I was not sure how to move the track pad however I noticed a larger margin above the track pad an the MacPro body so with my fingers pushing down, I slid the track pad upwards. Problem solved.

Have it checked for a swollen battery. Sometimes a swollen battery can press on the underside of the trackpad and make weird things happen.

For what it's worth, this has been a problem with macBook users for years.... Im my case, it turned out to be my use of SteerMouse... If I killed the steermouse APP, the erratic behavior of my trackpad was history... I have 3 macbooks... all three exhibit the same behavior... The behavior was apparent on every OS X since Leopard including the latest Mavericks.....

Hope this is some help.

PROBLEM SOLVED!

Thank the Lord! My mouse cursor was moving erratically, seemed to be opening tabs, maybe doing the equivalent of holding shift and dragging, minimized windows, etc. Pretty much the same problems I see on other's posts.

I tried dissonnecting WI-FI, then shutting off Bluetooth, Disconnected and Turned off my Bluetooth Mouse, disconnected my wireless keyboard nub from the USB port, tried shutting off my Macbook and restrarting. I even shut the lid of my Macbook and worked off my second monitor in clamshell mode. NOTHING WORKED.

I thought I was hacked or had some type of Malware for sure, but it was a simple fix that I found on another help board.

I clean my Mac, keyboard and mouse regularly and had just got done wiping everything with a cloth with a mixture of warm water and rubbing alcohol (recommended)

I saw on another board that someone fixed their problem by moving their trackpad (gently) to the right, since the trackpad seemed to be too snug on the left side of the macbook body edge it sits in.

I moved the trackpad over and it took care of my problem immediately.

It was comforting to learn that Malware on a Mac is in fact still rare and that it is unlikely that someone would hack into your computer to 'remote control' your machine and be obvious about it.

No ghost in the machine. Trackpad is incredibly sensiitive I've learned.

Share the knowledge!

Blessings!

Thank you, I have taken the battery(swollen) out of my old Macbook now working fine. First Class.

You are awesome, I just had exactly the same problem, cleaned my MBP and then got the crazy trackpad. I was stressing out until I saw your post. Thank you so much

How did you gently move the trackpad? this is happening to me and it's killing me!

I'm having a similar problem. At first I wondered whether it was a batter problem on my App Magic Trackpad so I replaced the rechargable rayovac's with the rechargeable engerizers I'd been using. Still have erratic behavior from a simple touch on the magic trackpad. Have they been known to go defetive this way?

Apple uses an "all devices active" philosophy, so make sure you are not getting input from any devices that are attached, but you are not actively using at the moment.

I had the crazy track-pad issue on our 13" Macbook Pro (mid 2012).

I could see a noticeable bulge in the battery and pushing down on all 4 corners of the track pad caused the problem to go away for a few minutes. This proved that the issue was hardware related.

I replaced the battery. But that didn't fix anything.

I then removed the track-pad and gave it a good cleaning. Lots of hard gunk had built up in the little gap between the track-pad and the metal case. I had to use a knife blade to scrape the gunk out.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Unibody+Model+A1342+Trackpad+Replacement/63 38

The cleaning seems to have fixed it good as new! I only wish I would have tried the cleaning BEFORE I bought a new battery.

My wife uses the MacBook (purchased in 2007) we have and both the wireless mouse and the touchpad were acting strange.

Turns out swollen battery #2 was pushing up against things. Removed it and everything is back to normal, except that we need another battery. The first swollen one was replaced free of charge about 4 years ago. Not sure we'll be so lucky this time.