My mouse ponter keeps jumping around

If you can reproduce this at any time then take the system to a Apple store to be checked out and fixed.

Look at this support article for a possible solution:

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

Occasionally a very thorough cleaning will restore the trackpad to normal operation.

Ciao.

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 another reason to think your computer is being remotely controlled, remove it from the network by turning off Wi-Fi (or your Wi-Fi access point), disconnecting from a Bluetooth network link, and unplugging the Ethernet cable or USB modem, whichever is applicable. If the cursor movements stop at once, you should suspect an intrusion.

8. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store to have the machine tested.

And then there's the comic.

On one thread on this kind of issue that I recall, the owner had totally forgotten he had a Magic Mouse coupled to the Mac. Little brat son had not and the rugrat amused himself by making Dad squirm every time he sat down to attempt work at home. True story, I kid you not.

I have gotten this twice before on my macbook.

Once after installing ill gotten booty goods ( pirated software )

another time after surfing some NSFK sites ..

both times... was able to clear it but seeing where I got it.. twice.. leads me to belive it's an basic attempt at malware or some other irriatation exploit. I think it's writting something to the EFI subsystem. As my jumpy mouse would stay jumpy ever after power down and re-load into Windows 7 bootcamp. ... to me that's something low level that can stay in that condition between OS.

Follow the correct procedure and reset the SMC

Immediatly after reset the PRAM. I hold down the keys a bit untill it resets several times.

Not once has "SAFE MODE" solved the trouble.

SOLVED (at least in my case)

I've been dealing with the same problem and similar issues in this topic https://discussions.apple.com/article/TS1449

MacBook Air

13-inch, Mid 2011

Processor 1.7 GHz Intel Core i5

Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3

Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 (11G63)

The trackpad started to have a life of its own about 10 days ago, apparently out of the blue. The cursor would shake, jump, click, select, move files, etc. Plugging in an external USB mouse would make it more controllable, but I still wasn't able to click, right click (just from time to time) which made no sense. Rebooting in safe mode (and all other boot modes) didn't seem to make the issue go away either.

I've tried all the steps posted by Apple and Linc Davis above, without any success, over and over (resetting the SMC and PRAM/VRAM, uninstalling various software, cleaning the trackpad, tried disabling it from Universal Access, pressed all four corners and surrounding case, etc). The troubleshooting process was painful and useless.

I wasn't even able to tell if it's a hardware or software problem. I got to the point where I wanted to take the case apart myself, because my machine is out of warranty, but luckily I couldn't find a pentalobe screw (since nobody sells them).

Today I somehow thought about opening the Console (like the built-in OS X log console). I noticed the following reocurring error message being logged every 5 seconds:

kernel: SMC::smcReadKeyAction ERROR F1Mn kSMCBadArgumentError(0x89) fKeyHashTable=0x0xffffff800a89e000

Researching this on the web returned issues related to monitoring tools and widgets such as: iStat, fan or temperature monitors, etc. I had iStat installed and active and also several older fan speed monitors. I then:

1. completely removed them with App Cleaner;
2. deleted any remaining related files from Library > StartupItems;
3. also from Library > LaunchAgents (actually I completely removed this one);
4. also from Library > LaunchDaemons (actually I completely removed this one);
5. deleted any remaining related files from System > Library;
6. rebooted w CMD+R and used Disk Utility to repair and broken File Permissions or bad sectors;
7. rebooted again;

And it worked, the error and the symptoms are completely gone.

I'm really puzzled why nobody suggested opening up the Console in the default troubleshooting guide. I guess Apple would rather have geniuses busy running basic commands instead of actually helping us customers nail down the source of all this nonsence.

Anyway, I chose this post since it's the freshest one, but I guess it might apply to other cases as well. But, in general and unless there's obvious physical damage, please consider this a software issue first and do not dispare, nobody's taken over control of your machine 🙂

Try replacing your charger.

Wow...amazing! Yep...pulled out my charger and pointer worked perfectly. Thanks!