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Macbook Pro cursor jumping around

My cursor for my macbook pro is jumping around? anything I can do to fix it?

MacBook Pro

Posted on Aug 22, 2013 8:21 AM

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Posted on Jun 7, 2017 8:49 AM

I have had the same problem, literally for years. Drove me nuts. Took it to the Genius bar more than once but, when I would try to demonstrate the problem, it would not fail in the store. The Geniuses said I was getting Bluetooth interference from my neighbors. Took the machine back home and, sure enough, it started failing again. Finally, at the urging of my wife - who was weary of listening to me cursing all the time - I bought a USB keyboard (Das) for $150, the kind that makes each keystroke sound like old-fashioned IBM electric typewriters. Plugged it in, with an Apple Bluetooth track pad. Voila! Problem vanished.


Moral of this story: The Mac Pro built-in keyboard is crap if you are a fast typist. It doesn't matter how you adjust the keystrokes and pressure, it is total crap. I am angry with Apple about this because the jumping cursor has caused me many hours of frustration. (I am a writer, an author). Anyway, now you know. Go buy a USB keyboard. I have the Das, but maybe others work as well. Bottom line is that the Apple built-in keyboard on the MacBook Pro is glitchy.

38 replies

Sep 5, 2014 9:55 PM in response to jdddcarlson

Hey I had this issue in my macbook pro. Seems its a hardware issue I just pressed my mouse pad from all four corners and then from centre for few seconds and the problem went away. I was thinking that some one hacked my computer but when i turned off my wifi it was still happening so i just went online and saw the solution in one of the threads and it worked very well for me. The cursor stopped instantly.

Jun 20, 2015 7:53 AM in response to jdddcarlson

To users who have problems with the cursor moving on its own, I had the same problem using os 10.10.3. I did not want to reinstall the OS and

my data. I purchased CleanMyMac3, and for the past week this problem has gone away. For my it was worth the $40.00 to purchase this program.

This problem was making almost impossible to use my Mac Book Pro. Hope that this suggestion is helpful and that it works for you.

Jun 20, 2015 8:34 AM in response to luis5255

luis5255 wrote:


I purchased CleanMyMac3, and for the past week this problem has gone away.


There is absolutely nothing that CleanMyMac could have done that would have affected this problem. What you observed was just coincidence. CleanMyMac is a scam, often installed alongside adware, and like all "cleaning" apps, has no real purpose. See:


The myth of the dirty Mac


(Fair disclosure: I may receive compensation from links to my sites, TheSafeMac.com and AdwareMedic.com.)

Aug 20, 2015 7:14 PM in response to jdddcarlson

In addressing this problem (which looks like it has been going on for quite some time) I thought I would post my own situation and solution (so far).


15" 2.53GHz MacBook Pro Mid-2009, 8 GB RAM, 500 GB hard drive, running Yosemite 10.10.5. About 4-5 days ago, the cursor was behaving erratically: jumping around, opening Launchpad, moving files and windows. I tried resetting PRAM and SMC, all to no avail. Also did the "hard push" on the trackpad and opened the back (but did not take out the battery, as I did not have the tools to do so) to see if there was moisture inside.


Solution (thus far): start the computer in Safe Mode. While I did not test any third-party programs, I did delete a Safari Extension that was not helping me or needed anymore (iGive.com). While I don't believe the extension was the source of the problem (the erratic trackpad behavior would happen even if Safari wasn't open) I do believe there were some file and/or directory issues causing the problem. I've had the computer on now for about six hours straight, and it has not jumped around yet (fingers crossed).


Thanks to all who have posted so far, especially Linc Davis. Good luck to all those still having the issue.

Nov 15, 2015 1:10 PM in response to Linc Davis

Linc,

thank you for your detailed suggestions; haven't tried them yet but will soon. My question is undoubtedly naive but here goes. If you always use external power, why should you need to change your batteries? How do batteries get "swollen"? How often do you recommend changing batteries? I have a MacBook Pro mid 2009 and other than a recent jumping cursor, have had no trouble with it. My desk top is my work horse, but my laptop gets plenty of use. Candace

Apr 27, 2017 1:43 PM in response to jdddcarlson

I've been having the same issue with my Macbook Pro as well-- first with the trackpad, then I purchased a magic mouse to see if it would solve the problem, but unfortunately it didn't. There seemed to be a correlation between the amount of power the mouse had and how wonky it was. At full power it is unusable, but as it loses power the cursor won't jump around as much. I tried the suggestions above, except for replacing the battery, and none of them worked. I explained the issue to my boss and he pointed out that my mouse is being used on a reflective white surface and since the magic mouse uses an optical sensor, that might be causing the jumps and increased sensitivity. So I flipped over my navy canvas notebook for a mousepad and the problem was gone immediately.


But why was it jumpy before I got the mouse? Still not sure... maybe a swollen battery?

Jun 19, 2014 5:39 PM in response to Linc Davis

Hey, Linc, as requested I am posting that my cursor behaved normally in safe boot mode. Two other important factors to include; occasionally the computer will shut down with a kernal panic error; and the cursor jumps around without clicking anything. So logically (I assume) I erased the hard drive, reinstalled os x and uploaded my timewarp backup. However the problem continues to persist.


Any solutions? I am wondering if maybe I should erase everything but the essentials from the backup, ie. documents, games, some apps, and erase the rest. Perhaps the problem is coming from something that I backed up in the hard-drive; is there a way to identify if the cursor jumping around is a result of the faulty operating system or something else?


Thanks, Ian.

Macbook Pro cursor jumping around

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