TrackPad on macbook pro troubles

Hello bretbreterson,

The following article provides a few troubleshooting steps that can help stabilize your built-in trackpad.

Portables and Magic Trackpad: Jumpy or erratic trackpad operation

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1449

Cheers,

Allen

Dugan is right, that article is useless.

My Late 2011 13" Macbook Pro is having the same symptons. I'm not entirely sure what's wrong, but I have tried a safe boot and I've cleard the PRAM to no avail. I'm assuming that it's a hardware problem. That said, here's what I've done about it so far:

Boot your computer in safe mode (hold the "Shift" key when booting). When I did this, my trackpad worked for a brief moment during which I was able to enable bluetooth. From there, if you have a wireless mouse or trackpad, use it. I'm sure you can also just use a usb mouse, although I haven't tried it.

At this point, I am able to use my cursor with my magic trackpad. No problem at all. This is what leads me to believe that it's a hardware problem. My advice, go to your local Apple store and have them run a diagnostic. Chances are, you can have the problem fixed for a fee.

Hope this helps.

Harumph! I got censored by Apple for saying the information provided by Allen A is worthless! --they're reasoning being "I was off topic." Welcome to the Brave New World.

Anyway, I suspect the problem is software, because after I installed driver software for my kensington slimblade trackball, the trackpad started working better and stopped jumping all around. It still isn't fully functional, but it's less erratic, which was making my Macbook Pro little better than a Frisbee.

I have an appt at the Apple store this afternoon, I'll share what they tell me.

That bites! If anything, that article Allen A shared is off topic.

Moving on though, I don't think that what you're describing sounds would be a software problem. Based on your analysis, it sounds like the trackpad's problem is still persisting (even if it's inconsistent). Inconsistencies like that scream hardware malfunction.

I've read elsewhere that this problem occasionally comes from the internal battery swelling and pushing against the trackpad. I don't think that that would neccessarily explain the jitteriness, but I'm certainly having problems clicking, so I'm going to do a partial teardown and see what I find.

Keep us updated on what the Apple store says, I'm interested to know! I'll see what my findings are. In the meantime, my macbook is still about as jittery as Michael J Fox. Poor guy.

I agree it's a hardware problem. While waiting for appointment--and not even TOUCHING my Mac Pro--the mouse cursor jumps all over, windows open and close, in short the computer has become 95% unusable. I also ran extensive virus checking and it's a clean machine.

What surprises me is it started all at once: no moisture, no excessive heat, no dropping, no installation of software...it just decided to go wacko all at once. One minute I'm signing an Adobe PDF document, with my trackpad (I'm getting better!), and after a 15 minute break, the computer decides to go ka-put.

Now I'm glad I paid the big bucks for one-on-one and computer repair. I don't usually do that.
Dugan

So does this mean that they're fixing it? What's the official diagnosis?

SO they're replacing the trackpad AND the battery. My guess is its a heat issue and they're keeping mum.

I am having the same problem today. On my 13 inch MacBook Pro from mid 2009.

I installed the latest Mac OS X update for Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and since then these issues have pestered me.

Unbelievable.

Apple genius techie did this and ran a diagnostic on my trackpad. There was a "dead zone" right up the middle and he said this would cause all the symptoms everybody has described. Accordingly he was ordered replacement of trackpad AND battery. Curiously, there was a burn spot in the center of the back of my Mac Pro, 6 months old. He observed and SAID NOTHING. Fortunately, I'm covered by warranty. Mine stopped after no damage, of any sort. No software change of any kind. And an extensive virus check revealed a clean machine. So I think the trackpad issue is an indicator of an underlying problem.

When a battery fails it can get very hot (causing burn spot on back) and swell and push against the bottom of the trackpad and damage it.

@Dugan Fairview

What was the cost for the trackpad and replacement battery and repair? Just asking. May have to do the same.

Thanks,

samthemacman

$310, all of which was covered by basic 1-year warranty. I also have extended warranty but don't need it...yet!

Dug

It's a conspiracy! Haha Apple is known to keep quiet about problems like this. Glad you're still in your warrenty. I, on the other hand, am not. Look's like I'm going to have to fix this problem myself. Thanks for your input dugan fairview. This has helped me tremendously.

The same thing is happening to me.

This thread has been great. Thanks to all who have posted. The trackpad on my MBP Retina 15" (purchased Jan 05, 2013) started doing the same thing LAST NIGHT (Aug 31, 2013). Out of the blue, and without me touching the computer, my pointer started moving about erratically and selecting objects left and right and wreaking all kinds of havoc on my desktop. I could only get slight control of it by using a USB mouse. So, I went into Settings->Accessibility and selected "Ignore built-in trackpad when mouse or wireless trackpad is present". This enabled me to use a USB mouse and regain control of the pointer, which is vital for me as this laptop is my work computer as well and I cannot perform my engineering job without it!!!

I did try cleaning the track pad (which I do every night anyways) and using a toothpick to clean around the edges (which were already spotless). No good. Tried all the diagnostics (disk verify, permissions verify) and reinstalling OS X 10.8.3. All no good. Problem persisted.

So, I have an appointment with the Genius Bar on Tues and am hoping they can fix it with a new trackpad and battery as per Dugan's experience above. However, this eposode - as well as an earlier one in which I lost the ability to log into the computer, solved by reinstalling the OS - has eroded my confidemce in this product for my job. Given these two problems, I almost a need a backup Mac of some kind in case this happens again! The whole reason I went through the pain of converting to Mac from PC earlier this year was so that I'd have some reliability for my job.

I have also taken to backing up every night to two backup drives in case of failure. Given that I'm into this rig for a good $4K with the laptop and all the additional hardware and software, I am not too pleased at this point. 😟