panizbh

Q: Trackpad on mac book is going crazy!

My trackpad on my Mac Book Pro isn't really responding to my touch. It starts spazing out and does it's own thing with it's own movements (open files, close tabs, changes pages, opens, closes etc.)

I can barely move it also.

Is there anything I can personally do to fix this? I turned off all shortcuts like zooming in, rotating etc. other than the basics, and it works a little better. But once I turn it abck on, it eventually goes crazy again.

Help please!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Sep 1, 2013 2:11 PM

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Q: Trackpad on mac book is going crazy!

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  • by mobimation,

    mobimation mobimation Jun 21, 2014 9:51 AM in response to cosmicten
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 21, 2014 9:51 AM in response to cosmicten

    I also vote for the potential cause of the mousepad going wild that some moisture collects around the edges. I often show a habit of cleaning my Macbook Pro using Window Cleaner spray that together with a micro fiber cloth returns the finish to a satisfying as-new splendor.  But these actions have more than once coincided with incidents of a mousepad with a life of its own. What speaks against this in my case is that a reboot often reinstalls stability.  I have seen cases where the phenomena starts after doing a two finger gesture on the keyboard such as sliding a view to the next one.

  • by kpictjl,

    kpictjl kpictjl Jun 29, 2014 7:41 PM in response to panizbh
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 29, 2014 7:41 PM in response to panizbh

    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.

  • by Liverpool Just,

    Liverpool Just Liverpool Just Jul 14, 2014 12:17 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 14, 2014 12:17 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Mine is working fine in safe mode. Any suggestions how I route out the problem?

  • by Liverpool Just,

    Liverpool Just Liverpool Just Jul 15, 2014 2:21 AM in response to Liverpool Just
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 15, 2014 2:21 AM in response to Liverpool Just

    Big thank you to Linc Davis. 4. Reset the System Management Controller. Worked a treat.

     

    You are a star.

  • by 0range5,

    0range5 0range5 Jul 15, 2014 6:35 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 15, 2014 6:35 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Mine's a 2011 iMac - I had the bluetooth trackpad constantly acting like I was holding it in 'click & drag'. Checked everything including the obvious. It started to behave normally when I moved a USB hub with a couple of (older) HD's away from the Mac. Only to about 18" away, but that seems enough.

     

    Cheers!

  • by A0V,

    A0V A0V Jul 25, 2014 4:32 AM in response to panizbh
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 25, 2014 4:32 AM in response to panizbh

    The glitch was caused by Google drive. Closing it solved the problem.

  • by aliciadvinc,

    aliciadvinc aliciadvinc Aug 7, 2014 4:20 PM in response to panizbh
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 7, 2014 4:20 PM in response to panizbh

    Hi

    The same thing happened to me after using some kind of household cleaner to clean the mousepad.  My MacBook seemed possessed!  Took it to the Apple Genius bar, and apparently, all household products can leave behind chemicals that affect the contact with the mousepad (i.e. they have an electromagnetic effect).  The fellow said to use only clear isopropyl rubbing alcohol (90%), which evaporates quickly and does not leave behind any residue.  He did that and that fixed things immediately for me.  There is also a test you can run (don't know which one it is) to make sure that the grid which lies under your mousepad is fully functional.  Mine was. 

  • by Purrrminator,

    Purrrminator Purrrminator Aug 9, 2014 6:28 AM in response to panizbh
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 9, 2014 6:28 AM in response to panizbh

    me bought the macbook air 11 (mid 2012) yesterday on second market. It was unused for 3 months before I turn it on. I've updated the Mavericks to ver 10.9.4 and then the trackpad problem appears(not sure if maverick update is the reason, but previous owner said the macbook worked fine and was unused last 3 months). Sometimes cursor loose  control and jump over the screen,  randomly generating two touch swipes. I tried to update os to yosemite but the bug is still there. I noticed that the issue appears most frequently while the macbook is getting hot while performing heavy operation.

    Tried to deassemble my macbook and clean the trackpad properly, checked the battery - looks fine, no bulges.

    Still no solution for the problem found.

    At this moment, I'm performing clean installation for maverick 10.9.4. Already got the trackpad issue at installation screen, so definitely not a software problem at all.

    Looks like the only one solution is to replace the trackpad

  • by Purrrminator,

    Purrrminator Purrrminator Aug 9, 2014 6:38 AM in response to panizbh
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 9, 2014 6:38 AM in response to panizbh

    My suspicion about the problem is that something inside macbook is going wrong while it gets hotter and it affects on the trackpad.

    Can anybody approve the suspicion?

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Aug 9, 2014 11:29 AM in response to Purrrminator
    Level 7 (30,924 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 9, 2014 11:29 AM in response to Purrrminator

    First, be aware that you should never use a second-hand machine as-is. You don't know what state the previous owner left it in. There could be malware on it, perhaps even intentionally placed there by the previous owner. There could be all manner of crap software installed. And the system's state is unknown - it could be damaged somehow.

     

    What you need to do is erase the hard drive, then reinstall whatever system it originally came with. Although written for the seller's perspective, see How to prepare your Mac for sale for information on how to do that. Do not try to restore backups of anything on the machine... unless the licenses were transferred legally to you, none of the third-party apps are yours, and cannot be legally used by you. Besides which, it's often not easily possible to restore apps from a backup. If the licenses were transferred, you can reinstall those apps from scratch once you have a clean system in place.

     

    This may very well solve your problem. If it doesn't, it's likely to be a hardware problem of some kind. For more information on possible causes, see:

     

    My mouse keeps moving around on its own, as if someone is remotely controlling my Mac!

     

    Finally, note that you should never trust what a seller says about a computer they're selling. They may tell you there's nothing wrong with it, but before you hand over your cash, you should verify that. Not turning the machine on for three months after purchasing it gives a dishonest seller plenty of time to hide his/her tracks.

     

    (Fair disclosure: The Safe Mac is my site, and contains a Donate button, so I may receive compensation for providing links to The Safe Mac. Donations are not required.)

  • by Purrrminator,

    Purrrminator Purrrminator Aug 9, 2014 11:33 AM in response to thomas_r.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 9, 2014 11:33 AM in response to thomas_r.

    Please note that I've already reinstalled the OS by ereasing the hard disk with following clean installation.

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Aug 9, 2014 11:43 AM in response to Purrrminator
    Level 7 (30,924 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 9, 2014 11:43 AM in response to Purrrminator

    Ahh, yes, I see that. Didn't read the end of your post carefully enough.

  • by Saadati,

    Saadati Saadati Aug 20, 2014 1:03 PM in response to A0V
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 20, 2014 1:03 PM in response to A0V

    Thanks. After uninstall Google Drive everything work fine.

  • by Saadati,

    Saadati Saadati Aug 21, 2014 11:25 AM in response to Saadati
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 21, 2014 11:25 AM in response to Saadati

    Sorry, I think this is a malware such as we start in safe mode everything is fine. we stop firefox then it will be ok so we remove that.

  • by LawsonStone,

    LawsonStone LawsonStone Aug 28, 2014 7:09 PM in response to panizbh
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Aug 28, 2014 7:09 PM in response to panizbh

    My wife has this problem. She normally uses an attached USB mouse, not the trackpad. But she had just used a hand lotion and briefly used the trackpad and it started going totally nuts. I'd never seen this behavior, but after reading the Apple support document on erratic trackpads, I used a mild glass cleaner to clean her trackpad and all was well. Hand lotion can do in a couple seconds what it takes weeks of skin oils and such to build up.

     

    Another reason to keep things clean!

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