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Mouse or Cursor Problems

I have started this thread to gather posts together about the widespread problems in Lion and Mountain Lion (in my case causing my Magic Mouse to be a paper weight and replaced by a 5 year old tethered mouse. If anyone finds that these problems have disappeared in Mavericks, please post here.

Posted on Oct 23, 2013 7:00 AM

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29 replies

Nov 11, 2013 2:39 PM in response to SteveKir

Charles,


I have a 13" late 2009 Pro (not retina) that was recently upgraded to Maverick. Everything seemed fine at first but then bam, my trackpad got weird. I thought it was me the first day or two and then finally emailed Apple. They had me do a SMC reset (did it several times to no avail) and a NVRAM reset. Did that a few minutes ago and all seems ok, but this wouldn't be the first time I thought I had it fixed and didn't.


My cursor was jumpy, would scroll to random places, switch windows, highlight sections for no reason, disappear, and then click randomly...I have to assume it's a virus or Maverick, but I've had the update since the day it came out and it only started a couple of days ago.


I love Apple and my Mac but honestly, the OS upgrades appear to be nothing but hassle for me. When I updated from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion I lost the ability to use my wifi printer and after a few weeks working with Apple it was determined that only a complete system wipe and re-install would do the trick. Now after Maverick I have to constantly reset my trackpad. We'll see how it goes. I'm glad they are acknowledging it, but I wish they would acknowledge that it isn't just for 13"retina users, others are having the issue too.


If you want to try it, directions for both the SMC and NVRAM resets are on the support site.

Nov 11, 2013 3:17 PM in response to nicoled


nicoled wrote:


........

I'm glad they are acknowledging it, but I wish they would acknowledge that it isn't just for 13"retina users, others are having the issue too.

.......



I don't think that Apple, as a company, have acknowledged it. All that has happened is that the tech guy you contacted chose the usual two replies to any fault: "SMC reset and a NVRAM reset."


There have been mouse and cursor problems for many people since Lion in mid 2011. People have told Apple's support via their feedback site and otherwise many time since then but no solution (just the stock reply above but only to support requests).


I know that Apple read the posts on the discussions, and should be responding, but the only evidence that I have of them reading the posts over the years is the ocasional deletion of a post that is uncomfortably critical of Apple.


Now, in Mavericks, many people are finding that their Firewire external drives will not sleep, not even if you drag the icon to the Trash. You have to switch their power off! I don't expect that will be solved either. I have reverted to Mountain Lion, no problem (except the mouse problems of course) because I haven't found much in Mavericks that is better than Mountain Lion.


The mouse problem will never be solved. Just grit your teeth and curse Apple.


For Mountain Lion see:


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4142250?start=405&tstart=0


For Mavericks see:


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5470315?tstart=0

Nov 11, 2013 4:42 PM in response to SteveKir

Stevekir,

Apple may not be acknowledging the issues related to updates but they are acknowledging the track pass issue in general... Specifically for the new 13" Retinas... hence why I said for retinas and not for the rest of us. It's been in the news for the last three days.


You may be right and it will not get fixed for the rest of us... But I hold on to eternal hope and don't plan on giving up so easy. I understand I received a stock response but I also know the lengths that Apple went too when fixing my last issue, even though my Apple Care expired. I have the same faith in then this time too... and if your tracked issue is still happening even after you reverted back to the previous OS, then it isn't really a viable fix... I'll keep Maverick until they say otherwise.


Thanks

Nov 12, 2013 4:18 AM in response to nicoled

nicoled wrote:


Stevekir,

..........

and if your tracked issue is still happening even after you reverted back to the previous OS, then it isn't really a viable fix.......


Thanks

I think you mean from these words that either it is impossible for Apple to fix the mouse and cursor problem (which I don't believe—they wrote the OS after all) or it is not viable in the sense that fixing it does not fit into Apple's business plan, which would be really shocking. Unlike you, I have given up (after 2 1/2 years!)


However, it is good to know that Apple went to great lengths to fix your last issue.

Nov 22, 2013 10:41 AM in response to peteris103

I have reverted to Mountain Lion (because of the external-hard-drive not-sleeping bug) and I have found that if the mouse cursor/pointer disappears (effectively disabling the computer unless you have a trackpad), it can be recovered by opening SystemPreferences and selecting mouse, then pressing "Set up Bluetooth Mouse" then pressing "Done". This always works for me.


To make this easy, I keep Sys. Prefs open all the time and dragged to the left of the screen until only a small part of the "Set up Bluetooth Mouse" button is visible. When I press it that Sys Prefs > Mouse window opens. I then press "Done" and the widow returns to its dragged position.

User uploaded file

Nov 28, 2013 5:17 AM in response to SteveKir

I just did a clean install of Mavericks 2 days ago, moving from Snow Leopard. I don't have any Adobe software installed yet. My cursor keeps jumping off the screen no matter what program I am using. A couple minutes ago as I was reading this string, and not touching my mouse, the cursor jumped to the bottom of the screen then immediately jumped up to a tab on the top of my browser. It is like someone else has control of my mouse. Doesn't do it constantly, but at random times. I have to wait a few seconds before it will come back. So strange. Never had this issue with Snow Leopard.


I also should mention that I have both the wired & wireless Mac (mouses ? mice) connected. I've had this setup for over a year with no issues in Snow Leopard, so don't think it has any baring here.


Hope someone gets this figured out soon.


PegM


Message was edited by: PegM_4

Nov 28, 2013 1:29 PM in response to PegM_4

PegM_4 wrote:


.......

A couple minutes ago as I was reading this string, and not touching my mouse, the cursor jumped to the bottom of the screen

When using InDesign (and sometimes other programs) my mouse pointer will skite across the screen, scrolling the window and making it difficult to find my place again. This has happened in Lion and Mountain Lion also over the last 2 1/2 years. No solution.


But it is interesting that you get this without any Adobe software installed. Lots of people have blamed Adobe stuff, but your case shows that it isn't caused by them.

Mouse or Cursor Problems

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