Jittery, jumpy trackpad AND mouse

Question

Jittery, jumpy trackpad AND mouse

Bought a Magic trackpad years ago, has been working flawlessly - until recently. The cursor won't hold still, doesn't go far but takes many tries to get it on target. No new equipment nearby, no moisture or damage.... finally got to be annoying enough that I bought a new one. But - the new one acts exactly the same. Paired a Magic Mouse and got the same result from it, too:

Cursor gets jittery for a minute or two, and the only way to calm it down is to grab my monitor with the other hand and - in effect - ground myself. That's the only thing that seems to help. Both trackpads and the mouse. It only happens periodically, for a short time, with normal operation between spasms. Wondering if the PG&E "smart meter" nearby is interfering, as that is about my last/best guess. Any evidence of interference from smart meters?

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 30" Cinema display

Posted on Jun 17, 2015 7:50 PM

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Answer 1

seventy one

Level 7

27,460 points

Jun 17, 2015 10:15 PM in response to Motorcycle Michael

Interference comes from many (sometimes unlikely) sources. Here are some suggestions from Apple but if the smart meter operates between 2.4 and 5 GHz, that is quite a likely source.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201542

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Answer 2

Jun 19, 2015 1:49 PM in response to Motorcycle Michael

Do you Handoff running on your Mac? I had the same problems as you are reporting and a couple of threads suggested turning this off and it worked for me. Settings > General and take the tick out of Allow Handoff from this Mac and your iCloud devices.

Hasn't worked for everyone but it certainly worked for me.

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Answer 3

Jun 19, 2015 5:59 PM in response to mjsharples

You must be referring to settings on the iPad/iPhone, but in any case I'm not using any cloud services so there'd be no handoff. Machine is connected via ethernet. And since the jittery issue happens for a short minute or two at undetermined intervals, it almost has to be some automated, momentary interference.

Wonder how I might monitor my "smart" meter (without raising any hackles) to see it it coincides with trackpad jitters and if it is indeed transmitting in the 2.4-5GHz range....? Have to research online and will report back. I think the grounding effect is a clue, but not sure how or why. Certainly helps, can't hit the Reply button here unless I grab the monitor. Thanks to you both for the input!

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Answer 4

Jun 23, 2015 12:16 PM in response to Motorcycle Michael

Lots of misleading and conflicting info from PG&E on the subject of "Smart" meters; they claim to use frequencies in the 902-928MHz range, then specify 300MHz to 3GHz for their Silver Springs Network meters, which is what I have here. They also mention that transmissions happen periodically thru the day, which would fit my trackpad symptoms nicely. If meter is operating in the 2.5-3GHz range then, it's clearly suspect. Wonder how I might sample frequency and transmission times? It's only about 30 feet away. (According to PG&E, transmission strength would be near zero before it reached the driveway.)

Some independent (accurate) info about all this would be nice.

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Answer 5

Oct 21, 2015 3:18 PM in response to Motorcycle Michael

Seems clear to me that the Silver Springs Network meter from PG&E is causing interference.

Both should be avoided...

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Answer 6

Dec 5, 2015 3:52 PM in response to Motorcycle Michael

After months of intermittent irritation with fighting for control of the cursor on these two Apple trackpads, I've had to resort to a MacAlly wired mouse. Something about the combination of MacPro tower, Magic trackpad and proximity to "smart" meter is causing havoc on Bluetooth. Tired of it...

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