Possible temporary fix for a glitchy trackpad

After being glitch free for a while my trackpad started to annoy me recently. About a month ago, I was trying to find a fix for the infamous SMS cold start issue and as a by-product cured my trackpad. Well, that was temporary but anyways. I was not quite sure what was the cure since I tried a lot of things (including resetting PMU and NVRAM) but finally i was able to identify it:
Delete
/System/Library/Extensions.kextcache
/System/Library/Extensions.mkext
and reboot. These are two kernel extension cache files and will be rebuilt upon reboot. As usual, be careful when working with system files.
So, if you have a glitchy trackpad you might want to give this a try. Last time it fixed my trackpad for 2-3 weeks, but your milege may vary.
PowerBook G4 15'' 1.67GHz   Mac OS X (10.4)  

For the first time since I got my PB over a year ago, my trackpad started behaving erratically, possibly related to the 10.4.5 upgrade. Resetting the pad by holding my palm over it would help for awhile, but had to be done several times/day.
This seems to have done the trick for me, thanks.
-Dan

Similar Messages

  • Possible temporary fix for mouse scroll wheel problem in Lion

         This is a potential temporary fix for those users of Lion who are unable to fix the reversed mouse scroll wheel issue. I myself have a Microsoft Arc Mouse (not the touch version but the original version) and when I went into the mouse system preferences there was no checkmark box option to return the scroll wheel to its original configuration. When I called Apple about it I was told it's an issue with Lion not recognizing the mouse as being able to reverse the scroll wheel and that Microsoft will need to update the firmware to allow for this change. On a whim, I tried out my wife's Logitech mouse (can't remember the model but it's a fairly recent one) and checked the system preferences. This time there was the checkmark box to allow the scroll wheel to be returned to its original configuration and I could use the scroll wheel as normal. When I plugged my Arc Mouse back in, the scroll wheel had reverted to its original configuration of rotate the wheel down for down scroll and up for up scroll.
         So, for those of you who are unable to correct your scroll wheel through preferences, you might want to try plugging in another mouse, making the correction in system preferences, and then plug your original mouse back in.

    I mean it. Apple makes major changes in the way things have worked for years, then makes that change the default, causing 1m people to struggle. Bad Bad App le.
    There other changes like this in Lion as well, which are arbitrary and are "App le" policy now, which even App le themselves do not follow! (e.g. Cmd-Delete for "Don't Save" in a few App le applications, where 900 million people have used Cmd-<first letter of button> already, for years)
    And yes, I did have to go next door and borrow a mouse. "Why?" they said... "I have a Mac" I said. "<laughter> get a real computer" they said. App le does itself no favors by pulling this stuff.
    Many of us cannot buy new equipment when arbitrary changes are made, and "get a new driver" is a slap in the face, especially when such changes as Reversing scroll for many-millions could easily be done by making the "new way" an Option, not a default.
    Don't get me wrong, Mac and iPhone etc are way ahead of MS and all, but the rabid arrogance inside App le is App aulling.

  • SMU reset offers temporary fix for lost firewires

    So my folks have a 17inch G5 iMac (running Tiger), and they have been experiencing several problems that seemed to originate as a problem with the SMU: failure to go to sleep, failure to wake up, slow start ups, slow shutdowns, faster running of the fan, and finally the loss of data (not power) to the firewires. The final one is the major deal breaker because and for almost two years now my family has been using iChat as our major form of communication.
    So I'm home for Thanksgiving and yesterday I reset the SMU, and EVERYTHING was fixed, firewires were back, it was going to sleep, I was hailed as a hero lol... etc...
    Tonight when my mom tried to put it to sleep it wouldn't, so I went and checked in the system profiler, and the firewires are gone again.
    Should I just reset the SMU again and hope for the best? and if this IS a temporary fix, what's the real problem and how do I fix it?
    Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

    Here some more stuff you can try:
    1. Downloading and installing the combo updater of the system software update you've just applied via "Software Update...".
    2. Another trick is to restart each by zapping the parameter RAM:
    Zapping the P-RAM:
    After the startup tone, hold down <commandd><option><r> until 3 additional startup tones are heard, then release the 4 keys.
    3. A 3rd tip would be to do Open Firmware reset:
    After the startup tone, hold down <command><option><o><f> until the text screen is visible. When text can be entered, type the following commands, followed by the <return> key (there are no space characters in each command):
    reset-nvram
    set-defaults
    reset-all (the Mac will boot up after this command is entered)
    Let us know if you regain your heroic status,

  • Temporary Fix for Smart Playlist order bug

    I stumbled across a Smart Playlist that was keeping the correct order and discovered why.  It was a Smart Playlist that contained 2 other Smart Playlists.  The original Smart Playlists didn't keep their order but the new one that combined them did.  So I experimented on a few other Smart Playlists by making new Smart Playlists that only contained another Smart Playlist.  And it works.  I've also been able to keep Live Updating enabled.
    Hopefully this will help everyone who reads this get by until Apple fixes this bug, which they seem to reintroduce about once a year.

    I'm sorry but none of these suggested fixes work, including sort before sync, media kind as music, not referring to other smart playlists, turning live update off, setting Play Order; nothing worked. Plus, on large smart playlists (2000+ songs), not only were they not ordered correctly but the phone (4S no less) pauses 20 seconds to think every time you go into the playlist after a sync.
    In fact the only "fix" for me was Apple's last suggestion in their KB article on the subject of smart playlists not syncing in order: in iTunes select my smart playlist, then select all, then make a new playlist (using I believe Edit/New Playlist) based on that selection (which is now not smart), order as needed and sync. It works great but of course the list is now is non-self-updating and I have to manually update it when I add new songs. Not a big deal but still a pain.
    For me, order is critical only on my Recently Added playlist, so I went manual with that one. The others I tend to shuffle so the lack of ordering isn't as big of a deal.

  • Potential work around/temporary fix for "backup did not complete"

    Hey guys,
    I was able to backup my phone when I first got it and then I tried backing it up one day and it stopped working... after reading online about some apps causing problems, I decided to try and delete some of the latest ones I installed. Doing one at a time I eventually was able to backup, when I thought I found the "bad app" I re-installed one of the first apps I deleted, wouldn't backup again... turns out it wasn't any particular app (in my case).
    Anyway! all this to say, that I think I found the issue some people are having. If you're application data is more than 675MB (give or take), Blackberry Link won't backup (for me)... I would backup my phone with whichever app at 672MB's, it would backup no problem, as soon as I would install another one, it would boost it up to 677MB's or above and it would be a no go... no particular app... I'm just guess 675MB, seems like it would make sense as a number.
    Anyway, I'm curious if this is the case for other people. What is everyone's application data size at, who are having this issue? If any of you can, try going below 672-675MB and see if it works. Incase you don't know how, to view how many MB's you have, go to Settings within BB Link with your phone selected, and then check "Select data to include in your backup files"... give it a minute or so to load.
    Hopefully this can be a fix for some people out there, until BB releases a patch.
    Mike

    Turns out this may be caused by Android Apps sideloaded. Try backing up just your settings. When you in BB Link click the Phone Tab than Click the Settings Gear and you can change what items the phone backs up. Try just the settings at first.
    If that works and you have Android apps loaded you may need to remove the Android Apps.
    BlackBerry needs to add better error messages or at the very least have error codes.  Not having error codes really makes troubleshooting a pain.

  • Temporary Fix for battery drain for iOS 5

    After going through various recommendations, the following worked for me:
    1. Notifcations - Settings -> Notifications
         Under the 'In Notifcation Center' category, select Calendar and turn the Notification Center option 'OFF"
         This seems to be the main problem for those that have their exchange accounts synced with their phones.
         In addition, I also removed all other items from Notification Center except for Weather and it seemed to slow down the battery drain considerably.
    2. Location Services - Settings -> Location Services
         You can see what apps/services have been using or currently using the location service by noticing a grey or purple arrow next to the line item. Go through what items have the location service ON, and see if you really require some of them to access your location information, the less the better.
    This helped a LOT: Scroll down to the bottom and access 'System Services'. Under 'System Services' uncheck all except 'Cell Network Search', .Compass Calibration' & 'Traffic'.
    3. Let the battery drain completely until the phone switches off on its own, then charge it to 100% without using the phone. Not sure if this really helped, but I wanted to try as many options as possible.
    I think the drain is due to a combination of different issues, and hope Apple release a patch soon to fix this annoying problem, till then I hope the above helps.

    The 3G option. WHEN that option is off, iphone is connected to your operators 2g network! Because 3G has often weaker signals then 2G
    Good luck!

  • Temporary fix for headphone jack prob

    so my headphone jack for my first gen zen died the second time. This time I was just not interested in spending another $40 bucks. I was kind of frustrated because I actually loved this zen. And it was also interfering with my ego because I converted many of my friends/coworkers from ipod to zen and did a few tests in the past for some sites on soundquality and audiomark etc for zen vs ipod vs iri'ver.
    anyway, this time I decided that I will buy another player. Yeah, I collect gadgets. I have an ipod, this zen and GB rio karma. I obviously wanted another zen but decided to wait until zen fixes this headphone problem. Also there are some new players coming in like toshibas gigabeat and a few others.
    So I had already given up on my zen and before abandoning it, I thought maybe I should see whats inside.
    . I opened the top cover.
    2. pulled the PCB where headphone socket li'ves.
    3. sprayed some air duster on it. no luck
    4. rubbed the socket and parts with alcohol....no luck.
    5. then I noticed that if I press the headphone pin in a certain direction, both the channels work fine. Now this was a good clue.
    6. Instead of pressing the headphone pin, this time I pressed the PCB in that direction. A microscopic view would tell that when I press the PCB in that direction, the pin hits that holy G-spot in the socket. Now again both channels work perfectly.
    7. Now to get it to work properly, my options are: set either the headphone or the PCB in that right direction. -- of course the choice is PCB.
    8. I put a piece of foam on that pressure point on the PCB and immediately covered the player with the top lid. I plugged the headphone in to check if everything is ok. yes it is. That was a good sign.
    9. After putting everything together, I moved the headphone pin in every possible direction and exerted some pressure. No problems...everything is fine so far.
    0. Then I put it in my pockets and took a walk. everything is fine.
    I dont know how long will it last. But if it reappears, i will try the same one more time before shelving the player.
    *Apologies,if this fix has been posted before also. I have not searched*

    I will take some pictures this weekend if it doesnt stop working.
    Bloodangel05 wrote:
    If you get an ipod i will hunt you down and burn it...Naaa im just NOT joking
    You have no idea how much I hate ipod and all these hipsters with white string running from their ears to their pockets. These die hard iPod fanatics are a bigger threat to the world than global warming.

  • Temporary fix for me - Reset Network Settings

    Went to the genius bar with my 3G issue yesterday. Reception was impeccable at the store. Guy suggested I reset network settings when it acts up. That has worked for me today BUT I cannot imagine having to do that ALL OF THE TIME.
    It annoys me that there is no real discussion about this issue from Apple or AT&T. I'll hang tight until the next software/firmware update but I'm going to harass AT&T for a credit. IT NEVER WORKS.
    And don't tell me I'm a baby for complaining about it. The biggest advantage (and most publicized reason) for upgrading DOESN'T WORK.

    Connecting to data (especially 3g) has been a problem for me since installing 2.02. I'm anxious awaiting 2.03 (or 2.1, whichever comes first
    I had been shutting off the phone to trigger it to connect to the network. Then, I read a tip shared here about turning airplane mode on/off. That's worked pretty well for me as a temporary workaround.
    Agree with you, though. It can get pretty frustrating.

  • [Athlon64] Possibly THE fix for the RS480M2!

    No, not a joke about liberal use of a sledgehammer here... 
    Okay, I think, after literally about two dozen reinstallations of Windows, that I have narrowed the problem (all of them - Depending on other settings, I can reproduce just about all of the complaints I've seen here, but this one seems to cause the actual underlying flaw that the rest simply modify) down to a single BIOS (v3.3) setting:
    Set your MPS mode to 1.1 (this requires turning APIC on first, and you should then leave it on).  You might want to clear CMOS first (note that neither of the "official" methods actually do a full clear, you must unplug the system and take the battery out for a few hours.
    As I understand it, this should have no real meaning on a single-processor board, but it makes a world of difference.  I had commented about a week ago that turning off APIC seemed to help, but not entirely.  I now see that I should have explored that partial fix just a little bit further.  Well, at least I finally got it right.   
    If anyone can confirm this on their own box with a similar setup to my own, it would probably help a LOT of people out.
    Note that I have not tried the 3.4 BIOS, and since I finally have this miserable board working, I probably won't flash the BIOS again until/unless I absolutely need to for dual core support (if MSI even decides to support them on the RS480M2 line).
    As a warning, you will need to reinstall windows after changing this - at the very least, a repair install - in order to fully benefit from it (and quite likely, Windows won't even boot anymore after changing this, until you reinstall).  With XP pro (SP2 slipstreamed), you should only need the MSI drivers for the audio, video, and SMBus (and I installed AMD's Athlon 64 drivers for XP as well, though you don't totally need to, unless you want C&Q to work correctly).
    If a couple people post negative responses, I'll post my full BIOS settings some someone to try.  But, I think I reduced the problem to this one setting.

    @pla
    I'm all for tweaks that stablize the ATI motherboard. On the surface I don't see how changing the MPS from version 1.4 to 1.1 will do anything. MPS version relates to Multi-Processor Specification. It should only affect multi processor boards. I would be surprised if it actually did anything on the RS480M2. Especially since it is such a legacy setting that only affected operating systems prior to Windows NT.
    That being said, I'm game to try other settings and there is the remote chance that this change could affect how IRQs are handled by the board. The following is a quote from Intel about the differences in MPS 1.1 vs 1.4.
    "MPS version 1.4 added extended configuration tables to improve support for multiple PCI bus configurations"
    I still have a PCI TV Tuner problem that I think is related to IRQ conflicts with the onboard NIC. I'll try it and see if it does anything for me.
    -jonatj

  • T500: Fix for Faster mouse/trackpad

    For the longest time, I had wished my t500 touch pad would go faster than the max that vista will allow.. and I finally figured it out.  If you run regedit, and then look under the current user -> control panel -> mouse menu, there is a mouse speed value.  Change it from 1 to 3 or 4, and your good to go!
     Moderator note: Type added to subject line for clarity.
    Message Edited by Agotthelf on 02-07-2009 08:36 AM
    Thinkpad T500 - Intel Core2 P8400 (2.26GHz), 4 gigs of ram, 160GB/7200rpm hard drive, ATI 3650 GPU, WSXGA+ panel

    I have IMac using Mavericks. I had a problem with an erratic magic trackpad and with the magic mouse. Not all the functions that I had set up were working and sometimes  there would be a partial freeze. I think I have resolved the problem by doing the following:
    1. Go to blue tooth and disconnect the trackpad and then pair it. Then do the same for the Magic Mouse.
    2. After they are reconnected, go to System Preferences and open up Trackpad and undo all the functions and then turn them on again. Do the same with the magic mouse.
    So far, this is working.
    (I also moved a cordless phone further away, but I don't think this made any difference.

  • Temporary Fix for the New ATV Video Jitters

    I have tested this across 5 different 2010 Apple Units, using a different HD rental on each one, and found that it worked 100% of the time. This is just a temp fix but it will allow you to watch your movies without the jitter issue.
    1. Rent Movie and begin watching.
    2. Keep track of buffer level by checking white progress meter (up or down arrow on remote)
    3. White progress bar is the buffer. When it reaches the end (100%), this is when the jitters will start.
    4. Reboot the ATV (Unplug power then plug back in)
    5. Restart the movie. The buffer should still be full and it will playback without issue.
    You may also be able to just rent and not start watching until the buffer fills. Not sure how that works. Point is let the movie buffer completely then reboot your ATV for smooth playback.

    So far I have tried and SD movie I had in my iTunes library that was purchased from the iTunes Store, and HD video from my 7D I converted and added to iTunes library and watched several HD trailers from the "In Theaters" section on the ATV. None of them showed jittered after buffer completed. So far for me it has been HD rented content done so directly through the ATV.
    Looking for a full movie to test now.
    Message was edited by: rz22g

  • Possible simple fix for itunes store issues

    Was having the same problem with my Macbook Pro and iPhone 3gs. Could not login/download app updates etc. despite having the same account for several years.
    Here's what worked for me......
    Go to the apple store (not iTunes store) and log in to your account as normal.
    Click on change account information.
    Change the email address to a different valid email address and click continue.
    Click on change account information again.
    Change the email address back to the original email address and click continue.
    Hopefully, if you now try logging in to your iTunes account, all should be fine and dandy!!!
    I hope this helps with Windows too

    Unfortunately, this did NOT work for me. I am still stuck and have done everything. I lost my original user name and now have my long email address as my user ID... bummer. Also, I had a very simple password that I lost, too, because I was trying to reset things. Also, a big bummer!!'
    This is day 4 for me now and I am still not able to use my credit card!!!

  • Possible simple fix for Yosemite freeze/high CPU etc

    Short version:  Update tom latest version of Dropbox client for OSX
    Description:
    Running OS X 10.10 on 2011 MBP w/ 840 EVO SSD
    Everything was running great for a week or so, then started experiencing high CPU usage, and ultimately the system would stop responding.  Lot's of strange error messages in syslog brought me to the forums, but no answers.
    Initially, I thought the trouble was caused by 3rd party kext's loading since I had disabled signing and forcibly enable trim.  In the end, I disabled trim and reset the driver signing to defaults and followed basic troubleshooting posted elsewhere here to regain control:
    Boot safe mode
    SMC reset
    PRAM reset
    After this, I enabled trim, etc but ran into trouble yet again.  So I started looking at apps one at a time.  I downloaded and installed the latest Dropbox client, and everything has been great since.  I believe (in my case) the older version of Dropbox that had not been updated since Mavericks seemed to be the culprit.  I wrongly assumed that this couldn't happen due to Sandboxing, but I'm not a software engineer.
    Hope this helps.
    BKå

    Unfortunately, this did NOT work for me. I am still stuck and have done everything. I lost my original user name and now have my long email address as my user ID... bummer. Also, I had a very simple password that I lost, too, because I was trying to reset things. Also, a big bummer!!'
    This is day 4 for me now and I am still not able to use my credit card!!!

  • What is a temporary fix for a cracked screen?

    My MBP 8,1 screen cracked today (seemingly spontaneoulsy). I will under few circumstances be sending this in for apple to repair at a rate of $500-$1400, which I understand will be the price. I will wait for it to worsen. Right now, it is just on the perimiter, but there are several "sub-cracks" that I hear bending and scraping under the slightest pressure (i.e., moving the screen). It will worsen at this rate, but can I slow it? I was thinking a screen protector to hold it together, but I won't be giving apple anymore money without knowing it will work first.

    hxtk wrote:
    My MBP 8,1 screen cracked today (seemingly spontaneoulsy). I will under few circumstances be sending this in for apple to repair at a rate of $500-$1400
    If you are still under warranty, call Apple Care and get a case number.  The repair will be free.  If out of warranty, do a repair search over on the following sites - Do-It-Yourself Laptop Repair, YouTube's 'How To' video tutorials and FixYa

  • Temporary Fix for custom folder icons now working in dock...

    First of all, this is kinda simplistic and you will NOT be able to use stacks with it. When you click these icons, the folder will open in finder immediately. All you have to do is create an alias to the folder you want and then drag the ALIAS to the dock. Works perfectly for me.

    sorry, title should be not working in dock.

Maybe you are looking for