Strange trackpad

Hi everyone
have a little problem with my trackpad, would be nice if you could help me.
my trackpad is not working, but in a strange way. i can move the little arrow as I like to, but the active corners nor the dock are reacting, neither can I click on something. this means I can do nothing with my ibook. first idea was, to reinstall max os x. to do that, i needed an external mouse. the mouse was working and so i was able to reinstall mac os x (without deleting. now i have an interesting situation: with my mouse (logitech) everything is working very well, but only until I am using my trackpad for a click. after this click, even my mouse is not working anymore (same situation like in the beginning) until i restarted my computer.
I am a long time windows user and changed my mind about a year ago. But I never had such a confusing problem with my computer.... please help! thanks in advance!

Try a hard reset:
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/forums/replypage/board-id/Hardware/message-id/78533
Reminder: Please select the "Accept as Solution" button on the post that best answers your question. Also, you may click on the white star in the "Kudos" button for any helpful post to give that person a quick thanks. These feedback tools help keep our community active, so you receive better answers faster.

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Strange Trackpad Issue - is it a problem?

Hello all,
My DVI p/book is more or less three years old now and has never given me any significent problems. As a long term apple user i have never been more pleased with one of their machines. The new macbooks are very impressive, but this laptop has served me so well i fully intend to keep running it until i need to upgrade.
A strange problem has started occuring - well, it's not really a problem more of an annoyance and i'm wondering if it's something to worry about. when i put my finger on the trackpad to tap or make a gesture, it makes a load "click" noise. it only happens as i put my finger on the trackpad.
resetting the trackpad with the palm of my hand stops this for a few minutes, then it starts again.
should i be worried? is my trackpad on the way out?
many thanks for any help
rich

Hi, Rich. In two years of reading every new post in the Tibook forums nearly every day, I don't recall ever seeing the behavior you describe reported before. Consequently, I have many more questions than answers for you.
Does the sound come from your PB's speakers? Does it stop if you mute them? Can you hear it through headphones, when headphones are connected?
Is it a static discharge? Can you see a spark accompanying the sound if you turn the display brightness all the way down and then touch the trackpad in a dark room? Do you feel any "electric" or tingling sensation when you touch your trackpad or any other part of your PB?
Does it make any difference how firm the contact is between your finger and the trackpad — i.e. if you sneak up on it very gently and barely touch it, is the sound the same as if you tap it firmly? Is there any physical "give" in the trackpad to suggest that the sound is produced by physical movement?
In the absence of any similar reports from others, I have no idea whether there is any software you might have installed that would cause this behavior. You might try creating a new user, logging in as that user and seeing whether the behavior persists. If it doesn't, that would suggest that you have some preference or setting or third-party software — peculiar to your normal user account — that is causing the behavior.
Please post back with further details. This is very interesting.

Strange trackpad issue

Hi
Last weekend my Synaptics trackpad started to behave odd, during boot up the mouse pointer is in the centre of the screen, then as the computer loads up it starts to move all over the screen by itself.. If I try to move it using the trackpad it will move in a straight line left to right or visa versa.. but it is difficult to move in any other direction.
If I do move it, as soon as I let go it moves backwards and forwards on it's own....
I have unistalled the device drivers and software, reinstalled this using recovery manager, then updated to the latest verson, but it still behaves odd.
If I let the notebook boot up, leaving it for a few minutes it will be OK.
It is as iff the trackpad is loading last... I have also tried cleaning the trackpad...
The notebook is an HP Envy 17-1050ea with Windows 7 64 Bit.
Any suggestions...
Stuart

Try a hard reset:
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/forums/replypage/board-id/Hardware/message-id/78533
Reminder: Please select the "Accept as Solution" button on the post that best answers your question. Also, you may click on the white star in the "Kudos" button for any helpful post to give that person a quick thanks. These feedback tools help keep our community active, so you receive better answers faster.

Very Erratic Trackpad Behavior - Heat?

The trackpad on my one-year-old MBPro has started exhibiting extremely erratic and intermittent behavior:
• Taps react as control-clicks
• Cursor jumps and becomes impossible to control
• Drags and scrolls behave unpredictably
The trackpad becomes impossible to use. Eventually, as now, everything returns to normal. I'm very experienced in the proper use of the trackpad, and am familiar with the 'phantom fingers' phenomenon, so no need to advise against keeping extra fingers and hands away from the trackpad.
This behavior has even occurred when standing well away from the computer: after fighting to control the cursor and restart the computer via the Apple menu, I left the room and returned to see a contextual menu of the Activity Monitor (set to auto-launch at restart) being self-activated.
I'm starting to guess that this is related to heat issues. In support of this theory, the following:
- This behavior was first seen a few months ago when I traveled to the south of France where it was quite warm, and the computer had been playing video for some time. The computer was indeed rather warm.
- Now it's summertime and the ambient temperature is warmer (though here in the Netherlands, it's not exactly tropical). The last two occurrences of this behavior (yesterday and today) have been hot sunny days. After allowing the computer to cool, the trackpad behaves as normal.
Others have reported strange trackpad behavior, but they seem to believe it is caused by defective or damaged hardware, or else user-error. It is often suggested they check their trackpad System Preferences. This post which supports my theory that this is indeed heat-related problem, also remarks that the problem is more likely when the battery is charging.
Can anyone offer advice, explanation or supporting arguments?
Thanks

Try using your laptop without the battery installed (ie remove the battery and run the laptop from the mains supply only), and see if that cures the problem.
If it does, then you have a warped battery casing, and will need to replace the battery.
The battery sits directly over the trackpad circuitry, so that if the battery casing warps, it presses against the trackpad circuitry and causes it to act as though you have pressed it.
If that doesn't cure the problem, then you probably need to replace the trackpad, itself.

Please Help SL - Everything 'quits unexpectedly' and top menu bar flashing

Please Help. Snow Leopard - Everything 'quits unexpectedly' and top menu bar flashing.
Basically, I have been using snow leopard for about 1-2 weeks now without any problems, apart from the strange trackpad expose glitch, but I can live with that. But a new problem has arisen that I CANNOT live with. Basically I plugged in my MiniDisplay > VGA adaptor and a Wacom internet tablet for the first time. And when it booted up rather than just the usual spinning gear, their was a progress bar as-well. Then it booted into Safe Mode.?
Everything was fine in safe mode apart from spotlight didn't work properly so I rebooted and this time it loaded normally. EXCEPT about 5 minutes after I logged on the top menu bar started to flash on and off about ever 1-2 seconds and virtually every single application would quit unexpectedly before even loading. I haven't really looked into it apart from a quick search on google which doesn't seem to bring up anything similar, but atm I am having to use my bootcamp partition with windows installed (shock horror :D) just so I can browse the internet.
Additional details -
I have tried resetting PRAM + NVRAM with no joy
While logging on (before it crashes), menu items (e.g. Airport, Battery Indicator, Facebook Notifier) all load up on the far right BEFORE the clock, which never happened before the problem, don't know if this will help isolate the problem, but its worth mentioning..
Don't really want to go down the fresh install route if possible, as I did this with leopard about 2 months before Snow Leopard was released

I noticed it some weeks after installing Snow Leopard, and didn't think much about it since I have a Wacom mouse, and the Wacom driver often has some little peculiarities at startup with the Mac OS--sometimes everything is perfectly ordinary, there will be an OS update and a little oddness shows up, the driver eventually gets updated and the oddness disappears until some other OS update, and so on. I just figured that was what it was until my brother asked about the missing the menu bar after startup, which reappears with a click. He doesn't use a Wacom mouse, but he does have some other 3rd party mouse. I don't know whether 3rd party mouse drivers are at fault or not. But it is not a problem with the SystemUIServer.....the entire menu bar is missing, not just a goof-up on the Spotlight end, where SystemUIServer is in charge of things. Since simply clicking the mouse brings the menu bar up I've never even bothered to check the logs to see if anything is noted there.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

My macbook pro is running very slow with some strange mouse and window movements. The trackpad is very unresponsive and when responding the cursor moves on its own and/or very erratically. When on safari the window suddenly zooms in or highlights words.

My macbook pro is running very slow with some strange mouse and window movements. The trackpad is very unresponsive and when responding the cursor moves on its own and/or very erratically. When on safari the window suddenly zooms in or highlights words and looks them up via dictionary. I currently have a wireless mouse connected and I am still having the same problems.
I fee like I may have a virus or my laptop is perhaps being accessed remotely. All of the sharing options are unchecked.
HELP PLEASE
Very worried!!

Try these in order testing your system after each to see if it's back to normal:
1. a. Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM
    b. Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
2. Restart the computer in Safe Mode, then restart again, normally. If this doesn't help, then:
     Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the
     COMMAND and R keys until the Utilities menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and
     after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears.
     Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
3. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.
     Reinstall the 10.9.2 update: OS X Mavericks 10.9.2 Update (Combo).
4. Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion, Mavericks: Reboot from the Recovery HD. Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion, Mavericks from the Utilities menu, and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
Reinstall the 10.9.2 update: OS X Mavericks 10.9.2 Update (Combo).

Very strange behaviour of mouse, trackpad and finder

As if there were a demon in my Mac:
- left mouse click doesn't work correctly
- left mouse click clicks by itself
- cursor sticks to objects on the screen and drags them around, from desktop, from safari, anything
- dock doesn't appear
- when I drag the cursor over objects it marks them without me clicking left mouse click, it also creates rectangles
- click another window, but it doesn't come in foreground
- when all these strange things happen, the mouse pad seems not to work, it doesn't click, it feels differently, doesn't make the usual clicking sound, doesn't move down
- the USB mouse is no better, though! (when all this happens)
... I can end this ghost in the machine only by forcing the Mac to shut down
... after that it sometimes works ok for a while... then IT happens again
... closing and opening the mbp helps sometimes
is it the software, is it the hardware, is it both?
(I repaired disk permissions, cleaned PR ram, scanned for viruses)
any ghostbusters around???
p.s.: all these thing do not happen when I boot from my windows partition on the same mac

There are several possible causes for this issue. Take each of the following steps that you haven't already tried until it's resolved. Some may not be applicable.
1. Follow the instructions in this support article, and also this one, if applicable.
2. Open the Bluetooth preference pane in System Preferences and check for unknown or forgotten input devices. Disconnect any USB input devices that you aren't using.
3. Boot in safe mode and test, preferably without launching any third-party applications. If you don't have the problem in safe mode, but it comes back when you reboot as usual, stop here and post your results. If you can't boot in safe mode, do the same. If you booted in safe mode and there was no change, go on to the next step.
4. Reset the System Management Controller.
5. If you're using a Bluetooth trackpad, investigate potential sources of interference, including USB 3 devices.
6. A swollen battery in a MacBook Pro or Air can impinge on the trackpad from below and cause erratic behavior. If you have trouble clicking the trackpad, this is likely the reason. The battery must be replaced without delay.
7. Press down all four corners of the trackpad at once and release. If there's any effect, it's likely to be temporary, and the unit needs to be serviced or replaced.
8. There's a report that a (possibly defective) Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter can cause the built-in trackpad of a MacBook to behave erratically. If you're using such an adapter, disconnect it and test.
9. There's also a report of erratic cursor movements caused by an external display that was connected but not turned on.
10. If none of the above applies, or if you have another reason to think that your computer is being remotely controlled, remove it from the network by turning off Wi-Fi (or your Wi-Fi access point), disconnecting from a Bluetooth network link, and unplugging the Ethernet cable or USB modem, whichever is applicable. If the cursor movements stop at once, you should suspect an intrusion.
11. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store to have the machine and/or external trackpad tested.

Trackpad began to behave very strangely

After installation Mac OS X v10.7 Lion on my MacBook Air trackpad began to behave very strangely. I just moving the pointer but it's clicking during the movings (closing windows, tapping links etc).
So, how to fix it?

48 hours ago, I installed Lion on my Macbook purchased in the spring of 2009. Everything seemed normal, until I went to type. Regardless if it was in Facebook to reply to a thread, Text Edit, Mac Mail, my cursor would erratically act possessed, cursor appearing in the middle of a blue highlighted portion of what I had just typed. I was cursing my Macbook, wondering what on earth was wrong!
I should state that when I installed Lion, it was from Leopard. I erased Leopard entirely from my hard drive from the Lion disk utility. I did my updates. Called Apple Tech Support today, ended up with a supervisor. Both people I spoke to were terrific. During this phone call, I was advised to reinstall Lion without erasing it from my hard drive. Just to reinstall over the top of what was already on my hard drive. Did this, and to my surprise two software updates arose for Airport Utility and iTunes!! Did those updates. It didn't require a reboot.
I still had erratic-possessed cursor problems. At this point, I went to my iMac desktop, unplugged my new keyboard, and plugged the usb keyboard into my Macbook. This worked beautifully. At this point the lightbulb turned on. With the wired usb keyboard plugged in, I shut down my Macbook. I unplugged the USB keyboard, and rebooted my Macbook. My Macbook keyboard, cursor, trackpad are now cooperating in the manner in which they should be.
I can only suggest to reinstall Lion, without reformatting your hard drive. Check for updates. Reboot. Try my external USB keyboard suggestion. GOOD LUCK!

How long should a battery last on a macbook air and why is my trackpad behaving strangely?

My macbook air is only 6 months old, but I have noticed the trackpad reacting strangely. Sometimes when I click once it clicks twice for me, and sometimes I only have to hover my fingers over the trackpad and it clicks for me. Is this the signal of the battery needing replacement already or something else? My nearest Apple store is 2 hours drive away so I don't want to go there if I don't have to, so advice would be gratefully received

Lindymac
I have been told that I should 1. drain it low at least once a month, and if it is 2. kept plugged in it will have a shorter life,
Yeah, whoever told you that told you the wrong thing.
You NEVER want to do a full discharge
Keep it plugged in when near a socket so you keep the charging cycles DOWN on your LiPo (lithium polymer) cells / battery.
*Contrary to some myths out there, there is protection circuitry in your macbook and therefore you cannot 'overcharge' it when plugged in and already fully charged
You certainly CAN leave your macbook plugged in all the time, take it off charge and drain the battery down to 15 or 20% every couple of weeks or so.
*However if you dont plan on using it for a few hours, turn it OFF (plugged in or otherwise), ...*you dont want it both always plugged in AND in sleep mode
LiPo (lithium polymer, same as in your macbook) batteries do not need conditioning. However...
LiPo batteries do NOT like to be dropped down to 15% or so often,....key word being "often"
A lot of battery experts call the use of LiPo cells the "80% Rule" ....meaning use 80% of the charge or so,.. then recharge them for longer overall life.
Never let your Macbook die from power, you can corrupt files that way, and the batteries do not like it.
The only quantified abuse seen to LiPo cells is instances when often the cells are repeatedly drained very low.
*Also, if youre going to store your macbook away for a few weeks or more,... make sure it has at least a 50% or so charge.
*Cycle count / use/ lifespan is one thing that cant be countered.
Proper treatment is another thing. Just because LiPo batteries dont need conditioning in general,.. does NOT mean they dont have an ideal use / recharge environment. Anything can be abused even if it doesnt need conditioning.
Just use and enjoy your new macbook,
From Apple on batteries:
http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1446
but really all you would keep in mind is --"consider 15-20% is the same as 0% and recharge it"
and best "tip" is if its near a socket, .....plug it in as long as you can (especially at home) since cycle count on the battery are the "miles that wear out the tires (battery)"

Very strange and possibly complex problem: Macbook (A1342) Trackpad starts acting strangely after typing something on keyboard

A few things you need to understand first:
1) My macbook keyboard does not work.
2) Upon reboot, the trackpad works fine.
3) Then, as soon as I try typing something on the macbook keyboard, the trackpad starts to register every single click as a two-finger (right-click).
4) Then, immediately after I push a key down on the bluetooth keyboard, the trackpad starts doing the double-click thing again.
Here's another strange thing. This issue arose a few weeks ago, then suddenly disappeared without me doing anything. I mean, the trackpad AND macbook keyboard were both working flawlessly. After about a week, this reappeared again, and my macbook keyboard stopped working, with the exception of like, 1 key.I have no idea what this could possibly be. Advice appreciated, though I'm not sure anyone here would have any clue what this could be.

I had a similar problem. The battery was VERY SLIGHTLY deformed and was exerting preassure on the bottom of the trackpad. A new battery solved the problem.
Hope this helps.

Strange case: trackpad working intermittently - with solution.

Hello Everyone,
I am posting this one in case someone runs into this weird problem.
Recently, I started experiencing problems with my trackpad (MacBook Air - mid2013). The symptoms are as follows:
- Left click stops working. Althoug right click is workine fine. Left click would start working again once in a while.
- Mouse pointer correctly follows trackpad.
- All other trackpad gestures working fine
- Going over the dock doesn't produce the "lense" animation ( ! ).
- Sometimes, a re-boot would fix the problem but usually not.
- The mouse works perfectly fine in the "user selection" screen after the re-boot (left-click works).
I read many threads on the forums here but nothing solved the issue. Because the problem was:
- I had a USB mouse (Magic Mouse), that was ON, under a cushion about 3 meters from the laptop. And somehow it was interfering with the proper functioning of the trackpad.
- Getting the mouse from under the cushion and close to the laptop solved the problem.
This case was so strange that I felt I should write something about it.
Aghiles

I found a solution via users comments on another website: For keyboard problems you have to zap the PRAM; for trackpad problems (including trackpad button) you need to re-set the Power Management Unit. Details at: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n14449
This seems to have solved my problem completely. For added trackpad functionality though I have also added SIDETRACK - which provides scrolling functions and the ability to tap in just one corner of the trackpad in order to left-click, or right-click. There will be less button pushing in general therefore from me in future!

Trackpad Bug in 10.9 (click is delayed, results in strange behavior)

Hi everybody,
Since updating my Macbook (5,1 late 2008, SSD, 8GB-RAM) to 10.9 Mavericks my trackpad behaves buggy in the following way:
When I press down the trackpad with one finger the corresponding "reaction" seems to be delayed (not every but most of the time).
This results in real annoying behavior when you try to select some text with the cursor, or try to move a tab or file etc.
Sometimes, also "tracking" is lost while selecting or drag&drop operation thus resulting in unselected lines of text, or files or tabs lost on drag.
I updated from 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) and the described bug has never occurred before the update.
Is this a known bug? Does Apple work on it for 10.9.1? Any suggestions?
Thanks.

Thanks four your reply.
I already looked at the metalink doc. It lists 4 bugs introduced in 10.2.0.5, but none of them seems related to my problem. Did I overlook something?
Regards,
Henk

MacBook Pro trackpad sticking, acting strange

My MacBook Pro Mid 2012's trackpad has started making clicking sounds when I click on it (it never used to be this audible) and feels as if somehow some kind of sticky liquid has gained access to it -- however, since I am the sole owner and user and have never, ever spilled any liquid on or near it, I can't figure out why this has become so.
I've had other Mac laptops where some kind of liquid HAD been spilled on it, and the feeling is similar, but not nearly as pronounced.
I don't know quite how to explain it, but if I very, very gently press down on it with my thumb, there is sort of a "pre-click" before it actually clicks. This is, now that I've tried it a couple of times, very noticeable.
Furthermore, sometimes when I'm scrolling through a Web page, not pressing down at all, it suddenly starts "selecting" blocks of text, and also occasionally goes to a link without my having clicked anywhere.
Other times, I try to scroll with the two-fingered method (lightly holding two fingers together and sweeping them downwards without any downwards pressure) it doesn't scroll at all.
It's definitely not normal behaviour -- I've had Mac laptops since the PowerBook 5300ce and I know my trackpads!
I know you're going to say I must have inadvertently deposited some liquid on it at some time and just not noticed, but I can swear this is not the case.
At any rate, are there any measures I can take by myself to try to clean underneath it without taking the whole thing apart or taking it in and paying $200 for someone to take a look at it?
Perhaps I should give it up and get a mouse for it . . .

"Taking it apart" is not an option for just cleaning the trackpad in these models. The trackpad and keyboard are the first components bonded into the chassis, and EVERYTHING else goes on top, hence would require a total disassembly. 10/10 degree of difficulty and high probability of gaining a fancy paperweight or doorstop afterwards. If 2012, then it is almost certainly within the one-year base warranty period: let Apple deal with the problem.
That being said and in lieu of a visit to the Store, note that the trackpad pivots down along the front edge. Hence there is a tiny gap between it and the chassis to allow movement. Examine that airgap very carefully with a strong light and a magnifier. Two things to look for: any sticky fluid that may have trickled down or mechanical obstruction impeding free movement. Dirt, crumbs and such can work themselves in there and do the trick. If found, try to work it out with a can of compressed air; a "duster", if you will., maybe helped with a very fine brush. If that doesn't work, some success has been reported by using very high quality spray electronic parts cleaner, non-residual, sprayed with the Mac UPSIDE DOWN so none trickles down into the guts. But I still recommend a trip to the Store first.
And you may give serious consideration to buying AppleCare and extending the warranty coverage for an additional two years. Just remember it has to be bought and activated BEFORE the base warranty runs out.

My trackpad started acting strange - it is way too sensitive. Even after I change the system prefs!

My trackpad will register a click when my hand is just above it, and it will stay clicked for a few seconds. It is becoming a huge problem. This has just started happening a few days ago.

THAT'S IT! My spoon is ruined, but it's cool, cause now I realize that I have these powers. I'll serve soup for dinner and have a little fun with the family! HAHAHAHA!!
I made a wrist pad to rest my wrist on rather than relaxing it on the laptop (like I was use to doing.) Now that my arm is raised off of the trackpad it doesn't do it as often. Once in a while it does act as though I didn't let go of it and keeps objects or text selected. I end up moving and tapping the thing until it releases the hold. I'll focus my powers on this next time it happens.
Thanks for the response!
Erik

After I reinstalled lion, my trackpad started behaving strangely.

It jumps and fails to recognize movement, as well as sometimes picking up that I'm using two fingers when I'm only using one. It only started doing it after the reinstall. Sometimes, if I restart or put the computer to sleep, it will be fixed for a few minutes before acting up again. Because it only started after the reinstall, it definitely leads me to believe that it's a software issue.
I've already reset the PRAM and SMC, neither of which helped. Also, for the record, I have a mid-2010 MBP 15".

Thomas A Reed wrote:
Others have your question answered, but note that I thought this change was annoying too. However, I decided to try it out for a while, and I've found that the "natural" scrolling direction is actually quite intuitive-feeling. It took me far less time than I thought it would to get used to it. Give it a chance for a little while, and if you don't decide you like it, switch it back to the old way.
I did the same thing, decided to try it out for a while and now it is 'normal' did not take long to adjust at all.

Strange trackpad

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