Why is my mouse jumping around?

My mouse keeps moving randomly all over the screen but I don't even touching my macbook

Jumpy Trackpad
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1449
Go step by step and test.
1. Restart
2. Shut down the computer.
    Clean the trackpad with moist not wet microfiber cloth.
    System Preferences > Point & Click
    Try turning off three finger dragging and then turning it on after testing.
3. Is there any Bluetooth device nearby with failing batteries? If so, replace the batteries.
4. Reset PRAM:   http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14222
5. Reset SMC.     http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
    Choose the method for:
    "Resetting SMC on portables with a battery you should not remove on your own".
6. Close all windows and quit all applications.
    Click the spotlight -the magnifying glass icon- in the menu bar. Enter Disk utility in the box.
    Select Disk Utility from the drop down. When the Disk utility window opens up,
    select Macintosh HD, then First Aid.
    Click Repair Disk Permissions button.
    Ignore the time remaining estimate.
    Last 1 minute may take longer.
If this does not solve the problem, you may have to take the computer to the Apple store
to have it checked out.
Best.

Similar Messages

Mouse jumps around

I have a TouchSmart tx2-1275dx, running vista. Since day one, my mouse jumps around on "black Screen" sites and on movies. If I go to hollisterco.com, for example, my mouse jumps around so bad that I have to use my pen to control movement and clicks. This also happens on movies I watch through programs such as VLC and Media Player. My guess is I have to disable the touch smart feature. I have read through many messages here but I cannot find a suitable solution for my problem. I have gone into the "Pen and Input Devices" folder and disabled everything, but that doesn't work. I will post a photo of what is listed under HID, I read maybe I have to disable something there, but I don't want to mess with that until someone can tell me which device to disable. Under Mouse devices, I have HID compliant mouse, and Synaptics PS/2 Port Tuochpad. If anybody can give me a clue as to how to stop the mouse jumping, I would appreciate it. As I said, it only happens on black screen sites and movies, and I have disable all pen and input devices. Thanks!

Come on...Are you reading my posts at all?? I told you I tried unchecking 'hide pointer while typing', and I tried freezecheck...THEY DON'T WORK...Read what I am writing, please..You know what, please stop trying to help me...I will wait for someone else to respond who knows how to help....

HT203171 Why is my cursor jumping around?

THe cursor on my Macbook Pro has suddenly started jumping around even when I am touching nothing. It seems to have started after I installed a free Photoshop trial. I have done a Safe Start but nothing has changed.

There are several possible causes for this issue. Please take each of the following steps that you haven't already tried until it's resolved. Some may not apply in your case.
1. Follow the instructions in this support article, and also this one, if applicable. A damaged or defective AC adapter could be the cause, even if it's the right kind.
2. Press down all four corners of the trackpad at once and release. If there's any effect, it's likely to be temporary, and in that case the unit must be serviced or replaced.
3. Open the Bluetooth preference pane in System Preferences and delete all pointing devices other than the trackpad, if applicable. Disconnect any USB pointing devices. By a "pointing device," I mean a peripheral that moves the cursor, such as a trackpad, mouse, trackball, or graphics tablet. A plain keyboard is not a pointing device.
4. Start up 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 restart as usual, stop here and post your results. Do the same if you can't start in safe mode. If there was no difference in safe mode, go on to the next step.
5. Reset the System Management Controller.
6. If you're using a Bluetooth trackpad or mouse, investigate potential sources of interference, including USB 3 devices.
7. A swollen battery in a portable computer 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.
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.

Wireless Mighty Mouse jumps around?!

Hi there!
I have an quite annoying issue with my wireless mm:
Sometimes it lets the cursor jump around and it is almost impossible to control it.
I am pretty sure it does not have to do with dust on the lens or shiny surfaces, because for 2 weeks it worked without any worries in the same environment. I almost believed the problem was gone.
Most of the time I manage to solve the problem by switching the mouse on&off for a couple of times and/or reinitializing the bluetooth connection.
Then it usually works for a while. But next time i wake my MacBook it starts all over again!!
Does anyone know this problem?
Thanks for any help!

I too am having this problem. I bought the mouse about two months ago and the day I synced it with my iMac it started freaking out too. I tried all the usual things, i.e. cleaned it, tried different mouse pads, tuned down tracking, resync it, everything. It just didn't work, but then I went on a trip and decided, "What the heck, I'll take the mouse and try fixing it on my MacBook Air." I get to my destination and resync it with the Air and it works perfectly, so I figured my desktop was the problem. I get home a few days latter after having used the mouse flawlessly and try it again in my house, when suddenly, it begins to jump around my MacBook Air. So I turned off the Bluetooth on my iMac (only a few feet from me and the Air) and the problem went away... for about 30 minutes, then my mother got on her iMac in her room, one room away, and lo- the problem did recur!
I believe the problem has something to do with the fact that the Mighty Mouse and the Wireless Keyboard both use the entire gamete of frequencies the Bluetooth has, thus, it is trying to sync with anything with Bluetooth in it, cellphones, PS3's, ext... Because if I take one of my MacBook's out into my ranch, far from anything, including my iPhone, the Mighty Mouse works! But the second I bring something with Bluetooth in range of the mouse, BAM! CRAZY MOUSE TIME!
I have dug around the Bluetooth shell inside OS X and found you can limit which bandwidths your computer receives, but this solves nothing if it is the mouse itself trying to sync with every computer and phone within range. I doubt this is how Apple intended the thing to work but they may have assumed that it was only meant as a traveling mouse, or perhaps to be used by people with only one Mac?
Perhaps there is a firmware patch out there that might solve this? I have seen ones for OS 9 and below, but nothing about OS X

Mouse Jumps Around on Controlled Client

When I connect to a Mini using ARD 3.0, the mouse jumps all over the screen. The client machine and the server are
running 10.4.6.
I have other client machines that are older imacs and a dual core, and the mouse acts normal. The mouse connected to the server is working.
Anyone seen this?
Thanks,
Eric

Yes. This has come up before. It has something to do with having the "guest access" features checkboxes enabled at the same time as being logged in with control/observe privileges if I recall correctly.
Turning off the guest access checkboxes in Access Privileges was the answer.

Why is my cursor jumping around all over the place.

Typing on my Macbook Pro has become nearly impossible. As I'm typing along I'll look up and the cursor has jumped to someplace else on the page...either inputting new text where it doesn't belong or typing over something else. In fact it happened twice just while typing this short question? I googled it and saw one fix posted in 2010...but nothing in OS X Yosemite seems to match what they suggested as a fix. It regards ignoring random trackpad input. Can anyone here help me?

There are several possible causes for this issue. Please take each of the following steps that you haven't already tried until it's resolved. Some may not apply in your case.
1. Follow the instructions in this support article, and also this one, if applicable. A damaged or defective AC adapter could be the cause, even if it's the right kind.
2. Press down all four corners of the trackpad at once and release. If there's any effect, it's likely to be temporary, and in that case the unit must be serviced or replaced.
3. Open the Bluetooth preference pane in System Preferences and delete all pointing devices other than the trackpad, if applicable. Disconnect any USB pointing devices. By a "pointing device," I mean a peripheral that moves the cursor, such as a trackpad, mouse, trackball, or graphics tablet. A plain keyboard is not a pointing device.
4. Start up 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 restart as usual, stop here and post your results. Do the same if you can't start in safe mode. If there was no difference in safe mode, go on to the next step.
5. Reset the System Management Controller.
6. If you're using a Bluetooth trackpad or mouse, investigate potential sources of interference, including USB 3 devices.
7. A swollen battery in a portable computer 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.
8. A defective peripheral device or a damaged cable can cause the built-in trackpad of a MacBook to behave erratically. If you're using any wired peripherals, disconnect them one at a time 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.

Why is my mouse jumping up,down,side to side all over the page?

This has been happening for a week. The mouse is jumping very fast; up,down,side to side, I can't find it sometimes; I cannot control it!
== This happened ==
A few times a week
== about 5 minutes ago again

Jumpy Trackpad
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1449
Go step by step and test.
1. Restart
2. Shut down the computer.
    Clean the trackpad with moist not wet microfiber cloth.
    System Preferences > Point & Click
    Try turning off three finger dragging and then turning it on after testing.
3. Is there any Bluetooth device nearby with failing batteries? If so, replace the batteries.
4. Reset PRAM:   http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14222
5. Reset SMC.     http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
    Choose the method for:
    "Resetting SMC on portables with a battery you should not remove on your own".
6. Close all windows and quit all applications.
    Click the spotlight -the magnifying glass icon- in the menu bar. Enter Disk utility in the box.
    Select Disk Utility from the drop down. When the Disk utility window opens up,
    select Macintosh HD, then First Aid.
    Click Repair Disk Permissions button.
    Ignore the time remaining estimate.
    Last 1 minute may take longer.
If this does not solve the problem, you may have to take the computer to the Apple store
to have it checked out.
Best.

Why is the head jumping around the body?

I wrote the following code for Head which should follow the body like a spring. I added friction so the head will stop bouncing sometime but no success. The head keeps jumping near the beggining of the spring (which is the beggining of the body) and not stopping. What should I do to make the head stop at some time?
final static int MASS = 10;
final static int FRICTION = 100;
private final double hardness = 3;
public void followBody(Body body) {
double[] coards = getCoardinatesBy(getRadius(), body.getXCoardStart(), body.getYCoardStart(), 180+body.getAngel()); // get the coordinates of the beginning of the spring (where should the head be in the end
        coards[0] -= getRadius();
        coards[1] -= getRadius();
        if (getYSpeed() < 0) {
            this.setYAcceleration((getYForce(coards[1]) + FRICTION)/MASS);
        } else if (getYSpeed() > 0) {
            this.setYAcceleration((getYForce(coards[1]) - FRICTION)/MASS);
        } else if (Math.abs(getYForce(coards[1])) < FRICTION ) { //static friction, equal to the power or less
            this.setYAcceleration(0);
        } else {
            this.setYAcceleration(getYForce(coards[1]) / MASS); // speed is zero. new the head is far away from the spring
        if (getXSpeed() < 0) {
            this.setXAcceleration((getXForce(coards[0]) + FRICTION)/MASS);
        } else if (getXSpeed() > 0) {
            this.setXAcceleration((getXForce(coards[0]) - FRICTION)/MASS);
        } else if (Math.abs(getXForce(coards[0])) < FRICTION) { // static friction, equal to the power or less
            this.setXAcceleration(0);
        } else {
            this.setXAcceleration(getXForce(coards[0]) / MASS); // speed is zero. new the head is far away from the spring
   double getYForce(double y){
        return hardness*(y-yCoardStart);
    double getXForce(double x){
        return hardness*(x-xCoardStart);
static double[] getCoardinatesBy(double height, double startX, double startY, double angel) {
        double[] coardinates = new double[2];
        coardinates[1] = startY - (height * Math.sin((Math.toRadians(angel))));
        coardinates[0] = startX + (height * Math.cos(Math.toRadians(angel)));
        return coardinates;
public void update() {
        xSpeed += xAcc;
        ySpeed += yAcc;
        xCoardStart += xSpeed;
        xCoardEnd += xSpeed;
        yCoardEnd += ySpeed;
        yCoardStart += ySpeed;
        angularVelocity+=angularAcc;
        this.angel += angularVelocity;
        autoSetEndXY();
private void autoSetEndXY() {
        double[] coards = getCoardinatesBy(height, xCoardStart, yCoardStart, angel);
        yCoardEnd = coards[1];
        xCoardEnd = coards[0];
    }Edited by: Vitali.pom on May 20, 2012 6:01 AM
Edited by: Vitali.pom on May 29, 2012 12:19 AM
Edited by: Vitali.pom on Jun 26, 2012 12:05 PM

Thanks for the try. That's what I tried:
public void followBodyPart(BodyPart body) {
        double[] coards = getCoardinatesBy(getRadius(), body.getXCoardStart(), body.getYCoardStart(), 180+body.getAngel());
        coards[0] -= getRadius();
        coards[1] -= getRadius();
       if (getYSpeed() < 0) {
            this.setYAcceleration((getYForce(coards[1]) + FRICTION)/MASS);
        } else if (getYSpeed() > 0) {
            this.setYAcceleration((getYForce(coards[1]) - FRICTION)/MASS);
            System.out.println("Player moved.");
        } else if (Math.abs(getYForce(coards[1])) < FRICTION) {
            this.setYAcceleration(0);
            System.out.println("y force is 0.");
        } else {
            this.setYAcceleration((getYForce(coards[1]))/ MASS);
        if (getXSpeed() < 0) {
            this.setXAcceleration((getXForce(coards[0]) + FRICTION)/MASS);
        } else if (getXSpeed() > 0) {
            this.setXAcceleration((getXForce(coards[0]) - FRICTION)/MASS);
            System.out.println("Player moved.");
        } else if (Math.abs(getXForce(coards[0])) < FRICTION) {
            this.setXAcceleration(0);
            System.out.println("x force is 0.");
        } else {
            this.setXAcceleration((getXForce(coards[0]))/ MASS);
    }And that's what I got (repeating in the end):
Player moved.
y force is 0.
y force is 0.
Player moved.
y force is 0.
y force is 0.
Player moved.
y force is 0.
Player moved.
Player moved.
Player moved.
Player moved.
Player moved.
Edited by: Vitali.pom on Jun 16, 2012 3:54 AM

Why is my iPad jumping around like it has a virus?

My iPad has gone insane. The cursor won't stay put. When i click on an app or folder other apps or folders open, it is acting the way a PC would if it had a virus. n I am very concerned. I only got this message out because I used an external keyboard!! Help! Has anyone else experienced this?
And let me answer now, I did not jail break my iPad and it does have the most recent ios 7.1 update.

Since it's not jailbroken, it's not malware of any kind. There's no known malware capable of infecting an iPad that hasn't been jailbroken.
In addition, it is a common internet myth that such behavior is the result of a virus. In reality, no hacker wants to go waving the cursor around under the user's nose. (Or, in the case of an iOS device, tapping and navigating, since there is no cursor.) This is almost never the result of malware on a computer, and definitely never in the case of an iPad.
First, try resetting your device. Press and hold both the home button and the sleep/wake button for about 10 seconds, until the screen turns off. Ignore the slider that will appear. Release the buttons, then press and hold the sleep/wake button until the Apple logo appears. This is the equivalent of a reboot, and should not affect your data or apps.
If that doesn't help, try restoring your device from backups, and if that doesn't help, restore it to factory settings (ie, do not restore a backup). See:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1414
If none of that helps, the issue is caused by some kind of hardware problem, and the device will need to be repaired or (more likely) replaced.

Click on Favorites, Mouse Jumps Around, IE Locks Up for 30 Seconds

Hello all,
I am having a strange problem with Internet Explorer. I have all of the latest MS patches for everything. When I open Internet Explorer (I have version 11), and click on my favorites icon (the star icon in the top right), IE locks up on me for
about 30 seconds. It eventually comes back after that time and everything is normal, I have access to all of my favorites. However, if I close IE and reopen it, the same thing happens again. If I leave it open, the issue does not seem to
happen in the same instance of IE. I have tried clearing all of my temporary files with no change. I did a packet capture and noticed that when I click on my favorites icon, my PC ARP's for an IP address that no longer exists on my network
(my private LAN) - it ARP's about 15-20 times and stops exactly when IE returns to normal. So the two events sync up. I did find some entries for this particular IP address under "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU"
and I have deleted them and rebooted. I cannot find any reference to this IP anywhere else in the registry. This IP address used to be a NAS drive that I had - accessed via backslash-backslash-sharename - but I decommissioned it. I'm out
of ideas here - anybody ever run into this or have any suggestions? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Robert, thanks for the reply.
I did a bit more messing around with running traces with netsh. I did manage to drill down to find the actual ARP's that I was seeing, but I could not map that back using process monitor. I just don't know enough about using it.
However, I did some tinkering and found something strange. I am not smart enough to put it all together, maybe somebody can help me. I started removing and adding back my individual ".url" favorites files one by one from/to their location
under my "c:\users\username\favorites" folder and narrowed it down to a single favorite. Here was the original favorite file contents:
[DEFAULT]
BASEURL=http://www.wireless.att.com/home/
[InternetShortcut]
URL=http://www.att.com/
IDList=
IconFile=http://www.att.com/favicon.ico
IconIndex=1
HotKey=0
[{...cut...}]
Prop3=19,2
If I open IE from a fresh reboot and click my favorites icon, the issue occurred. The next time it happened again was exactly 60 seconds after I initially opened IE the first time. I could open and close it as many times as I could within that
60 seconds and not have the issue occur again. After the 60 seconds were up, if I opened IE again and clicked my favorites, the issue occurred again. That sounds pretty strange, I know.
In any case, I did some more messing around with the file contents and found that if I change the "IconIndex" to "0" (zero), the problem went away. You can directly hit that IconFile and it will display the AT&T icon.
If I delete and re-create the shortcut by going directly to AT&T's website and adding to favorites, it would recreate the file again the same way with the IconIndex set to 1. If I change it to zero, the problem goes away.
None of this makes any sense to me. But I have worked around the issue by changing that IconIndex to zero.

Mouse jumps around when power cord is in use not battery.

hi,
i am using a 3rd party cord, apple says to use an apple cord. i dont like them because they are to short and to expensive. plus my dad has a ibook g4 with the apple cord and it does the same thing on mine.

Have you tried resetting the PMU?
The PMU (Power Management Unit) controls trackpad function, so resetting it sometimes helps when the trackpad isn't working right.

Mouse & Screen Jump around at various times

If I left my mouse stand still the mouse cursor will jump around. Also, the screen will automatically switch screens moving to the left or to the right to a new screen or sit there half way. It's happening while typing this message. Also the mouse pad on the laptop is diabled at times.
Very frustrating as it is difficult to get work done with the mouse jumping around and screen moving in different directions.
Seems like the Lion Software is possessed

donnafr wrote:
I have the same problem. Brand new imac and I'm new to Lion and hate it so far. I'm trying to do painstaking graphics work and the window and/or cursor start leaping around. And I can't figure out any cause. It often happens when I've leaned back to look at the graphic so I'm not touching anything. Possession? Maybe. Faulty battery? No.
Sorry to hear that your cursor too has started "acting up." Commiserations. However, I'm glad to read that you've positively identified the fact that a faulty battery is not the culprit. Good on you! I can only reiterate that, when this exact same problem happened on my MacBook all those months ago, my battery replacement (free from Apple, because it was under warranty) stopped the problem.
Russel

Widget triggers jumps around, drives me crazy!!

http://delta.tinahammar.se/delta/get-better-effect.html#bad-triggers
Again ... why does the triggers jump around. Why can't they just stay the way they are in design mode.
When slideshows go nuts, I usually have to start all over again, and somehow they work. But not this one.
Look at the triggers on the link above.
In designmode everything behaves nice...
After publishing or in preview, things move around. The states of the buttons aren't respected either. On mouse leave the text goes black instead of staying white as defined in "active" state.
The buttons jumps all over the place.
This is happening over and over again ..
This is from another widget that I gave up on ...

http://delta.tinahammar.se/delta/get-better-effect.html#bad-triggers
Again ... why does the triggers jump around. Why can't they just stay the way they are in design mode.
When slideshows go nuts, I usually have to start all over again, and somehow they work. But not this one.
Look at the triggers on the link above.
In designmode everything behaves nice...
After publishing or in preview, things move around. The states of the buttons aren't respected either. On mouse leave the text goes black instead of staying white as defined in "active" state.
The buttons jumps all over the place.
This is happening over and over again ..
This is from another widget that I gave up on ...

Macbook + 20" ACD mouse jumping all over the screen problem

hi all,
in need of help , my ACD plugged into my Macbook make's the mouse jump around the screen, unplugged no problems.
tried with trackpad and external mouse still the same
macbook 1.83/2gb ram - 10.5.1
Help !

Buy a Logitech Bluetooth mouse!! I have had no problems with my Logitech...it seems like more people have problems with the mighty mouse and magic mouse. That is my opinion. I have this mouse:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/TQ089LL/A?fnode=MTY1NDA1Mg&mco=MTA4MzgwNzg

My magic mouse is now jumping around every time I pick it up / put it down. It started in the last few days. Any ideas?

Hi all -
I looked around the forums and couldn't find an existing solution...
This afternoon, I started using my Magic Mouse again, after about a week without turning it on. The mouse now jumps around erratically and sends spurious click commands - menus pop up all over the place, links are clicked, apps opened, etc. Usually it takes the form of the mouse jumping 1-8" to the left, and it seems proportional to the impact - if I put it down normally, it jumps about 4" to the left. If I put it down a little harder then normal, it usually jumps to the upper left corner.
This ONLY seems to happen when I pick up the mouse to reposition it on the mouse pad. If I slide it smoothly along the pad, then there don't seem to be any issues.
It has been in my backpack, and was turned on (I realized this afternoon when I took it out), so I wondered if it might have been the batteries. I checked them, and they're fine. It also had trouble connecting, though, and I had to cycle both the mouse and BlueTooth on the MBP.
I also saw several posts here that said it might be the optics, so I tried blowing those out, but they look crystal clear.
Just to be safe, I also updated the Wacom tablet drivers to the latest, no luck.
MBP (July 2011) 15" i7, upgraded to 8 G RAM
Lion 10.7.4
Magic Mouse
Wacom Intuos 5 tablet
no external monitors
It's possible this started when I installed the Wacom drivers, since it 'feels' kinda like using a tablet in absolute mode, rather than mouse mode - but with the mouse hardware. I have not tried swapping out the mouse for another one, nor tried this mouse with another Mac. I can try those in the next few days when I get an opportunity, but figured I'd ask in the meantime.
I'm suspicious of either the Wacom tablet (but I can't imagine there would be a problem, as SO many people would have experienced it already).
I'm also suspicious that maybe something has been jiggled loose inside the mouse, but have no idea how to tell.
Can anyone save me a trip to the (distant) genius bar?
Thanks!
Aaron

hey try a smc reset
EDIT (smc reset
Shut down the computer.
Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.
On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.
Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.
Note: The LED on the MagSafe power adapter may change states or temporarily turn off when you reset the SMC.)
if that doesnt help look at replacing the batteries in your magic mouse and try it then
if the issue still presists take it into a apple store and they can test it there to see whats up

Why is my mouse jumping around?

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