Cursor jumps for no reason

Jumping cursor

I have a 20" Intel Mac running the latest OS. I am experiencing a jumping cursor in all text editing applications. I have changed from wireless key board and mouse with no change. Apple Care has not solved the problem.

melbrant said:

I have a 20" Intel Mac running the latest OS. I am experiencing a jumping cursor in all text editing applications. I have changed from wireless key board and mouse with no change. Apple Care has not solved the problem.

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Check this out I hope this helps. The same thing happened to me and I found the answer but I can not remember where. It was some where on apple support. Did you go to system preference and to mouse and keyboard and accidently move some things? Go to application you know the two colored smiley face on the bottom of your desktop it is half blue and half light blue, it should be on your bottom left hand corner right next to the stamp click on that and then go to applications then look for system preferences click on that then click on keyboard and mouse then click on mouse and write down how everything is then try different things with it and if that does not work change it back But go to apple support and type in the apple support mouse curser keeps jumping around and see if you get a answer for it. I found it there it is some where. I think I might have it on my laptop it is in the other room I will check tomorrow and get back to you. Another thing you can do is type in google search engine iMac mouse curser keeps jumping and check all the answers and eventually you will find it. I just checked and there are a lot of people that have the same problem. When I typed it in google. If you are new to iMacs you should either get iMacs for dummies or Imac pro laptop for dummies which ever one you have. Like did you know that you are suppose to check your permissions once a week? I bought checkit2 for iMacs it is a system performance suite to keep your MAC healthy it cost $100.00 but it is well worth it it will check permissions for you and it has spring cleaning which it will get rid of empty folders and double folders it will check everything on your iMac to make sure it is in good condition(TechTool Platinum).


https://macosx.com/tech-support/mac/cursor-jumping-around/15482.html

I get this problem sometimes, but not very serious. I just searched for it because I was curious. I'm using a mid 2009 MBP touchpad.

Seeing how both touchpads and mice get it, it looks like a software problem. Maybe some conflict.
On my Windows laptop, sometimes the touchpad would become unresponsive. I think this is due to accumulated static. I swipe the whole touchpad with a finger (like wiping dust off it) and that helps.

AaronX said:

I get this problem sometimes, but not very serious. I just searched for it because I was curious. I'm using a mid 2009 MBP touchpad.

Seeing how both touchpads and mice get it, it looks like a software problem. Maybe some conflict.
On my Windows laptop, sometimes the touchpad would become unresponsive. I think this is due to accumulated static. I swipe the whole touchpad with a finger (like wiping dust off it) and that helps.

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My old MBP was having this problem once. For a good while, actually. It would also take several seconds for the display to turn on after waking up. I finally took it in one day, and they didn't know what was wrong. As soon as I was about to leave, the Genius decided to try one more thing: resetting the display. Amazingly, it worked like a charm for both issues.

How do you reset the display?

AaronX said:

How do you reset the display?

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You know, I'm not sure if he just reset the PRAM or what. I had never heard of resetting the display before, and I usually try resetting the PRAM as part of my own troubleshooting. It was like a year ago, so I can't remember if I had tried it myself or not. Maybe someone on here knows!

Defect battery causing typing/trackpad trouble

Hey guys!

How I resolved the jumping cursor issue is quite different from all the other suggestions I read here so I thought I'd let you know in my case it was caused by a faulty battery.

After weeks of using my MackBook without any trouble, my cursor suddenly started acting strange. Typing would become increasingly difficult during user sessions, with text being selected, replaced and deleted at random. It would also take increasingly long for text to appear on the screen after having typed it.

After consulting a Mac service desk, it turned out my battery (which had already stopped functioning a good while back) was slightly deformed, sort of bulging upward. Since it sits directly underneath the trackpad it therefore started to physically interfere with the trackpad and possibly the entire keyboard (since it is one big unit) from down below.

Resolution: replace the battery or just leave it out for the time being!

Hope this helps!

I have been having the same issues on my MacBook... cursor seems to have a mind of it's own. Jumps around while typing, highlights, deletes, selects things without my fingers anywhere near the trackpad. Very frustrating!!
After searching many forums and looking it up, I may have an answer for some.
Btw- for me it had nothing to do with my mouse, or accidentally touching the trackpad. Also reset PRAM a few times. And trackpad was clean.

TRY THIS:
In System Preferences, under Trackpad, not only selected "Ignore accidental trackpad input", ALSO selected "Ignore trackpad when mouse is present".

It has worked for me for 5 days now, when this issue occured daily.

This leads me to believe there is a definite issue with the trackpad. Just read the previous post about the battery which certainly could be the issue here.

Hope this relieves some of your cursor anguish!

I am on Snow Leopard and I can't find the "Ignore trackpad when mouse is present" option (?)


I am testing out the theory with the battery by basically taking the whole thing out on my macbook and so far (in the last 30 min or so) it hasn't jumped. It used to jump pretty much every few minutes so I am hoping the battery solves it.

CDevauld said:

I have been having the same issues on my MacBook... cursor seems to have a mind of it's own. Jumps around while typing, highlights, deletes, selects things without my fingers anywhere near the trackpad. Very frustrating!!
After searching many forums and looking it up, I may have an answer for some.
Btw- for me it had nothing to do with my mouse, or accidentally touching the trackpad. Also reset PRAM a few times. And trackpad was clean.

TRY THIS:
In System Preferences, under Trackpad, not only selected "Ignore accidental trackpad input", ALSO selected "Ignore trackpad when mouse is present".

It has worked for me for 5 days now, when this issue occured daily.

This leads me to believe there is a definite issue with the trackpad. Just read the previous post about the battery which certainly could be the issue here.

Hope this relieves some of your cursor anguish!

Click to expand...

you solved it!

I tried what CDevauld suggested and it seems to have worked. I am totally delighted. Thank you!

CDevauld said:

I have been having the same issues on my MacBook... cursor seems to have a mind of it's own. Jumps around while typing, highlights, deletes, selects things without my fingers anywhere near the trackpad. Very frustrating!!
After searching many forums and looking it up, I may have an answer for some.
Btw- for me it had nothing to do with my mouse, or accidentally touching the trackpad. Also reset PRAM a few times. And trackpad was clean.

TRY THIS:
In System Preferences, under Trackpad, not only selected "Ignore accidental trackpad input", ALSO selected "Ignore trackpad when mouse is present".

It has worked for me for 5 days now, when this issue occured daily.

This leads me to believe there is a definite issue with the trackpad. Just read the previous post about the battery which certainly could be the issue here.

Hope this relieves some of your cursor anguish!

Click to expand...

Just came across the same problem with my MBP. The problem was not a battery issue or a setting in preferences. Turns out that there was an issue with the hardware on either side of the trackpad that when pressure is put on it, as slight as resting my wrists on the computer it would cause the cursor to jump around. I am getting this fixed this week, but if you are still having this problem on your MBPs try typing and pressing around on a few spots. On mine it seems to happen most often at the top/left of the track pad. Hope this helps.

AaronX said:

How do you reset the display?

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Well, putting the display to sleep then turning it on again is probably what he means, which is done via this command:

CTRL+SHIFT+EJECT

Back on Leopard, my display would go funny after I woke it, so resetting the display in this sense sorted it out.

zups said:

Just came across the same problem with my MBP. The problem was not a battery issue or a setting in preferences. Turns out that there was an issue with the hardware on either side of the trackpad that when pressure is put on it, as slight as resting my wrists on the computer it would cause the cursor to jump around. I am getting this fixed this week, but if you are still having this problem on your MBPs try typing and pressing around on a few spots. On mine it seems to happen most often at the top/left of the track pad. Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

I have the same problem with my 1.83 MBP. putting pressure just to the left of the trackpad acts as a mouse click and causes the cursor to jump. Is it safe to say you're under warranty cuz I know I'm way beyond that point ? What was the fix ?
Thanks

I just got off the phone with apple support and this is what solved my problem

Ok, I was having a problem with my cursor doing funky things, such as: highlighting words, erasing what I just typed, moving all over the place etc. I never touched the touchpad but my wrists would be laying on either side of touchpad and with that little pressure was cause the cursor to jump all over the place.

I have a MBP running OS X 10.6.2

I called Apple Support, thinking I would have to bring it in, and use my Apple Care for the first time. But I was wrong!

These are the instructions he gave me and my computer is working like a dream!!

Ok first thing shut down your computer from the apple icon.

Once it's off remove the power cord and turn over the computer and remove the battery.

Turn the computer over again and hold down the power button for 10 sec. (yes do this without the battery and the power cord attached)

Now attach the power cord.

Here comes the tricky part: As soon as you turn on the computer make sure
you hold down these 4 keys all at the same time. COMMAND, OPTION, P, R

And wait for the first chime, continue to hold and wait for the second chime and then release.

So far it's working for me. I am a very fast typist and I can't believe I have suffered for the past 2 weeks with this and it was this easy to fix. Apparently it resets something.

I hope this helps all of you. Please feel free to post if this has helped.

Best of luck!
Kimberly S

I just got off the phone with apple support and this is what solved my problem

Ok, I was having a problem with my cursor doing funky things, such as: highlighting words, erasing what I just typed, moving all over the place etc. I never touched the touchpad but my wrists would be laying on either side of touchpad and with that little pressure was cause the cursor to jump all over the place.

I have a MBP running OS X 10.6.2

I called Apple Support, thinking I would have to bring it in, and use my Apple Care for the first time. But I was wrong!

These are the instructions he gave me and my computer is working like a dream!!

Ok first thing shut down your computer from the apple icon.

Once it's off remove the power cord and turn over the computer and remove the battery.

Turn the computer over again and hold down the power button for 10 sec. (yes do this without the battery and the power cord attached)

Now reinstall the battery and attach the power cord. DO NOT TURN ON YET!

Here comes the tricky part: As soon as you turn on the computer make sure
you hold down these 4 keys all at the same time. COMMAND, OPTION, P, R

And wait for the first chime, continue to hold and wait for the second chime and then release.

So far it's working for me. I am a very fast typist and I can't believe I have suffered for the past 2 weeks with this and it was this easy to fix. Apparently it resets something.

I hope this helps all of you. Please feel free to post if this has helped.

Best of luck!
Kimberly S

jumping cursor: virus???

peapod8 said:

I feel very sure it's a virus. Someone (or something -- a bot of some sort) is trying to take control remotely of my cursor. Whoever suggested that is right-on...

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This has been happening on my macbook too.

First time it happened was a month ago, when I was typing an email in Thunderbird. Very strange, could hardly have control of the cursor.
About 24 hours later I received a security warning from Facebook telling me that "We have detected suspicious activity on your Facebook account and have temporarily suspended your account as a security precaution. It is possible that malicious software was downloaded to your computer or that your password was stolen by a phishing website designed to look like Facebook.".

Hummm... Could that be related?

The cursor still jumps from time to time, mostly when I am using Thunderbird, and today for the first time in Firefox.

Anyone experienced this?
Could this be a virus (I runned ClamXav and no virus was found) or a trajan????
What can be done?

Tks

PS: I just did a test - turning airport off and it happened all the same.

I'm using a wireless connection all the time but it's encrypted for my computer only, it's not a password-based one. However when it happened for the first time I wasn't on a wireless connection, regular cable, and I was in another country. I don't know if this makes any difference...

So, virus or trajan, or not????
weird...

Hey Kimberly,

it seems we were typing at the same time. I'll try what you suggest..; Fingers crossed!!

Anne Sobotta said:

Hey Kimberly,

it seems we were typing at the same time. I'll try what you suggest..; Fingers crossed!!

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Anne did it work for you? If you truly believe you have a virus, I would google Mac virus etc. I am sure there is a program that would be to help you locate it. Keep me posted.

Good luck.

Well, I did it all!
Run MacScan, no virus found.
Asked the Facebook support team.... they gave me a totally fishy answer

Then did what Kimberly explained, all seems to be fine. But most importantly now that I removed the battery I can see that the trackpad and its clickable area (don't know what it is called!) works much better. So I think it was a hardware problem, with the battery sort of pressing the trackpad up.

Anne Sobotta said:

Well, I did it all!
Run MacScan, no virus found.
Asked the Facebook support team.... they gave me a totally fishy answer

Then did what Kimberly explained, all seems to be fine. But most importantly now that I removed the battery I can see that the trackpad and its clickable area (don't know what it is called!) works much better. So I think it was a hardware problem, with the battery sort of pressing the trackpad up.

Click to expand...

So it worked? Yay!!! I'm so happy that it got fixed!

Thank you for keeping me posted. I love when I can help someone. I always believe in paying it forward.

Solution found for jumping cursor

I have a MacBook Pro that is about 8 months old. I loaded Snow Leopard OS (now with version 10.6.2) about 30 days prior. I had the "dreaded jumping cursor" problem. I worked with an "Apple Expert" via phone and seemed to have fixed the problem. In essence, he talked me through some resets of the system that corrected the problem. It involves some complex moves, so I would advise you go through them in case there are unforeseen issues that arise while doing this. But IT IS WORKING (so far). I was paralyzed without this solution.

Works for me!

Thanks Kimberly, although your solution doesn't seem well commented-on here, its the one that finally worked for me. It bugged me a great deal to have the cursor jump around the page whilst typing.... and it was not always obvious where it put the misplaced text either.

Kimberly S. said:

As soon as you turn on the computer make sure you hold down these 4 keys all at the same time. COMMAND, OPTION, P, R

Click to expand...

Following Kimberly's instructions above, I waited for the second chime and released the keys at that point. I was then greeted with a folder icon containing a question mark center screen. Waiting the longest time without touching any keys, I eventually couldn't stand it any more and rebooted. When I tried again I released them after the first chime. Success!

Kimberly S. said:

Apparently it resets something.

Click to expand...

Yep, it resets the NVRAM (Non Volatile RAM) and it works!
Since trying this out I've not had one nervous cursor jump or twitch.. happy chappie.
BTW I also removed the battery (and left it out as I mostly run it on mains power).. so that may or may not have contributed to the success of removing the jumping cursor problem.
....................................
2009 MacBook Pro running OS X 10.5.8 (9L31a)

footnote

Footnote to above post. Second start didn't work without the battery, so I had to put it back in. Works fine, cursor still behaving so far.

Ok, I have had this problem recently on my MB and did some reading up. I agree with others it is the battery, I took mine out and it is very distorted - bulging top and bottom, now I am on the hunt for a replacement. I had some thoughts about why the cursor was moving randomly, in my case the top of the battery is swollen (as it the bottom - white outer part) and I think that the inner part is pushing on the underside of the touchpad, and the outer part is making it unstable, depending on what surface you have it on. So any movement will move the cursor as the Mac thinks the touchpad was touched. I was typing in OpenOffice today and teh cursor kept jumping up and down lines. Also, about the randomness of the problem, I think that heat may be an issue - at present I can use mine for a few hours then the touchpad starts acting up, because the battery has heated up and expanded slightly, I assume. I am just posting these thoughts so that others who have this problem will think to have a look at their battery, as I did, then just replace that at a much lower cost than the palmrest.