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Adamthecoach

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 9, 2011
4
0
My 13 inch Mac Book Pro recently started to have erratic cursor movements. It begins to right click, highlight files, create new folders, and stops responding to my commands. If I close the cover it will work fine for 2 or 3 minutes and start over again. I have cleaned the track pad, had someone remove the battery and reinstall, and update the software. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 

bambp

macrumors newbie
Aug 18, 2012
3
0
Just FYI -- I had the exact same problem. My MBP (2011 13'' i5) cursor would become erratic, right clicking, flicking between screens, and was often unresponsive to my actual input. It generally seemed that the trackpad was signaling inputs that weren't there, because when I would touch the trackpad with one finger it would respond as if I were using two, three or four.

I tried everything. I cleaned the trackpad, even removed it to ensure it wasn't sticking, all to no avail.

The only solution I found was to replace the trackpad. It's a super easy procedure and it's pretty cheap. I spent $40 (w/ shipping) for a trackpad and $2 for a tri-wing screwdriver.

So far, no erratic behavior. I think this is a problem with the MBP trackpads, since so many people have the same issue. Hopefully Apple recognizes the issue soon.
 

Schtumple

macrumors 601
Jun 13, 2007
4,905
131
benkadams.com
I had this on a macbook pro a few years ago, if you open up Console (in utilities) everytime it happens you should see something along the lines of USBdeviceconnectreconnect, you can't miss it, it'll happen 10-20 times in a few seconds each time the erratic movement occurs.

It's to do with a dodgy connection somewhere in your trackpad or the ribbon cable, chances are you won't be able to fix it (I couldn't), take it to an apple store and you can get a new top case, or as the poster above mentioned, if you're feeling technically adventurous you can buy just the trackpad and fit it yourself.
 

salogan

macrumors newbie
Apr 4, 2011
2
0
It started suddenly with me. It seemed flash related. but I had also download some torrent software that wanted to install toolbars and other stuff. I thought I had refused to allow those to be installed.

Nevertheless, I started getting all these flash animated ads. Pure annoyance. As I was using Firefox, I found an add-on called AdBlock Plus.

Installing Adblock plus solved it. No more erratic cursor, selecting everything my cursor passed over, or non-responsive clicks. Even problems getting Finder to work properly.

I had tried restarting to fix it, and that didn't help, so I'm pretty sure all those crappy ads were the cause. Especially bec of the stange toolbars that the torrent tried to install. I totally lost control of my entire computer, not just Firefox, or web browsers.

AdBlock plus seems to be a really good thing. It doesnt block ads that comply with their guidelines, by default, although you could disable them too. Their theory is that is websites are rewarded for complying and not throwing up annoying ads that block what you are reading, or that crawl across the page, or take a permanent position on the page, they will not try that stuff.

Try it, I hope you like it,
 
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