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Mouse on Macbook Air moves by itself

J

Jennseay

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 15, 2013
6
0
On my Macbook Air, all of a sudden my mouse quit working and started to jump all over the screen.

It is doing this constantly.
I have done some research on this issue and have tried to find out what the problem is, and fix it. I have tried to troubleshoot several different things, and none of them solved my issue.

I have reset with safe mode, wiped the trackpad, resetting the smc and some others.

My MacBook is not covered under warranty any longer, so I would rather not have to take in for repair or service if possible.

What steps can I take to fix this?
I cant even use my computer, and whenever I turn it on it ends up opening files and folders and messing things up.


Please help!!!!

Thank you,

Jennifer
 
Tumbleweed666

Tumbleweed666

macrumors 68000
Mar 20, 2009
1,761
141
Near London, UK.
Do you mean mouse or trackpad? You talk about wiping the trackpad?

If you mean trackpad, does it do this if you take the battery out and run it on mains power only?

If not, it would seem likely to be an issue with a bad battery swelling and pressing on the trackpad internals.

In which case, get a new battery asap before it irreparably damages the trackpad.
 
J

Jennseay

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 15, 2013
6
0
Thank you for responding, and I apologize for my delayed response.
By mouse I mean trackpad.
And by wiping I meant I wiped with a lint free cloth that I sprayed lightly with screen cleaner.
I also switched to the mag safe power adapter and plugged directly into the wall.
This worked...temporarily.
After a few hours or so the trackpad started going nuts again.
So I am totally confused now.

I haven't done anything to the battery, and was sure I read somewhere that it not removable.
This is so annoying!
Any ideas ?
Thanks so much!
 
Tumbleweed666

Tumbleweed666

macrumors 68000
Mar 20, 2009
1,761
141
Near London, UK.
Yes you are right the battery does not appear to be replaceable.
All I can say is I've read in many places that this is a classic sign of a batter going bad.
It swells & presses on the internals.
The fact it happens when your MacBook has been running for a while seems to support this.
You'll have to decide if its worth risking getting the battery replaced as you may find it's not the issue. But if you google I think you'll find lots of people reporting this issue. I wouldn't have thought it was too expensive a repair ?
Anyway, sorry I dont have any other suggestions,
 
S

samh

macrumors 6502
Oct 29, 2009
317
3
Jennseay said:
On my Macbook Air, all of a sudden my mouse quit working and started to jump all over the screen.

It is doing this constantly.
I have done some research on this issue and have tried to find out what the problem is, and fix it. I have tried to troubleshoot several different things, and none of them solved my issue.

I have reset with safe mode, wiped the trackpad, resetting the smc and some others.

My MacBook is not covered under warranty any longer, so I would rather not have to take in for repair or service if possible.

What steps can I take to fix this?
I cant even use my computer, and whenever I turn it on it ends up opening files and folders and messing things up.


Please help!!!!

Thank you,

Jennifer
Click to expand...


Does it happen with bluetooth disabled?
 
J

Jennseay

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 15, 2013
6
0
Yes, it still does it with Bluetooth turned off.

----------

Thanks for your help.
I wonder how I can find out what the issue is since I cannot remove the battery.
I just powered it on after being off for a few days and it started right away as soon as I turned it on.
It has done this before.
Since this has been an ongoing issue for a long time, I have seen it do it under almost every circumstance. And seems to be no rhyme or reason for it.
I wonder where I coukd take it to help get it fixed somehow and not have to pay too much money.
 
blueroom

blueroom

macrumors 603
Feb 15, 2009
6,381
26
Toronto, Canada
Sounds like your trackpad is wonky, I've had that happen on a 2010 MBP and Apple replaced the top-cover, keyboard and trackpad.

Cheapest solution might be an external trackpad.
 
J

Jennseay

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 15, 2013
6
0
Hmmm... That's an idea. Maybe I'll look up prices on those.
I have Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. I have tried to hook them up before but couldn't because the trackpad wouldn't stop enough for me to finish all the settings.
I also tried to change settings to use the keyboard keys in place of the mouse/trackpad. That works but the mouse still clicks all around and overrides what I am doing. So I just get frustrated and manually shut down.

----------

By the way My MacBook Air is a 2011 model #A1369.
 
chown33

chown33

Moderator
Staff member
Aug 9, 2009
10,750
8,422
A sea of green
Take it to an Apple Store. Have them evaluate it.

If the problem is a swelled battery, it's possible that they might replace it for being defective. Or they'd give you a price to replace it, at which point you have to decide if it's worthwhile or not.

If the problem is being caused by a swelled battery, then nothing is going to eliminate the problem except replacing the battery. It's a physical problem: the swelled battery presses on the trackpad from below, which causes it to activate and misbehave. The only solution is to remove the pressure on the trackpad, and the only way to do that is to eliminate the swelled battery (i.e. replace it). There simply isn't enough empty space inside the MacBook Air to allow the battery to swell substantially. That's if the problem is really caused by the battery, but given the symptoms, it's my first guess. My second guess is a faulty electrical connection to the trackpad, but that's not solvable except by going inside the MBA and testing.

Simply switching to a Bluetooth trackpad won't help. The builtin trackpad is still talking in a loud and insane voice, and the OS is still listening to it. You have to get the insane trackpad to shutup before anything else will be heard.
 
J

Jennseay

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 15, 2013
6
0
Yes, that makes sense.
Well after all of the troubleshooting steps, researching, and reading all of the responses here I guess my only other option is to take it into Apple store and explain my situation.

That would be great if they will offer some assistance, preferably no cost. ;)

Thanks !
 
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