2009 MBP 13" Trackpad acting strange

[Sutitan]

Last night i started noticing a strange problem. My trackpad was acting weird. I first noticed it when multi-finger commands got more difficult to do. Im very comfortable with the trackpad, and im positive its not my palm messing with it. I tried just using one finger to test the mouses sensitivity to movement. id notice that the results were inconsistent. it would move fine sometimes, while other times, it would barely move. The problem escalated to the point where the mouse would jitter and jump all by itself (while I wasnt touching the laptop). One strange thing i noticed is that it only moved left and right, not up and down. it would occasionally activate the three and four finger left to right motions (it would go back pages when i was browsing, and bring up the command + tab function). the problem is some what intermittent. Right now its fine. an hour or so ago it drove me to near insanity.

So far, ive tried cleaning the trackpad (multiple times). Didnt help. I thought of taking apart my laptop and physically examining the trackpad. I then realized I needed this mythical triangular screw driver tip which no one around me carrys. Im pretty stumped. My only thoughts is that maybe a tiny drop of moisture got in between the glass and the trackpad and is messing something up. Im at the mercy of my trackpad right now. this laptop is next to unusable unfortunately.

Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations/solutions?

 

[sridvijay]

Try going to the Genius Bar. They'll figure out if its a hardware problem or a software problem. If you want, you can back up on a external hard drive and then go and restore Mac OS X. I would go to the genius bar, as you'll solve this problem faster.

 

[Sutitan]

Well, here what I did

Removed the back cover, Removed the battery, Removed the trackpad. I took it out completely and cleaned out whatever crud I saw. I didnt really see any signs of moisture, but dust obviously has a way of barely getting in. there was quite a bit of dust on the underside of my battery. I can only guess that dust sort of accumulates along the edge of the track pad and with all the clicking I do, some dust falls in. Anyways, All I did was try to remove dust from around the edges and where I thought it didnt belong

So far it seems quite a bit better. I haven't noticed the problem as much as I have been before I took it apart. the only time it really happens now is when I click. the mouse jumps left or right. I can kinetic scroll again on web pages (missed it so much) and it no longer activates things I dont want to. I might take it apart and go through it a bit finer with a tiny brush, but for now, its fine.

Hope this helps someone. Ill try update in a few days.

 

[Sutitan]

Problem didnt stop. Its back. I turned on tap click, and found out that the track pad things someone is clicking and moving left or right or something. Is there any application that can monitor the movement of the track pad (I know they have such a thing on windows). Anyways, Im beginning to think its an uncureable hardware problem with the actual track pad. The part number is #922-9525. Im considering replacing this part soon (maybe in two weeks after some of my major exams). The price ranges so greatly, from $30 to $100. It kind of worries me that some of the cheaper ones might have the same problem I have. Most are advertised as "Like new and working". Im sure im just working myself up and over thinking the situation. As recommended, ill try take it to the Genius Bar, but from previous experience, I dont expect much more then them just asking for my credit card.

Again, Ill keep you all updated.

 

[GingerEffect]

Any updates? This is happening to my friends computer.

I was suspecting the battery swelling and wreaking havoc on the wires between the trackpad and the motherboard but this doesn't seem to be the case, either that or its swelling toward the trackpad and not visible without removing the battery (cannot remove it because its under warranty).

I don't want to take it in and ship it wherever it needs to go because that will take ~2 weeks and if they can't reproduce the problem I doubt they will fix it. Any advice?

Thanks