I apologize up front, this could turn into non-fiction short story.
Puter is 2011 MBP - Sierra 10.12.6, 4GB ram, 320 HDD 258GB free space.
Problems - highly erratic cursor movement (barely usable with lots of patience) no matter whether I'm using the computer's own trackpad, Apple wireless trackpad, or an old wired Kensington mouse. Using computer's trackpad yields the worst results.
Steps I've tried.... Resetting PRAM/NVRAM, SMC. Removed trackpad from computer - cleaned around the edges with dry toothbrush hoping to make sure is was seating flush. None of these tries improved things.
Regarding 15 or so minute startup time. Have tried 3 different internal HDD's some containing nothing but a fresh install of Sierra. Have connected and booted from these 3 HDD's and a Toshiba external HDD via USB. None of these improved start up time. Have made sure the appropriate HDD was selected in sys prefs startup disk. Removed the two 2GB ram modules, cleaned and replaced them in same slots and also reversed slots. No apparent problems these modules as they consistently show up in "about this mac" /memory.
One other thing that's happening occasionally is if I click one time on something in the Finder menu such as File or Edit or view, it may blink on and off 5 or 6 times.
I'm considering buy a used trackpad and cable and installing to see if it helps anything.
Also considering buying new cable for the internal HDD.
I've probably overlooked some very obvious ideas for trying to fix this, but I'm no expert. I'd be very glad for suggestions as I'm about ready to give up on it. It is my adult daughter's mbp which she purchased new in 2011. At first I thought she had downloaded and installed a bunch of conflicting junk, but that doesn't add up as the problems still occur when I boot from other drives containing an operating system.
If you have questions on something I need to provide or clarify, I'll get back in touch within an hour or so.
Thank you.
Reed.
Puter is 2011 MBP - Sierra 10.12.6, 4GB ram, 320 HDD 258GB free space.
Problems - highly erratic cursor movement (barely usable with lots of patience) no matter whether I'm using the computer's own trackpad, Apple wireless trackpad, or an old wired Kensington mouse. Using computer's trackpad yields the worst results.
Steps I've tried.... Resetting PRAM/NVRAM, SMC. Removed trackpad from computer - cleaned around the edges with dry toothbrush hoping to make sure is was seating flush. None of these tries improved things.
Regarding 15 or so minute startup time. Have tried 3 different internal HDD's some containing nothing but a fresh install of Sierra. Have connected and booted from these 3 HDD's and a Toshiba external HDD via USB. None of these improved start up time. Have made sure the appropriate HDD was selected in sys prefs startup disk. Removed the two 2GB ram modules, cleaned and replaced them in same slots and also reversed slots. No apparent problems these modules as they consistently show up in "about this mac" /memory.
One other thing that's happening occasionally is if I click one time on something in the Finder menu such as File or Edit or view, it may blink on and off 5 or 6 times.
I'm considering buy a used trackpad and cable and installing to see if it helps anything.
Also considering buying new cable for the internal HDD.
I've probably overlooked some very obvious ideas for trying to fix this, but I'm no expert. I'd be very glad for suggestions as I'm about ready to give up on it. It is my adult daughter's mbp which she purchased new in 2011. At first I thought she had downloaded and installed a bunch of conflicting junk, but that doesn't add up as the problems still occur when I boot from other drives containing an operating system.
If you have questions on something I need to provide or clarify, I'll get back in touch within an hour or so.
Thank you.
Reed.