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Cursor jumps for no reason
- Thread starter grafikat
- Start date
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Don't know why, but it seems to work
I'm running a mbp with latest leopard, which had been working like a dream for the year since I bought it, then it went crazy on me two days ago in the midst of work. Cursor flew all over the place, opening files, throwing things in the trash, etc. I was sure it was a virus or something of that sort. Ran several anti-virus programs, but nothing. Then, after reading this forum and remembering someone mentioning about power (sorry, can't remember who..but BLESS YOU!!!), I decided to dim my keyboard key lights down to zero. Immediately, everything went back to normal! Amazing! Of course, the root of the problem is not yet solved...I'd like to light up my keys every once in a while, right? But at least, I can get on with work until I can get the mbp back to speed. Hope this might help a few of you out there.
I'm running a mbp with latest leopard, which had been working like a dream for the year since I bought it, then it went crazy on me two days ago in the midst of work. Cursor flew all over the place, opening files, throwing things in the trash, etc. I was sure it was a virus or something of that sort. Ran several anti-virus programs, but nothing. Then, after reading this forum and remembering someone mentioning about power (sorry, can't remember who..but BLESS YOU!!!), I decided to dim my keyboard key lights down to zero. Immediately, everything went back to normal! Amazing! Of course, the root of the problem is not yet solved...I'd like to light up my keys every once in a while, right? But at least, I can get on with work until I can get the mbp back to speed. Hope this might help a few of you out there.
This used to happen to me when using my white macbook c2d. The battery was exceptionally swollen and it was affecting the functionality of the trackpad/button. I would be typing and the cursor would move to a different location at random. The mouse button would register whenever it felt like.
Needless to say the problems ceased to exist once I replaced my overweight battery
Good luck!
Needless to say the problems ceased to exist once I replaced my overweight battery
Good luck!
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
This random cursor jumping and odd behavior just started this morning, (MacBook, [Santa Rosa] late 2007 running Snow Leopard/4 Gig RAM) but I've noticed the battery is bulging for a few months now. I applied your instructions to the letter, and now, at least a few minutes of typing into GMail to my niece with whom I stay in touch, and having the cursor problem all day, and giving her my troubleshooting ideas as I mailed her (none worked; I thought it was a WiFi router hack etc.
About a dozen restarts. WiFi on/WiFi off. Tried in Pages (same problem) and other typing programs. Same issue. Used Camino and GMail. Same problem as in Safari. Yahoo mail, both browsers, same issue.Finally googled the issue and this thread is about the third stop. So far, works like a charm. (Crossing fingers). Of course, after reseating the battery, it bulges even more. Eventually I may have the resources (capital) to replace it. Until then, THANKS FOR SOLVING!
JP
You guys shouldn't be using these batteries... they are dangerous. If they've swollen enough to affect the trackpad functionality they're pretty far gone. I'm not being an alarmist -- it's not safe to use a bulging battery ... take it out of the computer ASAP . You can run the computer with the power cord. Take the battery back to the store.
I confirm wireless seems to have been the problem
For me, turning off wireless cured the problem (so far - 1 hour and counting). Not sure what I would do if I needed the wireless - fortunately I have ethernet too.
For me, turning off wireless cured the problem (so far - 1 hour and counting). Not sure what I would do if I needed the wireless - fortunately I have ethernet too.
Cursor jumping is in OS software
I had the annoying as hell, just shoot me problem with my cursor too. It jumps all over the sentence, paragraph, deletes stuff, back spaces...I SCREAM at it and bang my head on my desk. I reset PRAM, change preferences, did disk utility, reloaded software - all that. Then I got a replacement install CD that was white, not gray. The problem went away IMMEDIATELY on install. NEVER a problem. Then the hard drive crashed, had to install my FOURTH hard drive in four years...and couldn't find the disks! So I used the old install disks - the grey ones....and the cursor problem is BACK with a vengeance. So, my guess is if you reinstall your OS with the WHITE disks - not the gray crapola that came with it - your problem will stop. The mac store probably used one of these crappy cursor disks when they mucked around with your mac. If it works, let me know. Then send me a copy of the install disk that works.
It took ten minutes of retyping and messing with the freaking cursor to type this!
I had the annoying as hell, just shoot me problem with my cursor too. It jumps all over the sentence, paragraph, deletes stuff, back spaces...I SCREAM at it and bang my head on my desk. I reset PRAM, change preferences, did disk utility, reloaded software - all that. Then I got a replacement install CD that was white, not gray. The problem went away IMMEDIATELY on install. NEVER a problem. Then the hard drive crashed, had to install my FOURTH hard drive in four years...and couldn't find the disks! So I used the old install disks - the grey ones....and the cursor problem is BACK with a vengeance. So, my guess is if you reinstall your OS with the WHITE disks - not the gray crapola that came with it - your problem will stop. The mac store probably used one of these crappy cursor disks when they mucked around with your mac. If it works, let me know. Then send me a copy of the install disk that works.
It took ten minutes of retyping and messing with the freaking cursor to type this!
24" iMac Early 2009 Jumpy Cursor
This same problem appeared on my iMac around 6 months after I purchased it at the Apple Store. I dealt with it for so many months and became very very frustrated because Apple Care people and genius bar could not give me an answer. They replaced almost all the guts inside like twice.
My third visit they decided to replace the board and power supply again- 8 days later I got a call from the genius bar saying that they would replace my machine for a new one. They gave no explanation why they were doing so, but I did not wasted a fraction of a second saying YES!.
They were very nice when I came to the store because they issued me a credit for my iMac ($1500) and I was apple to buy a 15" MacBook Pro with Anti-glare and i7 (paying the difference of course). I also got a free printer and i-Pod Touch since I am a student.
No more crazy mouse. I bought like 3 mice in total-with no solution.
This same problem appeared on my iMac around 6 months after I purchased it at the Apple Store. I dealt with it for so many months and became very very frustrated
because Apple Care people and genius bar could not give me an answer. They replaced almost all the guts inside like twice.My third visit they decided to replace the board and power supply again- 8 days later I got a call from the genius bar saying that they would replace my machine for a new one. They gave no explanation why they were doing so, but I did not wasted a fraction of a second saying YES!.
They were very nice when I came to the store because they issued me a credit for my iMac ($1500) and I was apple to buy a 15" MacBook Pro with Anti-glare and i7 (paying the difference of course). I also got a free printer and i-Pod Touch since I am a student.
No more crazy mouse. I bought like 3 mice in total-with no solution.Jumping cursor
So I had the incredibly annoying jumping cursor problem too. I though it may be a an issue with Word but after resetting the PRAM the problem seems to have gone away, at least for now. I am using a Macbook which is about four years old so the battery bulge issue could be there but for the time being resetting the PRAM seems to have done the trick.
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.
So I had the incredibly annoying jumping cursor problem too. I though it may be a an issue with Word but after resetting the PRAM the problem seems to have gone away, at least for now. I am using a Macbook which is about four years old so the battery bulge issue could be there but for the time being resetting the PRAM seems to have done the trick.
I think we've done it!
I have had this very same, very nasty problem of the cursor jumping while typing on my MacBook off and on since I bought it. Today I took the battery out and plugged it in to work on... and NO... absolutely NO problem! It's been driving me batty ever since I got this about 3 years ago. I tried resetting the PRAM several times and the settings in Sys Pref... and it still had a life of its own. FINALLY I am in control!
The battery does not appear to be warped, but it must be hitting under the keypad somehow. I don't know if I should invest in a new one... or just plan on plugging in and taking it out. The greatest benefit is that its SO much lighter. I should probably get something to keep the empty space clean. Suggestions?
I have had this very same, very nasty problem of the cursor jumping while typing on my MacBook off and on since I bought it. Today I took the battery out and plugged it in to work on... and NO... absolutely NO problem! It's been driving me batty ever since I got this about 3 years ago. I tried resetting the PRAM several times and the settings in Sys Pref... and it still had a life of its own. FINALLY I am in control!
The battery does not appear to be warped, but it must be hitting under the keypad somehow
. I don't know if I should invest in a new one... or just plan on plugging in and taking it out. The greatest benefit is that its SO much lighter. I should probably get something to keep the empty space clean. Suggestions?Trackpad / mouse problems - MBPro 15" / 17"
Just a note to encourage any Macbook Pro 15" or 17" (pre- Unibody models) users experiencing odd trackpad problems to remove the battery and take a good careful look at it.........
Hold it level and edgeways on to see whether there is any bulging evident on the top or bottom surfaces.... (put a straight edge across it?). LOTS of these machines had battery problems ( and some are still out there), where the battery begins bulging - which, if on the inner surface, can start to put pressure on the back side of the trackpad causing all manner of strange behaviour. In bad examples the trackpad becomes virtually 'unclickable'.
Run the machine without the battery ( ie on the power adapter), to see if the problem is resolved.
If yours does show signs of bulging - get rid of it PDQ for a new one.
Worth the check.....
JH
Just a note to encourage any Macbook Pro 15" or 17" (pre- Unibody models) users experiencing odd trackpad problems to remove the battery and take a good careful look at it.........
Hold it level and edgeways on to see whether there is any bulging evident on the top or bottom surfaces.... (put a straight edge across it?). LOTS of these machines had battery problems ( and some are still out there), where the battery begins bulging - which, if on the inner surface, can start to put pressure on the back side of the trackpad causing all manner of strange behaviour. In bad examples the trackpad becomes virtually 'unclickable'.
Run the machine without the battery ( ie on the power adapter), to see if the problem is resolved.
If yours does show signs of bulging - get rid of it PDQ for a new one.
Worth the check.....
JH
I have the opposite problem... sometimes my trackpad won't be responsive for a few seconds. The cursor doesn't move despite me using the trackpad. After a moment, it goes back to normal. Seems to happen randomly.
wait, what? Onyx doesn't run in the background. It's not on unless you turn it on. It's is not only unlikely, but impossible for Onyx to be the culprit.
unless you're talking about a different onyx than the maintenance utility.
Wow, that's amazing. The same problem has been driving me to distraction on my Macbook with Snow Leopard, and I found that just pressing on the casing on either side of the trackpad caused a whole line of the preceding message to be selected! If this is an age-related hardware problem I am not sure it would be worth getting fixed. An alternative might be just to use an external keyboard, to avoid any possibility of leaning on the case while typing.
By the way I couldn't find the "Ignore trackpad when mouse is in use" option on the Snow Leopard trackpad system prefs.
Cursor drifts when asleep
Hello all,
I thought I would post this here since it is somewhat related, but so far, can't seem to find anyone with a similar problem (or at least no one else has piped up). I have a MBP 2.2 Ghz with an i7. Should be the latest model as of early 2011 (Got it this year). When the system goes to sleep, the mouse cursor ends up in the upper left. When I return, Dashboard is always showing and the cursor, as I have said, is in the upper left. I haven't had this problem on any other MB or MBP I have used. Since I don't use Dashboard, this is particularly annoying, but the main concern is that this might be degenerative. I've been seeing this happen sometimes now as the MBP goes to sleep if I'm near the MBP and before it seemed that it was sometime after it had gone to sleep. I saw the post here and was wondering if anyone else had seen the same, or better yet, if anyone has fixed a similar issue. So far, looks like I'm an outlier.
I know I can fix the Dashboard issue by either removing Dashboard from the hot-corner or moving it to another corner, but the mouse cursor still drifts after the system goes to sleep. It can't be an accidental trackpad touch, so I'm wondering what it could be. I know it doesn't make a difference if the system is grounded or not (If used the brick plug as well as the 3 pronged extension cord, I've seen references to that maybe being an issue). So I'm not sure what is happening on sleep that would cause the thing to drift like that.
Hello all,
I thought I would post this here since it is somewhat related, but so far, can't seem to find anyone with a similar problem (or at least no one else has piped up). I have a MBP 2.2 Ghz with an i7. Should be the latest model as of early 2011 (Got it this year). When the system goes to sleep, the mouse cursor ends up in the upper left. When I return, Dashboard is always showing and the cursor, as I have said, is in the upper left. I haven't had this problem on any other MB or MBP I have used. Since I don't use Dashboard, this is particularly annoying, but the main concern is that this might be degenerative. I've been seeing this happen sometimes now as the MBP goes to sleep if I'm near the MBP and before it seemed that it was sometime after it had gone to sleep. I saw the post here and was wondering if anyone else had seen the same, or better yet, if anyone has fixed a similar issue. So far, looks like I'm an outlier.
I know I can fix the Dashboard issue by either removing Dashboard from the hot-corner or moving it to another corner, but the mouse cursor still drifts after the system goes to sleep. It can't be an accidental trackpad touch, so I'm wondering what it could be. I know it doesn't make a difference if the system is grounded or not (If used the brick plug as well as the 3 pronged extension cord, I've seen references to that maybe being an issue). So I'm not sure what is happening on sleep that would cause the thing to drift like that.
How I Fixed the Issue
First off, thank you all for your collective posts, this helped me resolve the issue.
Symptoms: I found that my Macbook mouse would move around erratically sometimes when I was typing some text in, and I was definitely *not* touching the trackpad. I also found that the button was not as "clickable" as it sometimes is.
Problem: I noticed a correlation between when I moved the Macbook around and also when it is really hot. I found that the battery on the back of the Macbook is right up next to the back of the trackpad. I suspected that the heat from the battery was causing some weird behavior.
Solution: Turn off the computer and take the battery out. Then I put painters tape (the blue stuff, you can use masking tape if you want) on the area over the back of the trackpad. Make sure you don't put it over the two square sides of the button, cause then the button won't click. It's no big deal if you do, since you will realize the problem and cut the tape accordingly. Now the key is take some aluminum foil and fold it in half and place it over the tape. You can now put the battery back on, and power it back on and the problem should be gone!
Why it worked: The heat from the battery caused faulty operation of the circuitry on the back of the trackpad. The tape was put there so there is a layer between the aluminium foil and the trackpad. Basically aluminum foil is poor conductor of heat but it does conduct electricity, so you need a layer there to make sure you don't create a short circuit.
Other solutions that did *not* work: Cleaning the trackpad, clicking on "Ignore accidental... " on Settings->Trackpad, updating OS.
Happy Clicking!
First off, thank you all for your collective posts, this helped me resolve the issue.
Symptoms: I found that my Macbook mouse would move around erratically sometimes when I was typing some text in, and I was definitely *not* touching the trackpad. I also found that the button was not as "clickable" as it sometimes is.
Problem: I noticed a correlation between when I moved the Macbook around and also when it is really hot. I found that the battery on the back of the Macbook is right up next to the back of the trackpad. I suspected that the heat from the battery was causing some weird behavior.
Solution: Turn off the computer and take the battery out. Then I put painters tape (the blue stuff, you can use masking tape if you want) on the area over the back of the trackpad. Make sure you don't put it over the two square sides of the button, cause then the button won't click. It's no big deal if you do, since you will realize the problem and cut the tape accordingly. Now the key is take some aluminum foil and fold it in half and place it over the tape. You can now put the battery back on, and power it back on and the problem should be gone!
Why it worked: The heat from the battery caused faulty operation of the circuitry on the back of the trackpad. The tape was put there so there is a layer between the aluminium foil and the trackpad. Basically aluminum foil is poor conductor of heat but it does conduct electricity, so you need a layer there to make sure you don't create a short circuit.
Other solutions that did *not* work: Cleaning the trackpad, clicking on "Ignore accidental... " on Settings->Trackpad, updating OS.
Happy Clicking!
Not solved
Ok, so the problem is back. This again appears to happen in high heat situations. I will have to try another fix to cool the battery down or maybe a better insulation for the trackpad. If someone finds a solution to this please let me know.
Ok, so the problem is back. This again appears to happen in high heat situations. I will have to try another fix to cool the battery down or maybe a better insulation for the trackpad. If someone finds a solution to this please let me know.
Yep... VERY annoying... especially when you're doing high precision mouse stuff. *painful*
The battery was definitely the problem... For me. Take it out and plug in the power cord and try it. It works! I ordered a replacement battery on eBay and have not had ANY more problems... I wish I had replaced it a long time ago to miss all the aggravation !
I could not figure out why it was intermittent, then yesterday I noticed it only happened when I rested my hands next to the mouse pad to type. If I keep my palms above the the computer when I type the cursor does not skip.
Kind of a pain in the A****. So it seems to be a hardware problem. Does anyone know what THAT is??? And what can be done about it???
Kind of a pain in the A****. So it seems to be a hardware problem. Does anyone know what THAT is??? And what can be done about it???
Try this one on for size.
It may be that Voiceover is activated and on silent with no captions showing. There is a function in voiceover that allows the mouse to track what the voiceover is saying. Hence jumping around. So if you've had a problem with voiceover this could be related to it. Secondly there are additional mouse settings that are under "Universal access". You can find that through spotlight as well as Voiceover. These two things combined could be effecting the mouse or either may seperately. I hope this helps. My mouse was jumping from an arrow to a pointer randomly after my 2 year old had banged on my keyboard. I found Voiceover was activated and the mouse was acting strangely. Adjusting these things fixed the problem for me.
It may be that Voiceover is activated and on silent with no captions showing. There is a function in voiceover that allows the mouse to track what the voiceover is saying. Hence jumping around. So if you've had a problem with voiceover this could be related to it. Secondly there are additional mouse settings that are under "Universal access". You can find that through spotlight as well as Voiceover. These two things combined could be effecting the mouse or either may seperately. I hope this helps. My mouse was jumping from an arrow to a pointer randomly after my 2 year old had banged on my keyboard. I found Voiceover was activated and the mouse was acting strangely. Adjusting these things fixed the problem for me.
One Resolution
Dated 8/22/12
Had a problem today with Magic Mouse disconnecting and reconnecting.
Solution 1 - change the batteries (low batteries can cause twitchy and erratic mouse behavior)
Next I used another mouse to access the bluetooth device to get it to reconnect and suddenly I had both Firefox and Safari browsers jumping up and down when trying to browse, this did not allow me to get to the top of the window to access the URL or web address bar. Twitchiness continue to occur within the finder windows when trying to access Mac Utilities to see if Malware had been installed.
Interestingly enough, I thought I had been the victim of some malware hack as this happened to me on a PC previously.
Solution 2
Step 1 - I deinstalled the Magic Mouse as a Device from the Bluetooth preference and device management window.
Step 2 - I turned off the mouse and then turned it on again
Step 3 - I reinstalled the "$&^%*" Magic Mouse and No More problem
So I posted this here and I hope this helps others.
Dated 8/22/12
Had a problem today with Magic Mouse disconnecting and reconnecting.
Solution 1 - change the batteries (low batteries can cause twitchy and erratic mouse behavior)
Next I used another mouse to access the bluetooth device to get it to reconnect and suddenly I had both Firefox and Safari browsers jumping up and down when trying to browse, this did not allow me to get to the top of the window to access the URL or web address bar. Twitchiness continue to occur within the finder windows when trying to access Mac Utilities to see if Malware had been installed.
Interestingly enough, I thought I had been the victim of some malware hack as this happened to me on a PC previously.
Solution 2
Step 1 - I deinstalled the Magic Mouse as a Device from the Bluetooth preference and device management window.
Step 2 - I turned off the mouse and then turned it on again
Step 3 - I reinstalled the "$&^%*" Magic Mouse and No More problem
So I posted this here and I hope this helps others.
I had this problem for 4 days. I fixed it myself.
I realized that the problem was the trackpad, and that the behavior of the cursor was uncontrolled trackpad manipulation. I did two things, and I fixed it.
1) Go to the trackpad setup in system preferences, and uncheck all of the gestures you don't use (for me, it's about 90% that I didn't even know existed). It takes awhile to get them unchecked, considering that your cursor is dancing all over the place and the windows are expanding and contracting all by themselves.
2) This will sound primitive, but I shut down the computer and pressed my full body weight down on the trackpad in different places, like I was smooching out a pie crust.
Fixed.
The reason your cursor is behaving this way is because the battery underneath the trackpad is dislodged. Try to press it back into place. It worked for me.
I realized that the problem was the trackpad, and that the behavior of the cursor was uncontrolled trackpad manipulation. I did two things, and I fixed it.
1) Go to the trackpad setup in system preferences, and uncheck all of the gestures you don't use (for me, it's about 90% that I didn't even know existed). It takes awhile to get them unchecked, considering that your cursor is dancing all over the place and the windows are expanding and contracting all by themselves.
2) This will sound primitive, but I shut down the computer and pressed my full body weight down on the trackpad in different places, like I was smooching out a pie crust.
Fixed.
The reason your cursor is behaving this way is because the battery underneath the trackpad is dislodged. Try to press it back into place. It worked for me.