iBook G4 mousepad problem

[moron]

I'm having a lot of trouble with the mousepad on my 6 month old iBook G4. Recently it has stopped responding while you are using it, meaning that the cursor will be left static on the screen for several seconds, no matter how much you touch the pad. It usually starts working again after a second or two, but then does this again either straight away, or a few minutes later.

This is extremely infuriating, as it makes the computer next to impossible to use at times. I automatically assumed that this is a hardware flaw, but I've noticed this very occasionally happens on my Powerbook G4 too, although very very rarely, and it never happens more than once in a row. Could this be some kind of OS flaw, or is my iBook needing to go in for repairs?

Cheers in advance!

 

[mkrishnan]

I'm having a lot of trouble with the mousepad on my 6 month old iBook G4. Recently it has stopped responding while you are using it, meaning that the cursor will be left static on the screen for several seconds, no matter how much you touch the pad. It usually starts working again after a second or two, but then does this again either straight away, or a few minutes later.

What do you have installed like utilities or hacks or anything, if anything? It doesn't sound normal to me. The only time I ever get this on my iBook G4 (also 6 mos old) is on wakeup from sleep occasionally, which I think prolly *is* normal. But the trackpad shouldn't just die in the middle of use for 3 seconds, unless its broken or maybe some software is either munging with the interface or seriously spiking on system resources.

 

[Mord]

my sister's ibook gets that but far less often and for only a few seconds call apple see what they have to say about it

 

[moron]

It's got no hacks or anything like that installed. I actually bought it for my mum to use, and she only uses it for accessing the internet and stuff like that. There's next to no third party software installed, and Safari is pretty much the only software which gets used on it. It's running all the latest updates of 10.3 too.

If it was only happening when waking from sleep, then it'd be understandable. But when I was trying to use it this morning, it was doing it during a regular Safari session. It got to the point that it was freezing for about 3 or 4 seconds at a time, and then would allow you to move the cursor for about half a second before cutting out again. Obviously, this is completely useless! Saying that, it doesn't happen all the time, it's as if it has occasional 'funny turns'. I was able to use it for about half an hour before it got *really* bad, although it was doing it occasionally during this time.

The only thing I could think of is the Airport Extreme card I installed in it. Perhaps that could have come loose or something? I dunno, sounds like a long shot, but I'll have a check now. Failing that, I'll pester Apple and see what they're saying.

 

[mkrishnan]

Ummmm....full of quasi-useless suggestions today so feel free to tell me to go away.

Another thing to try, in good faith is to get either a USB or a BT *mouse* and see if it does the same thing. Might help Apple tell you what's wrong too. But it sounds more like a loose connection issue to me than a driver issue.

 

[Counterfit]

If it spends most of its time on a desk, I would also recommend going with a USB or Bluetooth mouse. If it spends a decent amount of time away from a desk, (i.e. on your lap) I would call Apple and see if it can be fixed. I'm pretty sure that it's not within spec. Heck, I'd call them anyway!