Wacky trackpad

[ibedi]

Greetings, all. I have a Macbook Pro that is about 5 years old. It has developed a problem with the cursor not responding to direction from the trackpad. Here are the symptoms:

The cursor does not follow the movement of the finger on the trackpad, but it does move. It jumps around the screen and occasionally causes right-click menus to pop up or other pages or functions to pop up.

The cursor continues to move for a while after I have stopped touching the trackpad. The cursor is either getting instructions elsewhere or is having a delayed response to directions I gave it earlier. Or some other cause that I haven't thought of.

I have restarted the computer numerous times, and the problem clears up for a little while. But before very long, it starts up again. This leads me to believe that it is not a problem with the trackpad, since it will work sometimes. Perhaps some other program is interfering with it?

I have cleaned the trackpad and keyboard with an air duster and a cotton ball with a tiny bit of alcohol on it. Didn't help.

I would be grateful for any direction in this matter.

 

[Frankfurt]

Any sign of a swelling battery? I had an erratic, then not functioning trackpad on a 2008 machine and realized after a while that the battery had swollen to a degree that is was putting pressure on the trackpad. After I exchanged the battery the trackpad functioned again.

 

[ibedi]

Any sign of a swelling battery? I had an erratic, then not functioning trackpad on a 2008 machine and realized after a while that the battery had swollen to a degree that is was putting pressure on the trackpad. After I exchanged the battery the trackpad functioned again.

[doublepost=1502138718][/doublepost]Thank you, Frankfurt! I just examined the bottom of my computer and it looks normal. My previous computer had a removable battery which I replaced once, but this one doesn't. I don't see any signs of swelling.

 

[Frankfurt]

was worth a try...

 

[ibedi]

was worth a try...

You know...I think I may have figured it out, but it might be too early to say. I rebooted my computer and this time I used Chrome as a browser instead of Firefox. The cursor has not wacked-out yet. I think I will uninstall Firefox.
[doublepost=1502148819][/doublepost]

You know...I think I may have figured it out, but it might be too early to say. I rebooted my computer and this time I used Chrome as a browser instead of Firefox. The cursor has not wacked-out yet. I think I will uninstall Firefox.

I was wrong. That wasn't the problem.