Trackpad has life of its own

[DalekSec]

Hey

 

Have a students laptop in the office shes been having trouble with, basically the trackpad seems to have its own life moving around the screen and opening and right clicking things, I stuck a mouse in and the mouse works find ( but still jumps with the trackpad trying to move it also ). anybody had this problem and found a solution? done a bit of research and tried this Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) - Apple Support, Its a MacBook pro running 10.9.2.

 

Thanks in advance

[synaesthesia]

I recall there being issues with some MBP's where dodgy power supplies and/or dodgy batteries have caused this. Can't recall why the PSU would be an issue (is it an original and undamaged?) but the batteries used to press on the touchpad from below causing this exact issue. Could well be linked; dodgy PSU damaging the battery for instance.

[DalekSec]

Have tried with power in and out and still happens in both. Easiest way to check the battery?

[synaesthesia]

Without taking it apart, there isn't one; you can check to see if it gets particularly warm, otherwise you may be able to see a slight bulge in the chassis if it's really bad, but that's unlikely (only ever seen that once, that was back in the days of the exploding batteries)

[DalekSec]

thanks for the help, will have to suggest to her to take it to an apple store as looks like its hardware not software

[davidacland]

Reading the thread it does sound like a repair might be needed. Just in case, we have had two funny causes of trackpad issues that you could rule out:

 

Problematic power adaptor: Had this on Macs and iOS devices, basically causing some kind of static charge on the casing that was messing up the input. Try it without a PSU plugged in to rule this out.

Bluetooth mouse / trackpad connected: We had a MacBook change hands a few times and they forgot it had once been used with a bluetooth trackpad. The trackpad was actually still switched on and put on a shelf with some books on top of it. This was pressing the trackpad down and preventing anyone from "clicking". Turn off bluetooth to rule this out.

[DalekSec]

Tried with and without the cable still played up and as far as I know she doesn't have a Bluetooth one, turns out she had insurance on it anyway so should be fine.