A few weeks ago, after updating to OS X 10.6.4, I noticed my cursor has begun to move around on its own.
Sliding slowly a bit to the right, then back a bit to the left, it will make its way across the screen. It appears as if an invisible hand (from
Babylon to
Dunstan to
Smith) is controlling the cursor.
Trying to wrest control back will only result in pain, although it occasionally responds to a firm swipe and then behaves for a few seconds to a few minutes.
The problem sometimes manifests itself as an invisible finger on the trackpad, in which case attempting to move the cursor in the opposite direction only results in enlarging a browser window or all the icons on one's desktop (as if the user's one finger on the trackpad is working in unison with the un-helpful invisible finger).
Other times it begins to alt-tab through icons, switching between programs, or jumps to a previous page in the browser window. These last two are keyboard commands, not multi-finger swipes. Since they can happen without any hands being placed on the keyboard or trackpad, these multi-key commands are being issued consistently without user intervention.
During the course of writing this blog post, my Macbook Pro exhibited all three effects, eliminating an almost-complete draft of this blog post in the process and jumping between various programs. The only way to get out of the alt-tab is to hit the Return button, since clicking on the proper program is impossible.
Given the nature of this random, devilish behavior, I typed "possessed trackpad unibody" into Google and got back a large number of hits, many occurring within the last few weeks since 10.6.4 was dropped on the unsuspecting masses.
A little more digging and I found that Apple is well aware of this problem, with many discussions on their support forums, including one with
over 1000 responses. Yet tech support can't seem to diagnose the problem, or gives the standard Apple line that they've never seen the issue before.
As some posters have noted, it's so randomly intermittent, it's hard to demonstrate. Imagine trying to take it into a Genius Bar and know that it's going to work (or not work) at the allotted reserved time.
For me, it's gotten significantly worse over the past week, occurring every 4-5 minutes and lasting for 10-20 minutes at a time. Then, as quickly as the possession overtakes my machine, it disappears, leaving me mentally exhausted from battling the Apple demons. Just when I get comfortable that I am in control again, the possession occurs.
Where's an exorcist when I need one?
Suggested fixes abound from a clean reinstall of the OS (doesn't work) to trashing the com.apple.bluetooth.plist preferences (doesn't work) to resetting the PRAM (doesn't work) to turning on/off Airport (works temporarily). In the "works temporarily" category, some users will post that the problem went away when they did one of the above, only to post later that the problem has re-occurred.
One poster also said it only affects machines with certain video cards, except many other users have reported it with other video cards (mine doesn't have the Radeon HD 4870 the poster mentioned) and the solution Apple gave him was to keep the laptop plugged into an external monitor. Hello?!
If Apple can't exorcise its invisible helping hand, it may be time to switch back to Windows. I've got to get some work done without fighting the invisible forces of the evil unhelpful hand.
