My trackpad gets stuck

[K1ss3s4u]

Hello all! I have a crazy problem. I have a 17" Mac Pro Unibody that I bought in December of last year and am running on 10.6.4. Apparently, Apple won't do over the phone support even though I'm still under warranty, so I came here to hopefully get some questions answered. Here's the situation:
I won't be doing anything differently than I normally am doing on my computer when all of a sudden my mousepad will almost lock up and anywhere I move my mouse it will highlight everything. If it's on the desktop at the time, it will create those boxes as if I'm trying to highlight everything on there. It will happen when I'm in the middle of any application, and it has happened probably 6 times over the past month or two. I don't really know how else to explain it, but it's as if I were holding down with one finger and dragging with the other. I have cleaned my trackpad and made sure nothing was sticking to it. I have tried shutting the screen and opening it without it going away. The ONLY way I have found to stop the cursor from doing that is by shutting down or restarting the computer which is super inconvenient.
Do any of you have any helpful suggestions? I don't know where else to look for help.
Thanks!
Emily

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

Your Mac Pro Unibody is still under warranty as it is not yet 1 year since you purchased it. I would suggest you take it in to your nearest Apple Store if possible before the anniversary of the purchase date expires.

Mac, iPhone, iPod and iPad customers within 90 days of ownership are eligible for complimentary phone support — one support incident per iPod and unlimited incidents per Mac, iPhone and iPad.

Any new Mac you buy from the Apple Store or Authorised Apple Dealers worldwide comes with, as standard, a 12 month Global Warranty (RTB - Return to Base) - this means you can take your Mac to ANY Apple Service Centre - all available on the Apple website.

 

[K1ss3s4u]

Your Mac Pro Unibody is still under warranty as it is not yet 1 year since you purchased it. I would suggest you take it in to your nearest Apple Store if possible before the anniversary of the purchase date expires.

And, here presents the next problem: The nearest Apple store is 3 hours away. I live in North Dakota, and there aren't any Apple locations here.

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

Have you run Software Update recently to keep your MP Unibody up to date? You will find Software Update under the  menu up in the top left menu bar.

Have a read through this thread over at Apple's Support Discussion Board.

Where did you buy the MP Unibody? From Apples website? Regardless of that I would get on the phone to wherever you purchased the Mac and get the ball rolling on this issue before the 1 year warranty runs out. Then you will be responsible for the repair unless it is a known issue and Apple agree to repair/replace certain Macs that fall foul to that issue and are out of warranty.

In the meantime here are some snippets of info I've gathered.

They may or may not apply to your exact issue and proceed with caution and if you don't feel comfortable with doing something then don't do it.

Phone Apple repair and they will Fedex a shipping box to you so you can send it in to Apple. I would try to get a Genius to look at it and give you an approx. price, if you can. In the remote chance it's not hardware related.

Potential fixes are as follows:

Repair permissions: Fixing permissions using Disk Utility may help the problem. Alternative to Disk Utility, users might wish to do a more in-depth system cleaning using a third-party utility such as AppleJack or OnyX. These utilities can fix multiple problems beyond just permissions, since they can clear many caches, run built-in maintenance scripts, and run a variety of other tasks to keep the computer running optimally.

Reset the SMC and PRAM: To reset the PRAM, hold the Options-Command-P-R keys down all at once after restarting, allowing the computer to reset a couple of times before releasing the keys and allowing the computer to boot normally. This Apple Knowledgebase article (Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)) contains the steps for resetting the SMC on various MacBook models.

If you take your battery out there is a small tri wing screw on the bottom of the trackpad that is used to adjust the pressure settings. If you are experiencing similar issues turn the screw slightly to the left to give the trackpad greater pressure distance. Then reinstall your battery and try using your trackpad. It took me about 3 times to get the right adjustment for the trackpad to be set to work correctly. This is not a complicated task so try this fix before you shell out $200 for a new trackpad replacement.

Do you have a desktop mouse around? If so, does it click? This may be a way to troubleshoot whether or not there is a hardware issue.

Solution:

With the laptop open, turn it on to it's side. Repeatedly click the trackpad with a firm, but not excessive amount of force. Put the laptop on the other side and repeat.

I can't explain why this works. Perhaps some amount of debris or dust has built up under there ? I went from not being able to click-drag without an excessive amount of pressure, back to a normal amount of pressure after doing this.

Anyway, my work around is to turn on one finger "dragging" option in System Preference under Trackpad. To drag and drop, you'd click on the object twice but make sure you slide your finger in any direction on the second time. This is to lock the object to your finger movement. You'd do the same thing for multiple text selection.

So there's something to get stuck into, but please don't let the 1 year warranty run out. I'm taking it that you don't have AppleCare ... anyhow just let me know what's going on

.

 

[K1ss3s4u]

Thank you very much for all of your options! I will try them out. I have a warranty through Square Trade, but I don't want to send my computer away for that long. My schooling is online and can't risk it being gone too long. Thanks again for all of the suggestions, and I will let you know if I have any more issues.

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

Ok keep in touch ... I understand about sending your Mac away ... I have needed to take my Mac to my Apple store several times and they seem to keep it forever ... I feel like telling them that I'll take it home and they can ring me when the part they order for me, arrives

I hope you get this sorted out tho' as it could cost you more in the long run ...