Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

torifile · Mar 19, 2002, 02:02 AM

I've read in various threads that some people are having some trackpad issues with it going all over the place sometimes. Especially when pulling your finger off the mouse still seems to follow. Not touching the trackpad, but hovering will make the mouse move. Kind of a pain. I just got my tibook and I was wondering if there has been any resolution to the problems. Did Apple fix it? Did it go away on its own? Or is it still a pain in the ass? TIA.

bg · Mar 20, 2002, 02:59 AM

Originally posted by torifile:
<STRONG>I've read in various threads that some people are having some trackpad issues with it going all over the place sometimes. Especially when pulling your finger off the mouse still seems to follow. Not touching the trackpad, but hovering will make the mouse move. Kind of a pain. I just got my tibook and I was wondering if there has been any resolution to the problems. Did Apple fix it? Did it go away on its own? Or is it still a pain in the ass? TIA.</STRONG>

The trackpad on my G4 gets FUBAR. I just got my TiPB 550 combo a couple weeks ago and everything is peachy except the sporadic wiggly bidniz with the trackpad. I haven't read if Apple has a fix or if they even acknowledge there is a problem. I can feel my productivity melting - or is that from the heat?

gravy · Mar 20, 2002, 02:25 PM

You will eventually learn how to use the trackpad
with minimal cursor movement, but if you work on it
for extended periods of time I would highly recommend
getting a mouse.

Podolsky · Mar 20, 2002, 07:49 PM

My trackpad totally failed and my 667 had to go back to Apple under warranty! On top of that the problem required a logic board replacement not just the trackpad assembly! I am dead without that PowerBook. It is shameless how reliant I am on that thing. I hope (foolishly I'm sure) that the logic board will be replaced with an 800mhz "MacWorld Tokyo" logic board

!

!

bg · Mar 23, 2002, 07:15 PM

My trackpad went from wiggly to worse: I couldn't get my machine to go to sleep. Everytime I selected sleep mode it would go dark and wake back up within 2 to 3 seconds. I decided to start up with the extensions off. That didn't work. I tried to start up from and use the Apple Hardware Test CD. The CD would be ejected everytime. I called Apple support and after a few tests I'm told it's the trackpad and it needs to be replaced. I got my Ti550combo March 6,2002.

clRagnarok · Mar 23, 2002, 11:29 PM

my TiBook has the standard trackpad issues. i now use a real mouse

torifile · Mar 24, 2002, 12:42 AM

I've gotten mostly used to the trackpad skittishness, but it's pretty damned annoying that I can't do some work in Illustrator without having to hook up a mouse. For detailed stuff, I use a mouse anyway, but for large, general things, I should be able to use the trackpad... Anyway, I've found that when the mouse is acting up, I have to make sure that my index finger is the only one near the pad. That means keeping my thumb off the button. Then it works pretty well. I was hoping to hear that it goes away after a while, but I guess that was too much to expect

mrtew · Mar 24, 2002, 01:39 AM

I've had two TiBooks and the trackpads are great. I almost don't notice the difference between using my mouse at home and the pad on the road. I love it.

Danni · Mar 24, 2002, 02:07 AM

Hi

Two TiBooks here too and no probs with the trackpads either.

Danni

psisquared · Mar 24, 2002, 02:02 PM

No problems here at all. You just have to learn to keep your thumb away from the pad and it works great. BTW, anyone know of a way to disable the trackpad entirely? I would love to be able to turn it off while playing games with a mouse attached.

bg · Mar 24, 2002, 09:23 PM

My thumb is not to blame. My Ti550combo has a bad trackpad. How bad? So bad that it needs to be replaced. It's not a matter of my dexterity or lack thereof. As I said earlier, I noticed my cursor doing things I didn't direct. Weird things. Wrong things. Possibly bad things only republicans would excuse. At any rate, next I noticed that my machine would not go to sleep. Apparently the trackpad would send a signal to wake up within 2-3 seconds of selecting sleep mode. This happened consistently and was a major cause for concern. This concern went to defcon status after I discovered I could not even boot from the Apple Hardware Test CD. Again, the trackpad was sending a signal to "eject all media" eventhough I was not touching the trackpad with my thumb or anything else. Please note: I stopped drooling on my Ti a week after I got it. I still love it though. I hate to send it off to Texas for surgery but I guess that's what warranties are four.

torifile · Mar 24, 2002, 11:56 PM

Originally posted by bg:
<STRONG>My thumb is not to blame. My Ti550combo has a bad trackpad. How bad? So bad that it needs to be replaced. It's not a matter of my dexterity or lack thereof. As I said earlier, I noticed my cursor doing things I didn't direct. Weird things. Wrong things. Possibly bad things only republicans would excuse. At any rate, next I noticed that my machine would not go to sleep. Apparently the trackpad would send a signal to wake up within 2-3 seconds of selecting sleep mode. This happened consistently and was a major cause for concern. This concern went to defcon status after I discovered I could not even boot from the Apple Hardware Test CD. Again, the trackpad was sending a signal to "eject all media" eventhough I was not touching the trackpad with my thumb or anything else. Please note: I stopped drooling on my Ti a week after I got it. I still love it though. I hate to send it off to Texas for surgery but I guess that's what warranties are four.</STRONG>

Good to see that you've retained your sense of humor in this

"things only republicans would excuse"

Funny stuff. But, yeah, that's what the warranties are for, I guess. Hopefully it'll be fixed...

bg · Mar 27, 2002, 01:40 PM

Thanks. Airborne picked up my Ti550 March 26. I hope it comes back 'all better' soon. Thumbs UP!
bg

bg · Mar 29, 2002, 04:58 PM

I got my ti550combo back today, March 29. It received a top case assy (trackpad, I guess) and a new cd-rw drive cable (I wasn't aware of any problem here). All systems seem to be working. The speedy AppleCare repair gets two thumbs up.

acadian · Apr 1, 2002, 01:37 AM

I too suffer from the trackpad issue on my 667. Although I dont notice it much work wise (I use a mouse mostly), it gets quite annoying during online gameplay as I must keep one hand on the keyboard at all times which causes the curser to jump all over the place, even though my hand is nowhere near the trackpad.

BlueBeat

Podolsky · Apr 1, 2002, 11:15 AM

This worked for me.

My cursor was drifting around too moslty to the right and down so I set the speed and double click to on setting below max and that stabilized it. Now it is rock steady. Maybe this will work for you too.

torifile · Apr 1, 2002, 11:32 AM

Well, I've pretty much figured out how to use it. It seems to be most problematic when I first wake it up from sleep. Other than that, I just need to be a little careful with it. I've been able to actually use it to do some illustrator work, but I'm going to have to stick to my external mouse for the serious stuff. $3000+ and you'd think you could get a perfect computer

I guess not...

Podolsky · Apr 2, 2002, 12:34 AM

Yes, it the pad can behave a bit squirrely upon wakeup and if that happens resetting its tracking speed or logout and log back in. this has worked for me.