[Ti] Trackpad issues, random movements/clicking

[Steve Martin]

I did some more testing and determined that it started with the 10.3.2 
update.  It only occurs when the finder is copying to/from an external 
Firewire drive.

I've Archive/Installed back to 10.3 (and manually installed the 10.3.1 
update) and everything is now working normally.  As I type this, I'm 
copying the "Previous System" folder to a backup drive over Firewire 
and can move the mouse around normally.  I verified this on a 
completely clean install on an external drive.  All worked fine up 
until installing the 10.3.2 update and then it started having the same 
problem.

If anyone else with a PowerBook G4 500Mhz and and external firewire 
drive and 10.3.2 could see how their mouse behaves while a large Finder 
copy is reading/writing to the hard drive, I'd be interested in hearing 
your experience.  As it is, I'm going to have to avoid 10.3.2.

By the way, I have 3 Firewire drives, all the normal 400 speed firewire.


On Dec 26, 2003, at 2:07 PM, Dr. Trevor J. Hutley wrote:

> At 09:38 -0600 26/12/03, Steve Martin wrote:
>> I'm having strange trackpad behavior.  Basically sometimes, the mouse 
>> gets really jumpy, and also randomly clicks/holds the mouse.  
>> Trackpad clicking, etc. is off.  When I try to use it when it is 
>> behaving this way, I keep having Exposé and Screen savers activate, 
>> or things magically get dragged out of my dock.
>>
>> I seem to have isolated it to only occurring when the finder is 
>> copying to firewire drives although CD/DVD drive use may also cause 
>> it. Almost seems like it might be power related?
>
> Steve - from what you describe, it sounds to me like all the CPU power 
> is being used up in other intensive tasks, and so moving the cursor 
> round becomes a task that gets the remnant of CPU power.
> This would make it jumpy.  It would be this, if your configuration was 
> low on memory and CPU speed.
>
> If you start up your 'book and have almost no active tasks, and your 
> cursor/trackpad is still acting like this, then it is something else.
>
> A few experiments should identify the specific nature of the problem, 
> and then you are hal;f way to getting a solution or explanation.
>
> regards,  Trevor
>
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--
Steve Martin
Smart Calibration, LLC           http://www.smartcalibration.com/