Cursor flies off screen

[sunstone]

I bought a Mac Pro just days after it became publicly available, shortly after the loss of my old iMac in a move across the country. Didn't do much research; may live to regret it; years' and $$'s worth of software will not work. But, aside from that....

My cursor frequently just flies off the screen. I've looked for patterns (Is the machine too hot? Am I inadvertently touching some wrong button? etc.) and cannot find a pattern. It is always maddening, but when I'm editing a photo at the pixel level and the cursor zooms off the screen taking a swath of pixels with it, I'm ready to throw the machine out the window and gleefully watch it plummet two stories and smash to smitherines on the concrete!

What is causing this?? Am I alone? I did a search, but did not find a related topic. Also, the "p" on my keyboard won't make a capital using the left (normal, for a copy editor) shift key, only the right. And you have to use a hammer to get the tab key to tab. Just MY keyboard? Or has anyone else experienced similar problems?

And, breaking the rule about one topic to a post, I also bought an Altec (I think; I'm not looking right now at anything that would help me get it right) speaker system and couldn't get it to produce sound, and, yes, I messed with settings. I ended up giving it to my granddaughter for her CD player. I hate the tinny sound, but cannot right now afford another speaker system... But, when I do, anyone have any suggestions?

Cursor problem is cruicial; help requested. Thanks.

 

[Father Jack]

Sorry,
never heard of that one

FJ

 

[sunstone]

A Post Script to my question

Is it the mouse? This is the first time I've had an optical mouse.
Is it the mouse pad?
Is it the screen? My first time with this kind of screen; neat, classy-looking, much smaller footprint, etc., but...???

Do other MacPro users LIKE the mouse that comes with the machine? I remember that the first thing we did when we got the iMac was replace that hockey-puck mouse with a *real* mouse! Is this similar? Are people just routinely replacing the ?mice? that come with the MacPros?

And does anyone know what causes the Dashboard to intrude frequently as I am working? Am I touching something or doing something to cause my open windows to shade out and the Dashboard to come front? And, can I make the Dashboard just *go away*? I never use it.

Sorry, now that I've found this place, all my stored-up questions are pouring out. I bought my first Mac in 1983, have had about 7 since, and have loved every one of them, till now. Had a long "no upgrade" spell during poverty times; am I just waaaay out of date?

 

[dopey220]

I'm by no means an expert, but it just sounds to me like you need a new keyboard and mouse.

 

[kiwi-in-uk]

It sounds like the mouse could be a big part of the problem.

I have noticed the same thing happen with a couple of my optical mice. The Microsoft Notebook Optical Mouse I am using now is very bad, and one other (can't remember whether it was another MS mouse or a different brand) was bad. Also had (different) problems with a Mighty Mouse.

I seem to recall reading that there is a technical explanation related to the USB interface but that doesn't help much when I grab a mouse from the office (usually in a hurry and almost always without thinking about which mouse I'm grabbing) and fly half way around the world. Then Dashboard & Expose activate several times in the middle of Board presentations.

I have found that the cheapest Logitech optical mice work ok (for me).

 

[panoz7]

And does anyone know what causes the Dashboard to intrude frequently as I am working? Am I touching something or doing something to cause my open windows to shade out and the Dashboard to come front? And, can I make the Dashboard just *go away*? I never use it.

Dashboard is probably mapped to a button on your mighty mouse. I think by default It's set up to appear when you press scroll ball. It might also be when you squeeze it though. I haven't had a mighty mouse for quite some time so I can't remember exactly. Whatever the case check out the mouse preferences and you can disable it.

It sounds like alot of the troubles you are having are related to the optical mouse. Optical mice can be quite temperamental on certain surfaces... especially surfaces that are slightly reflective. Try it on a piece of cardboard or paper and see if the strange behavior goes away.

You should have no problem getting speakers to work with the MP. It's possible that yours was set up to output sound through the optical port or internal speaker instead of the speaker port. Check what output device is set in the sound preferences.

 

[sunstone]

Thanks to all above

Thank you so much to all above. I have lived with these problems because, after buying the machine and screen and upgrading my Adobe software (even though the "native" version wasn't ready yet, thus knowing I'd have that expense in my future), I just flat ran out of money to spend.

So I am glad to know that it probably is, indeed, the mouse, primarily. I'll swap out mouse pads and look at button settings. I've copied your suggestions to a text file.

It's so nice to be able to find some help, and if not help, then sympathy! Thanks again!