Wacom Intous 2 problem pen active when "hovering"

[marxz]

for some reason my Intous 2 tablet has decided that my pen is touching the tablet even when the pen is held as far as 2 or 3 cm (1 inch) away, as you can imagine this makes editing/painting pretty much impossible.

Using Mac (OSX 10.4), have been through all the driver preferences but it's "universal problem" ie it's happening in all applications regardless of what each applications sensitivity and other Intous function are set to (even applications that are not configured so picking up the default mouse pen setting).
above 3cm hight it acts normally, tracks movment as I go from one part of the tablet to the other but not thinking I'm touching the tablet surface.

In the driver window as soon as the pen comes to within 2 or 3 cm the "pressure" indicator bar shows a sliver of blue (indicating it things i'm just resting the pen on the tablet rather than hovering over it) , it stays like that until I actually touch the tablet then the pressure increases normally.

The local shops don't have a clue, a Pro Photography supplier suggested I need to change the nib. Told them I already tried that and it still doesn't work properly) then they said next to try a new pen.... only no one has them in stock, not even the national distributor who have a 28 day absolute minimum wait and are only stocking the stroke pen anyway for the older Intous models (the stroke pen is like a brush nib or a Copic Sketch Marker nib not suitable for Photoshop photo editing work - great for Painter though but not for PS).

So obviously the next thing their going to be saying is I just need to buy a new tablet... yeh sure sure, almost a grand for a new one to replace this one... don't think so.

Basically asking is has anybody else had this problem and if so did a new pen fix it?

If so I'll buy one from H&B or some other US retailer that has them in stock. Even with surface mail it would reach Australia before the local distributor could get one for me (plus even with international delivery it's still (a bit) cheaper than local prices).

I guess failing that I'll just pay a friend in Japan to get a whole new tablet for me and send it over.

[dougj]

Interesting, I've used a Intuos 2 for about 5 years on Windows systems, this was my first Wacom tablet. It has worked from the beginning +/- the way you describe your's now does.

Although I don't have a visual indicator, bringing the pen within a couple of cm or so to the tablet, I can tell the pen is detected by the tablet. Actual pen activities are not initiated until the pen contact with the tablet surface.

I always considered this to be the way the Wacom tablets worked... Maybe it should be different?

[cmit]

I also have an Intuos 2 tablet. My pen activates the cursor when about 2cm from the surface - it allows the cursor to be moved around but does not 'draw' unless the tip is actually touching the surface. This is how it is supposed to work.

In your case it appears the sensors are not properly calibrated. Have you tried (a) resetting everything to 'Default' in the Intuos Properties? and (b) uninstalling and then reinstalling the Intuos software?

Failing this, you could log your problem with Wacom Support - they may have an answer.....