Unresponsive Keyboard and Trackpad problem FIXED/RESOLVED

Question

Level 1

11 points

Unresponsive Keyboard and Trackpad problem FIXED/RESOLVED

I've been dealing with this issue since early December myself.
I purchased the MBP in November and had nearly a month with out any issues.

I spent nearly two hours on the phone with Apple Care via a specialist trying to diagnose the problem yesterday.
He did mention that they believe neither the 10.5.1 update or the MBP 1.1 update were to blame for occurrence of this issue. (I remain slightly skeptical)

Let me give you a short rundown of my problems and what I've done to help resolve the issue. Hopefully it'll help some of you.. or help me (with some of everyone else insight) if it happens again.

The symptoms:
keyboard and trackpad become unresponsive.
The problem is intermittent but often is completely unresponsive at start up.
USB mouse and keyboards have full functionality.

Kernel panics often occur as well. Usually this occurs just after the keyboard and track pad experience extreme intermittent "on and off" periods.
The only option is to do a hard-restart which my or may not resolve the unresponsiveness.

Things I've addressed in my particular case:

1. The battery recall issue - my battery (6N745288YFTA) is OK.
2. Resetting the PMU - no change.
3. Re-installing both the 10.5.1 and MBP 1.1 updates - no effect.
4. pressing the Function + S key at start up and running /sbin/fsck -fy The HD is said to be OK
5. I just finished an Archive and reinstall of Leopard = this seems to have fixed the issue for the moment. I have not run the Updater to bring the OS back to it's fully updated form yet.

The Archive and Re-install DID NOT WORK.
Even upon downloading and installing the 10.5.1 and 1.1 update, I'm still back at square one.

I've also been experiencing these phantom keystrokes to the eject key and backlight myself lately.

I've resolved to wait for the 10.5.2 official release to see of that helps... If not then I'll break down and send my machine in for service.

_____________________________________
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro3,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP31.0070.B05
SMC Version: 1.16f10
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

THE SOLUTION:

This is a HARDWARE problem!

After playing around with removing the battery and noticing that this often returned functionality to the keyboard I surmised that this had some sort of physical aspect.
Sure enough, there is a section of copper colored tape/wiring exposed in the batter slot that is slightly bowed where it's smallest.
When I depressed this with my finger tip on this portion to basically flatten it out flush against the housing; I found that all functionality was restored!

You can see the portion in the picture below.

I haven’t had any problems AT ALL since I took a piece of napkin and taped it down to sustain pressure on this portion of bowed tape/wiring.

I have yet to call AppleCare to see what they suggest I do.
I will post a reply here when I hear their suggestion.

Mac Book Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.1), 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB 667 MHz SDRAM

Posted on Jan 27, 2008 3:18 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

metaweb

Level 1

40 points

Apr 14, 2017 8:01 AM in response to RamzaMik

Same problem here. It's a design issue. My keyboard and trackpad also stopped responding, couldn't get past login ... The problem is that Apple ran the trackpad cable over the top of the battery. And as Macbooks get thinner and thinner, component are snugger and snugger. So, when the battery heats up, and it will when watching YouTube videos or running video editing programs as many of us do, the trackpad cable gets unseated from the connected to the trackpad board. I have an Early 2015 Macbook Pro, and this problem surfaced just after the 1-year warranty period expired. If I turn my Macbook Pro over and firmly press in an up and down motion over the bottom case (under where the trackpad, trackpad cable and battery are all 3 aligned, then turn on my laptop, I once again have a working keyboard and trackpad and can login as normal. This is not what one would expect from such an expensive laptop. As these things get thinner and thinner ... problems will crop up more and more.

Apple Support will tell you to reset your NVRAM and SMC ... but that is the canned reply. Resetting those do fix other problems: keyboard backlights and other wonky issues ... but it will not reconnect an unseated trackpad ribbon. And if you are out of warranty ... just purchase a replacement ribbon on ebay and install it yourself. Taking it to an authorized Apple Repair Center will cost you an arm and a leg, especially outside of the USA where there's no price regulation.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/821-00184-A-Touchpad-Trackpad-Cable-for-Apple-MacBook-Pr o-Retina-13-A1502-2015-/111975916834?hash=item1a1248e522

The link above is only for the Early 2015 (March) MacBook Pro ... you will need to research your models ribbon for replacement.

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Answer 2

Apr 25, 2017 11:27 AM in response to metaweb

My issue was also with the trackpad cable. It is too long and has to be bent as seen in picture, which I think as the battery and the mac body heats up, it kinks the cable and renders it non-functional. My issue was intermittent at first. In my last attempt to fix it, I kinked the cable completely and the keyboard and trackpad stopped working altogether. I ordered a new cable from Amazon, plugged it in and everything went back to normal. Will see how long this cable will last.

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Answer 3

quangtdn

Level 1

4 points

Feb 17, 2017 5:34 AM in response to Steve Eugene

I had exactly the same problem as yours and tried almost everything: SMC, PRAM, etc.

When I read your post, I didn't have any screwdriver to open my macbook and take out its battery.

However, after trying awhile, I could fix it by this way:

- Connect your Macbook to an external keyboard. If your external keyboard works fine, you may have a chance.

- Then shut down your Macbook.

- Press and hold "shift" on your external keyboard. Then turn on the Macbook while holding "shift".

- We are actually just trying to reboot the Macbook in safe mode. But instead of using the "shift" on the internal keyboard, which shouldn't work as the internal keyboard is unresponsive, we are doing so on the external keyboard. Note that it may take awhile.

- Then check your internal keyboard and trackpad now. If they both work fine, then just shut down your Macbook and turn it on in normal mode.

Hope this helps 🙂 .

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Answer 4

mac_heir

Level 1

4 points

Jul 28, 2017 8:22 AM in response to Steve Eugene

I know this is old, but it absolutely worked for me. Applied pressure to the area where the connector is and is now working. Every situation is different, but in my case it was definitely a hardware issue. Thank you

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Answer 5

Allan Jones

Level 9

72,248 points

Jan 28, 2008 8:16 AM in response to Steve Eugene

Excellent detective work, Steve! I hope this helps others.

The one factor that doesn't seem explained by a cable interference is that many of the people here who report the "ELP" issue say that it does not show up when they are booted into Windoze. Seems a bowed ribbon would affect either OS equally.

Still, good work, sir. I hope this helps those missing letters.

A

Message was edited by: Allan Jones

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Answer 6

Suneet

Level 1

15 points

Jan 28, 2008 1:55 PM in response to Steve Eugene

Nice one Steve, this completely explains why putting pressure on the battery on my mbp causes the keyboard and trackpad to instantly freeze up. I'm going to have a go as per your instructions....

Suneet

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Answer 7

Suneet

Level 1

15 points

Jan 28, 2008 2:45 PM in response to Steve Eugene

Steve, I just gave it a go. All that was needed was a strip of sellotape to flatten out the bowed area, and it worked. I've enjoyed my time in Tiger, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to returning to the lusciousness of Leopard.

Cheers

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Answer 8

Steve Eugene Author

Level 1

11 points

Jan 28, 2008 2:56 PM in response to Suneet

Suneet, glad that this could be of service to you. It feels nice to get to the bottom of this. I've been on the verge of ripping some hair out for a few weeks now.

To follow up... I just got off the phone with AppleCare.

As I suspected they are requesting I send in my MBP for service.

As well as the tape fix works, I would feel more comfortable having my hardware work intrinsically on its own without the help of some tape. Not to mention having it break further for some reason and having my warranty voided by apple by attributing it to my craftsmanship.

This is unfortunate because as Ph.D. student I use this MBP everyday in the lab and not having it is going to leave me a little crippled academically.
I love this machine to death, but as a first time mac user this hasn't been a great experience just three months after purchasing it.

Regardless, this should be reason enough for Apple to raise their quality control standards... as it sounds like multiple people are having issues along the same vein.
If anything this is a great example of where that extra cash spent on AppleCare has saved me even more heartache and stress.

Message was edited by: Steve Eugene

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Answer 9

Feb 10, 2008 8:32 AM in response to Suneet

hi just tried this 5 min. ago and it bloody WORX!!..wonder how many other people have these same kind of issues, because of some stupid bendt wire..
thanx

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Answer 10

zachhale

Level 1

0 points

Feb 10, 2008 11:50 AM in response to Steve Eugene

Well done! This has been driving me insane but your fix works perfectly! Thank you!

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Answer 11

Feb 10, 2008 3:37 PM in response to Steve Eugene

well since the machine is a currently made one you shouldnt be with out a machine for to long, when i had to get a HD replaced it was 48 hours from when i dropped it in the dhl box until it was waiting for me on my door step
-matt

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Answer 12

Steve Eugene Author

Level 1

11 points

Feb 11, 2008 3:18 PM in response to Steve Eugene

I sent out my computer for service last Monday via DHL.
I received my fixed MBP today.

A one week turn around isn't so bad, I suppose.

They replaced two parts on my machine.
If anyone is curious as to what they were I can post a reply with these details.

Regardless, the issue has been fixed all together.

Though the fix I posted above worked for the time being, I would suggest that all of you who have AppleCare or the cash to fix it... do so.
Keeping my MBP working with a peice of tape just didn't feel right.

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Answer 13

Feb 11, 2008 4:00 PM in response to Steve Eugene

A nice elegant solution! It looks like the connection between the conductive copper coloured tape and the receptor is flawed. But I'm glad I read these discussions before embarking upon reinstallations and the works!

Cheers!

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Answer 14

Suneet

Level 1

15 points

Feb 12, 2008 12:15 AM in response to Steve Eugene

OK, I'm back from exams. I've been surfing the forums for some sort of response from Apple, but nothing. Steve if you can post which parts they replaced, and if you have an idea what it would cost sans applecare I'd be very grateful. I'm back in England until the end of the week, so I may be able to organize something with Apple UK.

Suneet

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Answer 15

Steve Eugene Author

Level 1

11 points

Feb 13, 2008 10:01 AM in response to Suneet

Parts as they are listed on my invoice:

620-3977 TOP CASE MOD ASYY,M75
658-0322 ASSY,KEYBOARD,M75

As far as cost is concerned, I have no idea, but I'm sure those parts won't be too hard to track down on the internet.

Glad I could be of help to everyone.
I know this drove me near to insanity when it happened.

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