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Steve Eugene Author

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

Top-ranking reply

metaweb

Level 1

40 points

Posted on Apr 14, 2017 8:01 AM

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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382 replies

FH9999

Level 1

0 points

Sep 23, 2010 12:28 PM in response to Carlos*usmx

I have had the same problem for quite sometime. I own a 2007 2.2 GHz MacBook Pro. The Apple guys are clueless. They wanted to replace hardware € 500 worth with no guarantee that the problem will be solved.

The freezes of my keyboard and trackpad were quite severe; sometimes I had to reset the system 10 times in order to restore my keyboard and trackpad. Sometimes I could not restore them for days.

Nevertheless, just by accident I noticed that with the battery removed, the keyboard and trackpad would "come back to live" much quicker and moreover they would not freeze.

Coincidentally or not I replaced the original battery with a new one just recently approximately when the keyboard and trackpad started to freeze.

My conclusion is that there seems to be a hardware incompatibility between the battery and the internal keyboard and trackpad.

Sep 29, 2010 10:39 PM in response to FH9999

I work at an Apple Authorized Repair center and I can tell you based off my experience what the deal is that Apple won't admit:

The logic board has a cable that runs through the bottom of where the removable battery is. This cable sometimes gets nudged, (usually on hard surfaces), causing the trackpad to short and stop working. It's neither a problem of the trackpad or the logicboard but rather the location of this cable that causes this problem because the battery knicks the cable everytime it's pushed on slightly.

Unfortunately it's not justified much to replace any of the parts. I always suggest customers to just upgrade to the latest model (Unibody w/o removable battery).

For those with Unibody's and having the trackpad issue, its sometimes caused by this plugin that might be loaded on Safari called "clickforflash". It's unintentionally installed sometimes with the Flash 10 update and it causes the mouse to have sudden slow downs on wake. I would suggest uninstalling it immediately.

Hope this helps some people!

tdslman

Level 1

0 points

Sep 30, 2010 6:42 AM in response to kowyzg0moo

I have a new unibody MBP 13" (7,1) and two days ago I got this problem. I watched some videos on Y**tube and used my external USB mouse. After some time my keyboard and my trackpad got unresponsive, but my external USB mouse did still work. After reboot everything was good again.

As kowyzg0moo mentioned, I'll try to uninstall the clicktoflash plugin, but I personally don't believe that this might be the solution.

Message was edited by: tdslman

zigller

Level 1

0 points

Sep 30, 2010 7:10 AM in response to Steve Eugene

ive been using a macbook black and purchased the 13 pro just last month and since day 2, ive had unresponsive track pad problem. i have long suspected heat or something. yesterday, i went to the iStudio to have this problem fixed. just this evening, it happened again. this time, all the programs were unresponsive. i could move the pointer around but it cant click anything. i

FH9999

Level 1

0 points

Oct 2, 2010 7:07 AM in response to kowyzg0moo

Thanks for the tip!
What I did was to place a sheet of adhesive plastic foil on the back of the battery in order to prevent the contact of the metal case of the battery with the orange contact ribbon running in the back of the trackpad.

No freeze for three days!

Oct 9, 2010 11:03 PM in response to kowyzg0moo

+I always suggest customers to just upgrade to the latest model (Unibody w/o removable battery).+

That's all well and good, but not practical or even doable for the average person in this economy. I've had this computer for a little under two years. I am still making payments on it. I cannot possibly afford to purchase a new one; I could not in good conscience sell this to someone to try to recoup the difference that I still owe; the local store offers 'trade in' towards a new machine, but that does nothing towards the existing balance, and I doubt I would get that much, anyway.

I've done the trick with the paper, with silicone tape, and now with a piece of plastic tie wrap to put pressure on the cable to keep it working. I still get repeating keystrokes, freezes in the middle of a sentence, and this last time, restarting did not do the trick (hence the tie wrap). I see this message in the Console constantly.

10/9/10 10:56:20 PM kernel AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::checkStatus - received Status Packet, Payload 2: device was reinitialized
10/9/10 10:57:22 PM kernel AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::message - kIOUSBMessagePortHasBeenReset.
10/9/10 10:57:23 PM kernel AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::message - kIOUSBMessagePortHasBeenReset.
10/9/10 10:57:24 PM kernel AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::message - kIOUSBMessagePortHasBeenReset.
10/9/10 11:00:32 PM kernel AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::message - kIOUSBMessagePortHasBeenReset.
10/9/10 11:01:36 PM kernel AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::message - kIOUSBMessagePortHasBeenReset.
10/9/10 11:01:53 PM kernel AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::message - kIOUSBMessagePortHasBeenReset.
10/9/10 11:01:53 PM kernel AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::checkStatus - received Status Packet, Payload 2: device was reinitialized

I appreciate your saying what no one will officially admit. Overall, however, I am really disappointed.

Sandra

tjk

Level 9

51,142 points

Oct 9, 2010 11:45 PM in response to Sandra Guzdek

Hi Sandra,

Sandra Guzdek wrote:
I cannot possibly afford to purchase a new one;

Why not just replace the ribbon cable? IIRC, the cost was under $50 and the job not too difficult to do.

Oct 22, 2010 7:21 AM in response to Steve Eugene

I have this exact same problem with my 2008 MBP. I am a little nervous about doing repairs (even small ones) myself. Do you think the clerks at the Mac Store could do this if I showed them this post?

Oct 23, 2010 11:45 AM in response to tjk

tjk wrote:
Why not just replace the ribbon cable? IIRC, the cost was under $50 and the job not too difficult to do.

I didn't know it was replaceable, and all indications were that it was all (top case) or nothing. Were you able to find the instructions online?

Thanks!
Sandra

tjk

Level 9

51,142 points

Oct 23, 2010 5:10 PM in response to Sandra Guzdek

Sandra Guzdek wrote:

tjk wrote:
Why not just replace the ribbon cable? IIRC, the cost was under $50 and the job not too difficult to do.

I didn't know it was replaceable, and all indications were that it was all (top case) or nothing. Were you able to find the instructions online?

Sorry, I didn't realize you had a Unibody. I was not able to find either a cable or directions for changing it. I did see a trackpad with cable for $70, but again, no instructions, and it sounds like your MBP's issue is more keyboard related than trackpad. If you have not posted in the MBP 2008 and Later forum, I recommend doing so, as this is very different hardware.

Oct 23, 2010 6:16 PM in response to tjk

It isn't a unibody (my 'late 2008' is misleading--sorry about that). It's definitely to do with the trackpad cable, as putting the paper/etc in there completely resolves it.

Sandra

tjk

Level 9

51,142 points

Oct 23, 2010 6:21 PM in response to Sandra Guzdek

Sandra Guzdek wrote:
It isn't a unibody (my 'late 2008' is misleading--sorry about that).

Ummm, why not correct it, or better yet, list the actual Model identifier to take any/all guesswork out of the equation?

tjk

Level 9

51,142 points

Oct 23, 2010 6:25 PM in response to Sandra Guzdek

This is one of at least three possibilities, depending on your actual model: http://www.powerbookmedic.com/Top-Case-Flex-Cable-for-Model-A1260-p-17464.html

The link for installation instructions is on that same page.

Oct 23, 2010 6:27 PM in response to tjk

Thanks, was attempting to save that change when you suggested it 🙂

And thank you!

Sandra

tjk

Level 9

51,142 points

Oct 23, 2010 6:29 PM in response to Sandra Guzdek

Sandra Guzdek wrote:
Thanks, was attempting to save that change when you suggested it 🙂

And thank you!

Then that's the correct link for your model. Hope you'll post back with results. Good luck and you're welcome.

Unresponsive Keyboard and Trackpad problem FIXED/RESOLVED