Unresponsive Keyboard and Trackpad problem FIXED/RESOLVED

N.Danger wrote:

thanks for the link,

however, its like where do i start, there are so many different catagories within that i dont know which one to follow, as this is such a unique problem to have, even though its not entirely uncommon.

Click on Repair Manuals > Mac Repair > MacBook Pro > and browse through trackpad, upper and lower case replacement, logic board, etc. I'm sure one of them will require removing the the ribbon cable you're inquiring about.

MBP early 2008 here (purchased late fall 2008 as closeout)

Experienced the typical trackpad/keyboard issue and read through this and other threads. Just before my Applecare ran out last fall I had the Apple Store replace the Flex cable. All seemed to work well until recently when the problem returned.

I thought it was related to heat since it seemed to happen after the unit was in use for a while but now it can happen even a minute or so after waking from sleep or even on start.

I barely used this machine for the first couple years so the battery seems to be good. Here is the System Profiler readout:

Charge Information:

Charge remaining (mAh): 5003

Fully charged: No

Charging: Yes

Full charge capacity (mAh): 5089

Health Information:

Cycle count: 37

Condition: Good

Battery Installed: Yes

Amperage (mA): 287

Voltage (mV): 12579

Anything here that looks like it might be bad? I can't see anything wrong. I took it out and checked the cable but it also seems to be snug. Or could it be too snug?

Everything looks fine for the batt. It sounds like another bad cable. They are so thin and delicate, the wire inside the plastic can begin to come apart or completely sever even though the outer plastic looks ok.

this is such great news!!! i'm happy to hear that this problem has a solution and it doesn't involve apple service/store.

i only have one question. when my keyboard stopped working... so did my Power button. I'm a little bit scared to remove the battery since I'm not going to able to start my mac again with pressing the power button.

will pressing the copper part repair my start button too?

please let me know if this is connected to the keyboard issue... since they stopped working at the same time... and will i be able to start my computer if i remove the battery.

thanx a lot!!!!

waiting for your reply

What good timing. My 4-year apple-care extended warranty just expired a few months back.

I seem to have the same problem - but not positive. This past week I have frequently found my keyboard/trackpad unresponsive after opening case from sleep. External keyboard/mouse work fine. So the symptoms are the same. However, the ribbon cable trick is not working for me. The only way I have found to resolve this problem is to restart the computer, which has so far worked every time. I followed the instructions for opening the battery case and tired every which way of pushing down on the ribbon cable, but could not get anything out of the keyboard or trackpad. I tried the folded sticky note trick - hoping that it might resolve the problem anyway, but only reboot seemed to make a difference. With or without the folded paper in there (and I tried it up to a pretty thick multifold), the problem keeps returning.

Is it possible something else is causing this problem on my mac?

Thanks.

-JJ

It could be the same problem. At some point all those "tricks" just don't work.

I've found the only real solution, other than repeatedly replacing the flex cable, is to just use the MBP without the battery (actually remove it). Yes, I know, it makes it a static computer but I have never had the problem return when running only on AC.

Try running yours without the battery and see if it runs/wakes properly.

Once the keyboard/trackbad has stop working I have not been able to get it to work again (with or without battery in) until reboot. I've removed the battery to attempt the pushing-down-the-ribbon-cable trick, so the battery has been out (power cable was plugged in) and it was still not working. It's not as if the thing has degraded over time to the point where even pushing on the ribbon cable no longer works. I just started having this problem a few days ago and so far have never been able to fix it other than reboot, after which it seems to work fine again. Sometimes when I close and reopen the cover, it still works, but opening the cover after having it closed for more than a few minutes seems to have about a 50% chance of it dying.

If it were really just a connection problem with the cable, I can't understand why rebooting (without even moving the mac) would fix it. I could see how some software/firmware prevent it from working once it has stopped working (due to a disconnect) - but since everyone else seems to be able to coax it into working again (at least initially) there's no evidence that there is any such software/firmware.

If I could get it to work again just once by pushing on the cable, I'd believe this was the culprit. Until then, I'm wondering if there is a different possible explanation.

Rebooting would work for me as well. Closing the lid occasionally would work. Apple's replacement flex cable worked fine for about 6 months. Then it seemed to appear as the temps got warmer this spring (I'm not a big fan of air conditioning). Whether the battery actually gets hot and expands to make the problem more frequent is a possibility. The fans on the MBP are so quiet I can hardly tell when they are running, I need to put my ear to the keyboard to hear them.

By your description of what you did with removing the battery it is not clear that you removed it while off after a normal or forced shutdown, then connected to AC, then started up. Do that and see if it manifests the same problems while being used on AC only from a fresh start without the battery inside.

One other note, are you running 10.7.4? There are others reporting freezing problems after running that update. It would be helpful if you posted which MBP and what OS you are running.

BTW, where did you get a 4 year warranty?

I removed the battery while the computer was on (and connected to AC obviously). Unfortunately, I can't just leave the computer plugged in to AC all the time because I take it back and forth to work with me. It would kind of defeat the purpose of having a laptop anyway to leave it plugged in all the time in the same place. However, I might be able to try it this weekend at home for diagnostic purposes and see whether leaving it overnight in such a state with the lid closed will still cause the problem. Earlier I said there was about a 50% chance of it not working after reopening the lid. I would ammend that to say that if the lid has been closed for a significant period of time (like overnight) that the chance of the trackpad/keyboard being non-functional when I open the lid again is close to 100% (though I am still dealing with statistics of small numbers).

It's a 15" MPB from early 2008 (Processor: 2.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Memory 4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM) running Snow Leopard 10.6.8.

I guess the maximum AppleCare extended warranty is usually 3 years. The 4 year warranty was a special deal through Cornell University.

One thing I didn't notice in your posting...does it ever lose it's trackpad/keyboard while you are working or only when you close the lid? Have you ever experienced the multiple letter repetition when pressing a key?

I have nearly the same setup (early 2008, 2.5 Ghz, 4G RAM, 512 MB graphics, 10.6.8). My problem didn't surface til about a year ago since I hadn't used the MBP much, spent most of my time with a desktop.

Let us know what happens with your experimenting.

I have not ever noticed the problem except after opening the lid after it's been closed for a while, not ever while I was working. I haven't experimented on how long a "while" is. I've opened the lid within minutes of closing it and had things work fine. Never had multiple letter repetition. I use the machine all the time. It is my main work computer.

Couple other suggestions... look in the Console after the problem appears again to see if there is anything written there that would give you a clue. Look at the info just before your latest startup.

Also, what happens when you put the MBP to sleep via the menu or with key commands? Will it wake then? Try it with and without closing the lid after you put it to sleep.

What a difference a day makes. Last night I powered off and removed the battery. Turned it on and it was working OK, but then the trackpad and keyboard stopped working a few minutes later while I was using the computer. I put the battery back in and rebooted. Worked fine the rest of the evening and then for the first time in a while it woke up just fine after about 4 hours of sleep with the lid closed.

However... I closed the lid and packed it up to bring to work. After running some errands, when I got to work and plugged it in - no dice (see console log below). Then, after rebooting (twice), trackpad/keyboard were still not working. I opened the battery case and pushed around on the cable some more (nothing, as expected), but after replacing the battery again and rebooting again it's working OK.

Here is the slightly redacted console log after reopening the lid:

When it still wasn't working after reboot, I saw these two similar messages:

It definitely seems to point to a hardware issue with the ribbon cable at this point, but it seems that unlike others, mine will not start working again after the ribbon cable has been jostled - until the machine is rebooted.

-JJ

@jj: At this point you could do a replacement for the flex cable and see if that helps. The cable is not expensive (around $25) and is not a difficult task to change. But in my case the problem returned after several months. I suppose replacing the cable every 6 months or so is no big deal but it's just as easy for me to use it as a desktop most of the time.

There could be more to your situation but start with the cheaper "fix".

BTW, did you ever try an external keyboard and mouse to confirm that they will work while experiencing the frozen trackpad/keyboard? That's an alternative way to get around the problem but surely not a convenient one.

Well, it's been nearly a day now and even after many reboots and poking at the cable, I still cannot get the keyboard/trackpad to return. Luckily the external mouse and keyboard work fine or I'd have a brick. I'll order the replacement cable and see if it resolves the problem. I always use an external mouse at work anyway, but at home, I prefer to work not at a desk, so this will be a pain if I cannot resolve the issue. Also, even though I prefer a mouse, I still use the trackpad for some purposes (no pinching and stretching with a mouse).

-JJ