Steve Eugene
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: 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 3:21 PM

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Steve Eugene

Q: Unresponsive Keyboard and Trackpad problem FIXED/RESOLVED

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  • by SAGO,

    SAGO SAGO Jun 24, 2008 12:48 AM in response to SAGO
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 24, 2008 12:48 AM in response to SAGO
    They replaced my TOP CASE ASSEMBLY. That fixed it.

    Looks ok now..

  • by mymacbookprodiedafter1053,

    mymacbookprodiedafter1053 mymacbookprodiedafter1053 Jun 26, 2008 8:19 PM in response to mercergeo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 26, 2008 8:19 PM in response to mercergeo
    I have had recent problems with first not having the macbook pro boot up to show login window access. It would stay spinning with the grey gear. I then resorted to fresh install of the os. Now my internal keyboard and trackpad did not install during this process. How do I get it to install properly? The Genius Bar Guy booted leopard from an external drive with Macbook pro and it didnot detect the internal keyboard or trackpad. They quoted me $471.00 CAD! that's almost half the price of my MBP. I can see there is a long list of internal keyboard and trackpad issues popping up after leopard updates of 10.5.3 and firmware updates. Something is not right , but Apple is not coming up and saying this is a product and software flaw either. Something is really rotten in Denmark.

  • by kmue,

    kmue kmue Jul 5, 2008 1:19 AM in response to Steve Eugene
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 5, 2008 1:19 AM in response to Steve Eugene
    After an Update to 10.5.4 my keyboard and Trackpad were dead. After some fiddling (resetting NVRAM and PMU) I found this thread and applying a piece of napkin SOLVED my problems. HAHAHA! Perhaps Apple should supply nice packaged pieces of napkin for all MBP users.

    Before they keyboard was completely dead sometimes keystrokes disappeared and some were repeated (as if they were buffered).

    Thank you Steve for your work and reporting it!

  • by Ernesto Guevara,

    Ernesto Guevara Ernesto Guevara Jul 20, 2008 10:40 AM in response to Steve Eugene
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 20, 2008 10:40 AM in response to Steve Eugene
    Unfortunately, the same has happened to my MBP, I bought my machine late 2006 and I didn't get Apple Care (it's $560 in the UK, at the time I could not afford it), from reading this thread, I have deduced I need a new top case. Does anyone know how much Apple would charge for a replacement outside warranty?

    On another note, it seems to me this has been happening to a lot of other people, could this be an Apple design fault?

    Any thoughts, much appreciated!

  • by Guill0m,

    Guill0m Guill0m Jul 23, 2008 1:44 PM in response to Steve Eugene
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 23, 2008 1:44 PM in response to Steve Eugene
    I have the 2nd gen mbp (update from october 2006), and the same problems (keyboard and trackpad unresponsive randomly and suddenly), i tried your solution, but it seems that your mbp's conception is different than mine, i don't have exactly the same electric scheme under the battery, so i couldn't try your tip. But maybe its not the same problem, as when i remove the battery when it happens, keyboard and trackpad are still unresponsive. I'm a bit angry.

  • by kenbessler,

    kenbessler kenbessler Jul 31, 2008 8:05 PM in response to Steve Eugene
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2008 8:05 PM in response to Steve Eugene
    Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, !!!

  • by eljy,

    eljy eljy Aug 1, 2008 5:53 AM in response to Steve Eugene
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 1, 2008 5:53 AM in response to Steve Eugene
    Hi all,
    first of all thanks to Steve for the post, I believe/hope that this post will resolve my problem.
    Any ideas about the cost to replace the keyboard/top cover?
    Personally I am really annoyed because my MBP came back one and a half months ago from the an official apple repair agent for a different problem that I had experienced (clamshell & screen that gave some problems)... At least for that I was lucky, got to exchange it under the last couple of days from the 1 year std warranty
    Personally I find it a bit too hard to swallow that for the extra price one pays to get a MBP one gets such problems after just one year...

  • by alan_k,

    alan_k alan_k Aug 6, 2008 10:30 AM in response to Steve Eugene
    Level 1 (40 points)
    Aug 6, 2008 10:30 AM in response to Steve Eugene
    My keyboard and trackpad completely died yesterday. I have a 15" MBP, was running 10.5.2 (post software update 1.1 though), updated to 10.5.4 and still no luck. I did a full wipe and restore only about a month ago due to some bad mojo between proxy stuff, itunes, and quicktime. System Prefs for Keyboard/Mouse did not even show trackpad in the tabs. External mouse/keyboard work fine. I was having intermittent problems with input/responsiveness before yesterday but didn't put 2 and 2 together until checking the forums here

    I tried taping a doubled-over piece of paper towel over the spot in the photo- no luck. I then applied a thicker piece over top of this- not as narrow so it stuck about 1/3 - 1/2 of the way into the battery niche. On a second restart this seemed to work, although it was apparently thick enough that it interfered with the trackpad button (no longer clicked when pressed, and when moving the cursor with the trackpad would drag a selection box). Third iteration- I kept the paper towel thickness, but cut half of the material away so it is mostly just over the point mentioned in the original post. This seems to have done the trick (at least on the first restart, but I'm anticipating having to do a little more troubleshooting. I also took this as an excuse to buy a new keyboard- I will take this into be repaired as soon as I can but unfortunatley leave on a trip soon and I absolutely must have my comptuer with me.

    Thanks for finding this potential workaround- glad you were brave enough to poke and prod where I was afraid to.

    One quick question- there's no chance this could catch fire, is there?

  • by berdinkerdickle,

    berdinkerdickle berdinkerdickle Aug 11, 2008 12:02 PM in response to Steve Eugene
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 11, 2008 12:02 PM in response to Steve Eugene
    Has anyone tried this for the ELP issue?

  • by wheelwrights,

    wheelwrights wheelwrights Aug 11, 2008 10:29 PM in response to Steve Eugene
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 11, 2008 10:29 PM in response to Steve Eugene
    I just want to Thank Steve for his superb troubleshooting.
    I Pressed My Battery and Indeed the Track-pad/keyboard stop working.

    I just hope I'm still within the Warranty. I think this should be replaced for free anyway.
    I'll be quite disappointed if I got to pay for it

    Well done and thanks Steve....

  • by master-chef,

    master-chef master-chef Aug 17, 2008 3:44 AM in response to Steve Eugene
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 17, 2008 3:44 AM in response to Steve Eugene
    Does any one know if it is an issue with the topcase or the keyboard or both?
    Even better how much tit cost to fix with no apple care!

  • by Tomdbl,

    Tomdbl Tomdbl Aug 17, 2008 4:53 PM in response to Steve Eugene
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Wireless
    Aug 17, 2008 4:53 PM in response to Steve Eugene
    What we're discussing here is fixing our macs with bits of paper and masking tape. Is this the image that Apple wants in the marketplace?

    C'mon Apple - this is obviously a SERIOUS problem for MBP owners - WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT?

  • by DrJD,

    DrJD DrJD Aug 22, 2008 10:30 PM in response to Tomdbl
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 22, 2008 10:30 PM in response to Tomdbl
    Thanks for the fix!

    I've had exactly the same problem with my mbk pro, got the keyboard and top case replaced and now its as good as new!

  • by Dskvid,

    Dskvid Dskvid Aug 23, 2008 6:41 PM in response to DrJD
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 23, 2008 6:41 PM in response to DrJD
    HELLO ALL
    I'm having a similar problem and posted this recently. My Keyboard never dies completely but just goes unresponsive for a little bit. I hope to try this fix tomorrow.

    + Both Paralles and Boot Camp are searching for something.+
    +Posted: Aug 20, 2008 6:47 PM +
    + Reply Email+

    Hello
    +I have both a Paralles virtual file and a separate XP Pro sp2 partition on Boot camp. I use the Boot camp side only to play games and the Paralles for a couple of other programs. Recently While in boot camp playing Call of Duty 4 the touchpad would lock up for a few seconds and I'd hear a beep in the background like I just added a new piece of hardware. A few seconds later it would beep again. After a little while it would happen again. Each time the touchpad and keyboard would freeze but only for a few seconds. After this happens, the touchpad will be less responsive afterwards.+
    +When I'm on the Mac side everything seems to run fine but when I open the paralles windows it works and nothing locks up but this pharse will pop up,+

    +"You are trying to connect USB HID device to the virtual machine. The device connected to the virtual machine will be inaccessible in Mac OS X until it is disconnected from the virtual machine or until the virtual machine is stopped or suspended. If you connect your primary keyboard or mouse to the virtual machine, it will be impossible to use them in Mac OS X.+

    +Do you want to connect this USB HID device to the virtual machine?"+

    +If I say "yes" to that, the keyboard will become unusable on the Mac side. Up until recently All these versions were running fine. I should also mention that I don't have to be playing a game on Boot camp for the problem to occur. Also I don't know if its always been this way but the internal DVD drive shows up on Boot camp as an external option.+

    +I think the problem is some hardware in the Mac.+

    +Thanks for reading this.+

    +MBP 15 " Mac OS X (10.5.4) 2.4 hz 2 gig ram+

  • by alan_k,

    alan_k alan_k Aug 25, 2008 8:54 PM in response to Steve Eugene
    Level 1 (40 points)
    Aug 25, 2008 8:54 PM in response to Steve Eugene
    My "folded napkin" trick eventually stopped working a couple of weeks ago. This was right before a trip, so I brought along a keyboard and mouse which I ended up needing.

    Back from said trip, I called Applecare this morning. The first thing the technician said to do was to take out the battery and power cord and then hold down the power button for 10 seconds. Replace battery and power cord, attach the external keyboard, then turn on and immediately hold down
    [option] + [command] + p + r. it should quickly restart again, at which point you can release the keys.

    I think the technician said this resets the "peripheral ram" (??).

    This actually worked, although I'm not convinced it wasn't a coincidence.

    I haven't read through all 5 pages of this thread so this advice may have been given before, but thought it would be worth a mention again.
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