My keyboard/mousepad freezes from time to time. I can restart via power button or simply close the lid. When I reopen the lid the optical drive makes a noise and the mac acts as if nothing ever happened and my data is OK. I don't know why the lid switch still works as a kind of "sleep" button but it does. The power button also works but you can't make any subsequent choices using the keyboard or mouse pad after the freeze. Hardware issue?
How many of you have Parallels or VMWare installed?
I formatted and re-installed Mac OSX 10.5.6, and the problem went away. When I restored my home directory & apps from Time Machine and logged in with my own account, the problem returned.
I have the same problem with my trackpad/keyboard randomly not responding + other major problems.
When it preezes the only way to stop this like ive read would be with the power button or closing the lid and making the MBP go to sleep, and then restart.
Beside this i have another major issue sometimes with trackpad being inaccurate, skipping around (when you make repeated circles with the trackpad, you can see every once in awhile it moves off in a random direction) and mostly it's just a drag to use, because it doesn't feel accurate. Does anybody have this probem??
Also sometimes when i m typing with the keyborad some letters type continously (like if i press an N, in the screen it is "nnnnnnnnnnnnn", and i have to press another key to stop it). This also happens sometimes with the trackpad button, when this happens, when i click por example a program, it clicks on it repeatedly. The only way to stop this is to restart the computer.
I m very dissapointed with my new macbook Pro, i bought it because i thought it was more stable than PCs. But now i think my old PC is much more stable than this. My Macbook Pro is only 3 months old, and i am really confused and dont know if this is a Hardware or a Software problem. I also bought it in Europe and live in Argentina where there is no Applestore, but Apple retailers.
What should i do?
I found out that sometimes when this happens, the only thing that helps would be Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) and PRAM:
1. Disconnect the power
2. Remove the battery
3. Hold down power button for 5 seconds.
4. Reconnect Power
5. Install battery
6. Power on Computer
7. When computer is back on, restart
8. When screen goes blank, hold down Option, Command, P, and R.
9. Let it restart and wait for the second starting tune.
This will help for some time. But then it starts happening again.
VMware Fusion Version 2.0.1 (128865) running here. I had this idea, too. But I belive that I had the problem also after a fresh restart without VMware fusion running. So I dropped this idea.
I have the "AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::message - kIOUSBMessagePortHasBeenReset." messages in my system.log every day now... Very often the mousecursor is freezing for just a moment than. I'm happy that it didn't freeze totally and forcing me to reboot... I called my local authorised Apple serviceprovider. They did not know about the problem but think it's hardware-related and will arrange repair (3 days without notebook that I need for work). Not happy with apple quality anymore! (my first PowerBook G4 also freezes now and than and could never be fixed).
And finally I'm still not convinced that it's HW related! But since guarantee is ending next month; I need to let it repair before that day. Have no more time to wait and see if Apple is able to fix it with softwareupdate... Apple is no willing to prolong the guarantee witch would allow me to see if next OSX might fix it.
It's so frustrating again with Apple... I came from the "blue screen of death ****" and just ended up in a world of sudden freezes.
For what it's worth, I replaced the usb mouse with a usb key as mentioned in the previous post and I still haven't experienced a freeze. I think this is definitely a USB related issue that Apple needs to resolve. For now, I'm ok with keeping a usb key connected to my macbook. Not sure if location is important, but I have it installed on the left side of my my macbook. Hopefully this helps others until there is a permanent fix.
@mimatthe: I think this is just a workaround no solution. When I work with wireless keyboard and mouse, I did not suffer the problem... But when I use the build in keyboard and touchpad again, i have that problem.
@Brentk: Checked the connector too (but did not remove it). Put several different materials between connector and battery. Nothing did the job.
Lars: are you getting "AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::message - kIOUSBMessagePortHasBeenReset" in your system.log? If not, then you have a different problem. Separating the battery from the exposed "wires" beneath it has solved the problem for me, so far. It has only been a day, but before I'd start seeing those messages after an hour or less, and along with the messages were flakey mouse and keyboard behavior, eventually leading to no response from the built-in mouse & keyboard at all.
Lars: just went back and read your previous posts -- sorry, I see that you did get the port reset messages in the logs. However, you also had something that I have not seen on my MBP 2.5gz:
Dec 21 11:00:52 macbook-pro kernel[0]: USBF: 104371.780 0x77e3600 The IOUSBFamily has successfully enumerated the device.
Dec 21 11:00:52 macbook-pro kernel[0]: USBF: 104371.796 USB Device IOUSBDevice is violating Section 9.3.5 of the USB Specification -- Error in GetConfigDescriptor( wLength = 4)
This indicates that a USB component is not behaving correctly. If I were you I'd print those logs, bring them to the Apple store, and ask for a replacement laptop because that one contains faulty hardware.
ad me to the long list, started around october, getting progressivly worst. I cant take my macbook to any meetings. Is this hardware or software??? do apple know about this and do they fix the keyboard if taken to apple? end of warrenty is comming up soon, need to get this fixed.
I doubt it's a coincidence - but I'll test it on the next occurrence. This all started for me when I installed Leopard at the end of December. Many re-installs of of Leopard (including many restarts, repairing permissions, etc.) did not fix the problem, in fact so persistent was the problem I was convinced it was a coincidental hardware failure. Then I stumbled on the Built-In Keyboard Firmware Update application in the Utilities Folder which repaired the problem instantly.
Does Apple read / respond these Forums?? Because theres so many people with this problem and theres no response from them.
Perhaps they could test this and tell if this is a Software Issue and they are working on a new fix or if this is a hardware problem tell where is the problem.
THIS IS A MAJOR PROBLEM
I would have to agree with the USB issue. I was running Parallels 4 yesterday when mine froze and Parallels came up with a message that it had detected a new USB device connected and asked whether to connect it to OSX or Windows. Also, I went in and looked in the System Preferences and the track pad wasn't even there. There was no icon for it.
I called AppleCare for the third or fourth time and they're sending me a return box. We'll see if they can fix it.
I'm sorry, I may be in the wrong thread and muddying the water here. I see reference to the multi-touch driver as a defining factor. Are you all multi-touch trackpad MacBook people? My issue is with a late 2006 MacBook Pro 17.
