Keyboard and touchpad lost after sleep

Hey there,

I also have the same issue after Catalina upgrade. However, I can't seem to find other posts regarding this issue.

After waking up from sleep, the trackpad/keyboard take 10 seconds to turn on, but sometimes they don't and I need to put the MacBook to sleep and wake up again in order to have keyboard/trackpad without rebooting. I did reset SMC and NVRAM but didn't solve it.

Is it recommended to reinstall Mac OS or it might be an hardware issue?

Best Regards,

Well, after two weeks of testing, it appears that after using safe mode, it happens less. Still trying to figure it out. However, after mallow_pl's post, I did test a lot with the wireless, but haven't been able to reproduce it yet (with wifi on and off). I also removed the plist files for the keyboard/trackpad, and that with the safe mode appears to have improved the situation. Will test a little more (including with wifi off) and I'll update this thread if I find something.

I did format my laptop since it was what Apple Support advised me after trying many other things. It didn't solve the problem. My keyboard and trackpad were not lost completely. The were freezing for several seconds after wake up. This is how I solved it: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250873307 I think it is a bug in Catalina. Even if it's because of some deliberate changes in macOS, IMHO these things should not make the keyboard freeze

today i had this issue in combination with the screensaver. macbook was in screensaver mode. pressed keys or trackpad. nothing happens. macbook remains in screensaver mode. i think because of not recognizing the keyboard and trackpad. luckyly i had the sleep mode button in the touchbar. pressed it and that helped to exit screensaver mode instead of rebooting.

a vpn was running. never had this issue before.

Several have said something to the effect of "Apple please fix this!" This is a user forum. Please use the URL below to tell Apple about this problem. Numbers matter; the more people the better. BTW, I was on with Apple support today and mentioned this problem and the rep acknowledged the issue. If it can be fixed in software, I hope that's a good sign.

https://www.apple.com/feedback/

Yes, please. Everyone following this topic and having the same issue - please report to Apple. I did few months ago. I think it will not be a priority for them until more people will submit the bug.

Please use this link:

https://feedbackassistant.apple.com/

This is Apple’s official platform for submitting bugs.

Yes, I did. Let's hope they will allocate their precious attention to this "more than 10" issue. ;) Also, tried the most peculiar solution in another thread by turning off ipv6 in the Wi-Fi setting, doesn't resolve the issue completely, but it seems to be appearing less often.

No, it is not something we are doing. I got a brand new MacBook Air last month and had the problem immediately. I had other issues and needed the bigger system, so I exchanged for a Pro 16". Also had the issue. I ran Catalina on my previous MacBook Pro 13" (2016) and did NOT have this problem. So, it seems to be a problem with Catalina and newer Macs; possibly the ones with the T2 security chip. But this is speculation from the user community. Apple has not officially acknowledged the issue though I did get a first-level tech to say they were aware of it - no details, though..

Interesting. It never happens at work, and you're always on Wifi (never ethernet?) What kinda of security settings are being used at home vs work? In each location, are you using 2.4 or 5GHz? To see the exact parameters of each, hold down Option key while clicking the Wifi icon in your menu bar - many of them will be shown there.

I just noticed that when I'm in my office, I'm only getting the 2.4GHz band because I'm a little too far for 5GHz. I don't have the problem here, but I'm also always in clamshell with external devices connected. I'll have to experiment and see if the difference is between signal bands or being in clamshell vs using the built in trackpad and keyboard.

It doesn't seem to be a hardware issue, because we all have the same problem. When wifi is off, the bug is completely gone. Also, this didn't happen before Catalina. Yeah, I sometimes too get the "no keyboard or mouse detected" and it starts looking for a bluetooth device.

There's something very interesting I've noticed while trying to isolate the problem. Do any of you guys have bought something from the iTunes store? I bought one song a few years ago, and the other day I realized it is not available anymore. I couldn’t download it or listen it. I decided to erase it and reboot de Mac. The last 5 days this problem has improved a lot. I still get it, but it only freezes for about 2 seconds, almost unnoticeable. I wonder if this has something to do with login problems on iTunes or something related. You may want to try this too and see if anything gets better.

I just accidentally found a solution. Well, it worked once. I haven’t tried it a second time.

What happened: I opened my laptop and got the frozen keyboard, including the Bluetooth window saying no keyboard attached. But at the same time I was plugging my phone (an XS) into my laptop to get power. And plugging my laptop into the wall. Somehow, that killed the Bluetooth screen and brought my keyboard and trackpad back to life. I’m pretty sure it was my phone that solved the problem, but it may have been plugging into the wall or both.

Again, I opened, then plugged l, then it worked. All very quickly.

Do you get the alert popup unable to detect trackpad? I get this when putting my mac to sleep while connected to a VPN. When it re-wakes it takes a few minutes to disconnect itself from a VPN connection and then sorts itself out.

Does anyone here with this problem uses anaconda navigator for running Jupiter notebook. I found out that when I used this program this issue happens almost every time and when not it does not happen.

I seem to have resolved the issue.

I was having the same problem intermittently with my MacBook Air 2019 - which I unfortunately bought only in early March 2020. It was disturbing to say the least. However, I seem to have resolved the issue without a firmware upgrade.

So here is the whole story. My wifi router is in the living room which is down the hall from my Study. I was having serious Wifi issues when I had the problem with the keyboard and trackpad.

I solved the wifi issue by using an old AirPort Extreme and using it with a power line adaptor. I installed the AirPort Extreme in my study and set it up to replace the existing network. This setup seems to have improved the wifi and solved my problem. I have had no problems since I did this about a week ago.

I would like to mention that the problem didn't get resolved with the upgrade to 10.15.6. It only got resolved after I switched to the AirPort Extreme router. Go figure.

Yes, re-installing is a waste of your time. It's not simply a Catalina OS problem. It seems, from the discussion here, to be related to the T2 chip and the fix will most likely involve a firmware update.