Macbook Pro not able to boot

I have been having issues booting my mac for the last week and a half. The issue is when I boot the computer, the boot looks good and the cursor is blinking in the password entry box and the mouse is in the center of the screen but I can neither type nor move the mouse. I looked online and found that NVRAM reset should help with this issue and at first it did fix the issue for that session. If the laptop went to sleep or shut down, when waking or turning on, the same problem would persist. Then I tried the NVRAM reboot, reset Startup Disk, Recovery mode, Safe mode,etc., the buttons were not being recognized at all and it just went forwards with the normal reboot where everything is frozen. But every attempt to reboot in a mode resulted in the following 2 screens flashing alternating. They appear after the mac logo and the progress bar goes about half way, then restarts and comes to those screens. Does anyone know what these screens mean and how to reboot my mac so that the reboot is successful and takes input from the trackpad and keyboard?


I should also add this issue was temporarily fixed by rebooting NVRAM so I know for sure the keyboard and trackpad have full function though when the mouse freezes while I am using the computer I am able to press Command+Tab and that unfreezes the mouse.

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.15

Posted on Dec 17, 2019 8:31 PM

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5 replies

Dec 18, 2019 9:35 PM in response to hnn20

I'm not sure what exact model you have, but I have seen both the keyboard & trackpad fail on the MBPro 13" (early 2015) model due to a defective trackpad cable. The problem can be intermittent and temporarily solved by a reboot, disconnect of the battery (basically SMC reset), and even just reseating the trackpad cable. I've found if the Trackpad is disconnected it will keep the keyboard from working as well for some odd reason even though they have separate cable connections on the Logic Board. It is possible some other similar models could have this issue as well, but I think it is most common with the 13" MBPro (early 2015) due to how the cable is routed in the laptop which is unique to other similar models.


If a USB keyboard & mouse work, then you definitely have a hardware issue with the laptop.

Dec 19, 2019 1:36 PM in response to HWTech

That is the model I have and that is the exact same issue I have been having. When I used a usb mouse, it worked. I don’t have a usb keyboard handy at the moment so I wasn’t able to log in and make sure it works, but this seems to be a fix for now. Thanks, but I will definitely need to make that appointment.

Dec 18, 2019 10:51 AM in response to BDAqua

I tried that the first time I had this issue about a week and half ago and it had solved the issue for that session but when trying it again, I was not even able to get into Safe mode. I think the keys I press during startup are somehow not registered on a random startup because when holding down Shift+Power it starts the regular boot up, not in safe mode though, same with any other key combination when rebooting.

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Macbook Pro not able to boot

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