Keyboard not working after battery replacement on Macbook pro 15 Mid 2015

I've had the same issue and found the answer. Look at the bottom part of the keypad cable. There is a tiny plastic part (my screwdriver is pointing to it) that is actually a latch that keeps the connector pressing the cable terminals. You need to press it down so it locks the cable in. Most likely (it was my case) you tried to remove the cable from the bottom and unlocked the the connector. In my case I even broke part of it (troglodytes should not try to fix computers)

I had the same problem. After replacing the battery, the keyboard and trackpad would not work. But I did succeed at fixing the problem.

The problem was the ribbon cable connector that goes over the top of the battery. I had disconnected it at the bottom, then replaced the battery; but after making sure I had reseated it properly, my keyboard and trackpad still did NOT work. So I focused on where the ribbon cable connects at the top, even though I had not disconnected this during replacement.

I had to remove a small cover with 2 screws, but then I reseated the connection there. After that, my keyboard and trackpad worked fine again.

Working inside modern MacBooks is tricky.

I don't do these repairs regularly, so I find these repairs tricky enough that I (reluctantly) expect to do every repair at least twice. The second (and subsequent) time, going back through the upgrade process, step-by-step, making certain ALL details were completely attended to.

Do not consider it a failure if you, too, have to "review" your repair process. That's just how these things go.

Same with me, I have an A1708 and I replaced the battery and it will not turn on, I think the keyboard doesn’t work since the only place to turn it on is on the keyboard

Yeah, they do, but they'll even tell

you themselves what you should already realize - that the $250 they charge for the replacement isn't worth it on the 9 year old laptop. You can buy a brand new Apple OEM battery for 1/5 of that and replace it yourself. Even if you mess up so badly that you have to replace the trackpad and the ribbon cable while you're in there, you're still saving yourself a ton of money. There's nothing wrong with servicing your own computer, or your own anything for that matter, especially when it's old enough that paying for it isn't worth it. And, there's nothing wrong with asking for help from the community.

Did you have Apple replace the battery? If not, that is likely the problem. Removing the old battery puts components and cabling near the battery in danger. Incorrect removal can mean further repairs/replacement of components or a new computer.

When I last checked (two weeks ago) Apple still serviced batteries in 2015 MacBook Pros.

If you did it yourself, there's always the possibility of damaging something in the process. Apple reduces this "repair" to top case replacement with a new battery, which limits the opportunity for something going wrong. The top case will be tested and/or fixed before and after the battery is glued in.

My understanding is that any glue remover getting in places where it shouldn't can cause damage to the keyboard.

Garyoxford wrote:

Thank you

do you have any suggestions to what I might have missed ?

well if the keyboard is not working, I would focus on the condition of the keyboard cable and the very difficult and required extremely accurate positioning into the connectors, and make certain it is perfect. Since it think you reported the keyboard backlight working, but keys not working, I would be suspect that the cable is IN the connector, but just a little bit mis-positioned. perhaps it is not inserted fully.

In some of these MacBooks, you can get it perfect, but re-installing the keyboard could tug it out of place while you proceed.

Thanks for this @OzPoint... experienced that as well and just did exactly that and it worked like magic. My keyboard was not responding after replacing the battery...Apparently one of the connectors was lose, counter checking to make sure they are firm worked for me.

Many thanks