trackpad locked/ unresponsive until macbook air charges

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Level 1

4 points

trackpad locked/ unresponsive until macbook air charges

Hello!

For the past week, I've been experiencing issues with my Macbook air where after I put it on sleep and open it back up, the trackpad and laptop is not responsive until I plug my Macbook to charge it. My trackpad is locked during this time, so I can't "click" on it to get my laptop to respond. I have also tried pressing and holding the on button/ touch id to get it to respond, but it doesn't work unless I start charging my laptop. My Macbook always had battery left prior to it going to sleep, so I don't think that it was unresponsive due to having no battery. When I plug my laptop in to charge, my laptop turns on, but appearing as a restart, where the apple logo appears and the turning on sound of the laptop is heard, so the tabs that I left my laptop on prior to putting it on sleep mode all disappeared.

MacBook Air (2018 – 2020)

Posted on Jul 25, 2023 9:41 PM

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Answer 1

Ben_Z1

Community Specialist

Jul 27, 2023 10:52 AM in response to -student

Hi -student,

We appreciate that additional information. Next, let's reset the System Management Controller (SMC) and NVRAM of your Mac since that can resolve unexpected issues with your Force Touch trackpad. These articles show how to do this:

• Reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support

• Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

Let's also ensure your Mac is running the latest version of macOS Monterey, 12.6.8, using the article we previously provided since that can also help resolve this behavior.

If this persists after updating and resetting your SMC and NVRAM, let's test the issue in a new user account next. That will help isolate whether this is a system-wide issue or related only with a specific user account. The 'Add a user' section here walks you through how to do this: Add a user or group on Mac

Best regards!

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Answer 2

bruno75

Community Specialist

Jul 26, 2023 5:08 PM in response to -student

Hey there -student,

We'd like to help by learning more about what's happening, along with ruling out some possible causes:

You mentioned this started a week ago, but do you recall the last thing you were doing on your Mac right before it started to occur?
You described holding the power button down, but we wanted to confirm if you performed a force restart? If you're unsure, please connect the charger to your Mac, then perform a normal restart. Check out the section ‘Restart your Mac' here: Shut down or restart your Mac
If you have a compatible Mac model, the latest version is macOS 13.5. You can verify this by clicking on the Apple logo at the top left corner of the screen, then on ‘About This Mac’. In case you needed it, this link shows how to first back up, then update: Update macOS on Mac

Cheers!

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Answer 3

-student Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 27, 2023 10:09 AM in response to bruno75

Hello!

The last thing I was doing was exiting out of Rhino 3D (the application), and then closed my laptop (by pulling the screen down). The next morning when I tried opening my Macbook, it was unresponsive despite charging it the night before.
Yes, I tried performing a forced restart where I held the power button down for around 10 seconds, and after seeing no response, I thought my Macbook was dead so I plugged it in to charge.
My Macbook is currently on macOS 12.6, might that be the issue?

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trackpad locked/ unresponsive until macbook air charges

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