mid 2013 macbook air keyboard/trackpad stop responding

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Level 1

5 points

mid 2013 macbook air keyboard/trackpad stop responding

I have a mid-2013 13" Macbook Air - 512GB SSD, 8GB RAM - 1.7Ghz i7

I spend a good deal of time working at my home, where I have two external monitors (one via USB, one via the thunderbolt port) and a bluetooth wireless mouse and keyboard. Things are great.

I also go on the road, and when I do, I simply unplug my monitors, close the lid, and go.

Lately, I've had some very odd behavior happen which acts a lot like what is described in the latest 13" Macbook Pro Retina EFI fix: http://www.macrumors.com/2013/11/07/apple-releases-fix-for-13-inch-retina-macboo k-pro-keyboardtrackpad-issues/

Here's what happens....when I'm traveling and away from my bluetooth keyboard/mouse, I will open up my MBA and the trackpad and internal keyboard are unresponsive. I can press the power button and get it to turn off...power it back on and am able to use the keyboard to control various boot options (diagnostics, single-user, safe-mode, recovery model, etc). Booting up full, however, the issue will still exist. Looking at the console log, when this is happening, there are a ton (about 4000 every minute) of the following :

11/1/13 7:45:26.000 PM kernel[0]: Error: AppleHSSPIController::doSPITransfer CRC from device was invalid

11/1/13 7:45:26.000 PM kernel[0]: Error: AppleHSSPIController::InterruptOccurred Failed to transfer interrupt data with Err (0xe00002eb)

Eventually, something happens and things start to work -- I will generally see the following in the console log when it starts working:

11/1/13 7:45:27.000 PM kernel[0]: Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad::start Start Succeeded

If I let the machine sit at the unlock screen, eventually a dialog comes up and says "unable to find external bluetooth keyboard/mouse..." It says it will continue to search and will pair with one eventually....it's the same message I would get from my mac mini if it couldn't find the bluetooth keyboard (and has no internal/hardwired keyboard).

When it is happening, I can use "cmd-r" to boot into recovery mode and recovery mode will complain about not having a mouse/trackpad - yet the keyboard seems to work to control what happens at boot time.

I called Apple and got sent to the apple store with a "it sounds like a faulty logic board or a connection that needs soldering". The Apple Store "genius" didn't quite think that was the case and has instead suggested I re-install the operating system. I'm non-plussed by both suggestions. This has happened both before and after Mavericks...

On one of my latest trips, I had a case where I took my laptop out on the plane to try to use it...only to have this issue occur. I landed, got to the hotel, tried again and everything worked fine. Went to dinner - leaving my laptop on the desk plugged in - only to come back to have the keyboard unresponsive.... I've now resorted to traveling with my bluetooth keyboard and mouse "just in case".

Any ideas/thoughts?

MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2013), OS X Mavericks (10.9), 8GB Ram, 512 GB SSD, 1.7Ghz i7

Posted on Nov 11, 2013 1:23 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 11, 2013 10:23 PM in response to Mv2400

Mv2400

I will open up my MBA and the trackpad and internal keyboard are unresponsive.

Do four things to test for fault on this,

reset SMC ,

reset NVRAM,

uncheck "put hard disks to sleep"

and UNPAIR both your bluetooth mouse and keyboard from this Mac that you are using with it currently.

yes, the notion that your logic board is at fault is extremely unlikely, additionally (though far more likely) that your Mavericks OS is corrupt.

RESET SMC

Shut down the computer.
Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.
On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.
Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.
Note: The LED on the MagSafe power adapter may change states or temporarily turn off when you reset the SMC.

RESET NVRAM

Shut down your Mac.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.

Lastly, go into SYS PREFERENCES > ENERGY > uncheck "Put hard disks to sleep when possible" in both tabs.

Let your Mac go into sleep or close the lid for a few mins. and reopen and verify that your trackpad and mouse are fine. They should be after this,.........

If not contact Apple for full in shop diagnostic, theyll run a hardware test (unlikely causation) and reinstall the OS, then retest and LASTLY replace the logic board (very unlikely).

😊

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Answer 2

Krioni

Level 1

9 points

Jun 24, 2014 5:01 PM in response to PlotinusVeritas

Resetting the PRAM did not help, but resetting the SMC fixed it for me. Good advice!

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Answer 3

Mv2400 Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 28, 2014 9:58 AM in response to Krioni

As a quick follow up to this:

I've been chasing this issue for some time now. I have never been able to tie it down to a single problem/solution. I have tried PRAM and SMC resets, restarting, reinstalling, etc... The problem will come and go in terms of how often it shows up - "solutions" that work one day don't work the next. Generally, reverting to an external keyboard and running for awhile eventually gets the system to successfully start the USB controller and the internal keyboard begins to work. In May, the failure was nearly 100% of the time so I reformatted my drive and re-installed Mavericks from the App Store. After doing that, the issue still persisted so I took the machine into the Apple store. They sent it away and replaced the top unit (case + keyboard/trackpad). The keyboard worked fine after that for about 6 weeks at which point (while out of the country, of course), I had another keyboard failure. I went out and bought yet another external keyboard (my 4th one in 12 months), connected it and managed to get the problem to go away. It has been fine for the past 2 weeks since that single instance of the keyboard failing.

The new issue is that since the top unit was replaced, I've noticed problems with my wifi. Those problems reached a peak this past week where I couldn't connect to a wifi network unless I was within 6 feet of the access point. This morning I took my machine into the apple store and they are looking to replace the logic board and the display in order to address the wifi issue. They also said it may have some benefit to the keyboard issue.

Obviously, this whole thing has been a bit frustrating. I'm not sure if I'll ever feel comfortable traveling with my laptop *without* both an external keyboard and an ethernet USB cable. The USB cable is no big deal...the external keyboard, however, is a bit ridiculous.

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