Forcetouch Trackpad and Keyboard freezing on Mid-2015 15" MBP

I just got off the phone with Apple support. The agent I worked with had me capture some data with an automated program they use and upload it to Apple developers for further review. He recommended that I reload the OS. If that does not work, he recommended that I exchange it since it is only 2 days old.

It is worth mentioning that aside form the occasional screen flicker, I only have the keyboard/trackpad freeze issue on boot up. I also have narrowed my issue down to FileVault being enabled. With FileVault disabled (drive not encrypted), the issue completely disappears.

I also think the problem was caused by FileVault -- one of the error messages I got in Console suggested it might be caused by FileVault, so I decrypted everything and disabled it. After restarting, my computer hasn't frozen up once. Unfortunately, I also disabled ForceTouch/haptics and fixed Disk Permissions around the same time, so I can't be certain which of the three solutions actually worked.

While I'm happy the problem is gone, I'm also kind of bummed I can't use Force Touch or FileVault. Hopefully this gets cleared up soon so I can actually use my MBP to its full potential.

I still have force touch enabled. You may be able to use it without FileVault and still not have the issue.

Have you reloaded the machine from the recovery partition or from a USB key? I am curious if there is something wrong with the factory image that was installed on the machine. I amy take the time to do this before I consider exchanging it. The issue is not just with my machine since you two are having the trouble as well and it manifests itself the same way.

Perhaps it is the factory image where it does the initial disk encryption?

Hmm, I'll try turning it back on and see what happens.

I haven't reloaded the machine -- I had to manually move all my stuff over and it wasted the whole day. Doing that would be the nuclear option for me. Good luck!

Ok. I will reply with an update. Thanks.

First issue in reloading: One cannot use a previous version of 10.10.x. When booting to the USB, I receive a circle with slash through it and the machine powers off. Apparently, according to: Unable to boot from 10.10.2 USB on Early 2015 Retina Macbook Pro, this is not something that can be done on 2015 rMBP's.

So, I am reloading from the recovery partition and will update when finished.

Here is what I initially did and I thought that I had resolved my issue.

1. Close all applications
2. Disable FileVault from System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Filevault. (This took a little time)
3. Run Disk Utility and repair permissions and then verify the drive is ok.
4. Reboot with CMD-R to get into recovery menu
5. Reinstall OS without wiping drive (This took about an hour and mine failed this step until I removed FileVault even when I entered the correct unlock password - so make sure that you disabled FileVault first)
6. Reboot and verify the issue is gone.
7. Enable FileVault and do NOT use iCloud to store the unlock key.
8. Reboot and check to make sure that the freeze/hang issue is gone.

I have rebooted and shut down my machine 10+ times each to verify that the issue is indeed gone.

THEN! I found this:

I had a Nifty Minidrive from my Late 2013 rMBP 13 that I had plugged into the SD card slot. As soon as I plugged it back in after going through all of this, the problem came back until I removed it. Since it does not do this on my 13.

In the end, my issue was the Nifty MiniDrive.

EDIT: In the end, my issue was the Nifty MiniDrive being plugged into the SD card slot. The MiniDrive itself works on my Late 2013 rMBP 13. Also, I believe that the SD card slot is connected internally via USB. If this is indeed accurate, this may lend some more evidence to the USB suspect.

My problem is back, and it's happening more frequently than before. Have any of you been experiencing the problems again?

I am having the same problem.

I just got my mid 2015 MBP 15" a couple days ago and am having the same exact issue. Found this thread while chatting with apple support and I also have the following error in the console log when the problem occurs:

kernel[0]: TCON: Status check (1) (EXIT:0x0005026f)

Going to try disabling the file vault encryption first and then apple recommended trying the computer in safe mode.

By the way, reinstalling from scratch does not help as I had already tried that. So don't even waste your time with that.

Earlier in this thread I said I had success with disabling FileVault and ForceTouch, but I've since realized that was incorrect. Also, repairing Disk Permissions does nothing.

For some reason, the issue does not occur when the computer is plugged in to a second monitor. It also doesn't occur when the computer is displaying video, or playing games. Maybe this means it's a video card issue?

At any rate, the problem is getting worse. Yesterday, my computer locked up 4 times in 30 minutes. It used to only happen once per hour or so. I think it's completely ridiculous that Apple hasn't fixed this yet... you'd think they'd have more pride in their newest model.

I have disabled filevault and forcetouch and the problem still happened. I'm now using the macbook in safe mode which is what apple suggested if the filevault disable did not work. I've only used it a little bit but haven't had the issue yet. I'm not really sure what to do at this point whether this works successfully or not.

Someone at apple should be able to decode this error which happens whenever the problem occurs so we can find the source of the problem:

kernel[0]: TCON: Status check (1) (EXIT:0x0005028f)