My built-in keyboard and trackpad not working

Alright, so here's an update. I managed to get a replacement cable as we have been discussing, and replaced it. Powered back on and everything seems to be working fine!! I let the laptop go to sleep (that's when the problem would usually occur) and even on waking up, no issues. Have only tested this for a couple of hours so too early to say if the problem is permanently fixed, but so far, it looks like that's the case. I'm hopeful - only time will tell. But one thing is clear as water - this is not a software issue, it's a hardware problem!

I will keep you guys posted and will report back in a week if all goes well (or earlier if the problem resurfaces).

I have facing similar problem. My touchpad and keyboard are full unresponsive. The backlight working fine (automatically, in darkness full bright, during the day - off), usb/bluetooth keyboards and mouses working just fine. I don't drop the mac, and don't spill anything on the mac. Always used in hardcase, and transported in a sponged cover inside a backpack with build-in another sponged protection.

When I check inside, I discover that on a touchpad there is a small dot, like a small punch, so maybe small grain of "dust" force it and damage the touchpad ribbon, so I ordered 10 (9 as a buck'up), on aliexpress they are really cheap, just 3 USD/one. Now I remove the "damaged" touchpad ribbon, and reset pram and smc, but keyboard still refuse to be operational. Is there any trick to do with this? The hard ware test running on boot don't report any errors. Also I hardly believe that original ribbon is damaged.

The problem occurs randomly, 3 days ago i just close the mac lid and after few hours of travel in a train when I want to do some work I found that keyboard and touchpad are unresponsive, but at the morning everything works fine.

Do you have any idea why it's happening? Why keyboard are unresponsive when it is connected to motherboard itself, not pass trought touchpad ribbon cable (or somehow it is?)?

My model is Early 2015 13" Retina (A1502).

I hope that new ribbon will recover it back to full life 🙂

Well exactly the same issue and same level of frustration here 😭😤 this simply *****!! No proper response from Apple support as well!

No luck they just denied it and said it's not a defect and blah blah 😤

They don't accept that all of us having the same issue just because we chose MacBook. Utter disappointment on apple

Thank you, I will try your solution. Currently I'm using Linux on MacbooPro. No fancy trackpad, retina at all. But, at least it save my life.

APPLE ****K!

Hi thanks for replying the strange thing about my mac book is the keyboard is allowing me to log in but once I have logged in ot them stops responding was this the same for you ? Thanks again

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What is the link you used, and which tool and cable did you buy?

Thanks, Johnny. Unfortunately my warranty has expired. But if I need to take it in for service, I'll add this to the list. In the meantime, I'm using a nice economical mouse.

Hello everybody,

I have exactly the same issue with my Macbook Pro 13" early 2015.

In 2016/04, I had the problem for the first time. I brought my macbook to genius bar, they changed the motherboard (under warranty).

I had exactly the same freeze in 2016/07, and I brought it again to genius bar. They changed the top case, with keyboard and trackpad.

Since yesterday I am having the issue again. Sometimes it freezes, I shut down the macbook, and then sometimes it works. I'll have to bring back the macbook to genius bar. I am fed up with this problem. It seems that it only concerns early 2015 macbook pro...

I think I know what you are going through. I tried several ways to recreate / avoid the lock-up situation but the more I do it, the more it doesn't make sense. I concluded, it is really random (at least for us who don't have the Apple laboratory, we will not find out). Anyway, my solution at the moment which WORKS ALL THE TIME whenever the keyboard and trackpad become unresponsive is to DETACH THE BATTERY, let it sit for 3-5 minutes, and attached it again. ;-)

To DETACH THE BATTERY, you need a special screw driver to open the back cover, it is called a Pentalobe screwdriver specific for MBP. And another TORX screwdriver to detach the lock of the battery once the back cover is open. The whole process is done in less than 15mins (assuming you have both screw drivers ready). Don't rush. Be gentle and precise.

I finally found the problem for the unresponsive trackpad/keyboard. The trackpad cable is broken. You can get the cable for about $15 (821-00184-A Touchpad Trackpad Cable for Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13" A1502 2015). To change the cable you need to follow steps 7, then 17-20 in (https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Retina+Display+Early+2015+Track pad+Replacement/45138). This is very simple. I am not sure why the cable brakes, but the cable is bent (seems a little to long) and combined with the heat from the battery it may lose connection over time. I am sure this was causing the problem on my MBP (retina, early 2015). Really happy to finally have it working again.

MBP keypad and trackpad are working flawlessly for about a week now after replacing the trackpad cable. This was clearly the problem on my MBP and is perhaps the problem in most of these unresponsive keyboard problems.

Hey thanks for lets us know this problem. I will buy this and try this week. Hope It will be ok. thanks again

I will buy this (821-00184-A Touchpad Trackpad Cable for Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13" A1502 2015) today

I have this exact same problem, and my laptop is 3 months out of warranty now so Apple Care says they will charge me around 1/3rd the price of the laptop for replacing entire top case because they aren't able to identify the problem. Your posts have given me some hope. I tried finding the cable in India but apparently its not sold separately here and only with the trackpad, which is too expensive. Also, apple refuses to sell any parts to consumers directly even if you know exactly what you want. So i've ordered the cable from China (I figured everything is made there anyway, so it would be my best bet). It's going to take a few weeks to get to me (if it arrives at all) so fingers crossed. Hope this works. Because if it does, it will verify your theory and give other users a solid fix to this issue, which is obviously a manufacturing quality issue that Apple isn't acknowledging (given the number of laptops with this models with the exact same problem). Looks to me like this should get more attention from Apple.