My built-in keyboard and trackpad not working

I have the exact same problem.. Brought it over to an iMac center, they opened it and disconnected/connected something and it worked again for a month but now we're back to full unresponsive..

Will definitely try your solution of the tape!

Hi Community,

I have just replaced my trackpad ribbon cable, and its already two days I was not facing any trackpad / keyboard unresponsive problem.

The solution worked perfectly for me. Thanks for the help for all who have reported and tested the problem.

P.S. Please be careful when you are replacing the cable yourself. I had stripped all my MacBook screws and it was very difficult to take it out from the back panel. Also, If you are from India and need a screwdriver, you can get it from Amazon.in for around Rs. 350. PagKis Set of 1.2 Pentalobe Screwdriver. I get the ribbon cable from Aliexpress for around Rs. 550 (including shipping charges.)

Thanks.

I have been having the same issue for the past few weeks. It's not even been a year since I purchased this laptop. Moreover, the battery and the general physical condition seems to be all normal, yet the problem is persistent.

For others: Just found on ifixit, in 13" 2015 model, the touchpad is necessary thing in boot order to initialize keyboard, it's ridiculous, but ok, I can live with that if new cable fix it up. So the point is, if touchpad is not initialized, the keyboard will be unresponsive too, so due to ribbon failure, both are gone. Of course touchpad and keyboard can be broken itself, as long as the connection works.

I have the same problem with trackpad and keyboard intermittently stuck not working specially when laptop goes sleep (not working with my laptop) for 2 days with many Safari tabsangd windows opened. I backed up my data and did clean install 10.12.5 , it worked fine for one week then stopped working again with haptic feedback non working. it works back only when I reset SMC two or three times.

be noted that yet I did not put my data again after I did clean install.

Just report back, I have received those ribbon cables from china (3$ per each), change that ribbon and everything works like a charm, so If you have very same problem, just change it, it would be your best and cheapest bet to fix it. Even if it fail, you do not lose much 😉

I have the same issue which I find strange as majority of the time I use a wireless keyboard and magic trackpad putting very little use on the macbook pro mid 2015. I have tried all trouble shooting which has not worked and I have gone to my local (Stockholm Sweden) mac partner store and they say its a hardware problem which is common. The price for them to replace the keyboard and trackpad is half the value of the computer! This seems to be a growing problem for many users and if it is true that to replace keyboard and trackpad amounts to ca $800 how are we to afford this let alone the price of a new mac? Apple please advise us

I am quite certain it is a software problem. How come the keyboard and trackpad starts to work after a NVRAM/SMC reset ? Some counter overflowing somewhere over the years. This happens to me now everyday, Annoying!

I am quite certain it is a software problem. How come the keyboard and trackpad starts to work after a NVRAM/SMC reset ? Some counter overflowing somewhere over the years. This happens to me now everyday,

After a week of testing now I can confirm that I have a Temporary but "Permanent" solution.

The trackpad freezes very often. Earlier NVRAM/SMC resets would fix it. But I do not want to do that all the time.

So I tried connecting a wired mouse after which the pointer moves and I can do normal work with the Macbook.

Now after a few minutes of using the MacBook with the wired mouse the trackpad comes back to life. and everything works normally for that session. During the past week, when I get back the trackpad to work, I have left the mouse connected though I do not use it. In the next week I will try to remove the wired mouse to see if the trackpad and the pointer freezes again.

At least I do not have to reset stuffs all the time.

I am now confident this this is a software problem. Not sure if there will ever be an official fix to it but i hope that Apple solves this in the upcoming High sierra.

I had this issue too - both trackpad and keyboard not working. I just replaced the trackpad cable and now it's working. Ordered it from Taobao 821-00184-A 触摸板排线 A1502 MF839 MF840 841 触摸板排线-淘宝网全球站.

Btw, the genius girl in the Apple Store I went to (HK) told me to just buy a new one because I'm out of warranty. Good thing I didn't hear her advice. Happy fixing guys!

I found the solution to the trackpad and keyboard not being responsive, although the power button works fine.

The problem was with the trackpad flex cable which is the long cable connecting the trackpad board to the logic board right above the main battery component inside your MacBook pro. Sometimes this part gets loose and you might have to apply pressure to the connectors on the ends of the cable then your keyboard and mouse will start working fine .

Or if that doesn't work you should just get a replacement part which usually goes for $10 or something. That will be the solution 90% of the time. Hope this helps

Hello. I had the same problem with a 2015 MacBook Pro. Tried resetting the SMC and PRAM, no luck. Reinstalled the OS, no luck. Disconnected the battery and held the power button down for 10 seconds to discharge the battery, voila!!! Works like a charm. I hope this helps someone 🙂

I have bought the ribbon and before that I just put some pressure on the ribbon after opening the back panel and after a reboot everything works fine for 2 days and problem is back. I put a small thin cardboard like stuff between the old ribbon and battery now. Could you let me know if you felt that the ribbon was sticking to the battery case. I felt like the ribbon kinda melted and got sticky. I unstick it and placed the board piece now. Its working at the moment. So I am guessing even if I change the ribbon once it gets heated up for a period of time (maybe years) this problem is likely to return. Anyway once I get my tools kit arrived, I am ordering some back up ribbon pieces just in case.

I have the problem with Trackpad and Keyboard not working on a customer's a1502.. Before I go replacing any ribbon cable(s) for a Trackpad or otherwise, can ANYONE answer this..?

Why do both Keyboard and Trackpad work flawlessly outside of Sierra.? Pick ANY Linux distribution - I have 5-7 variants - and boot up to find KB and Trackpad ALWAYS working, ALL the time, without stopping or failing to work..

Fresh reload of Sierra, same thing. A couple of software updates and they worked, but stopped working again.. Boot to Linux again, zero problems...

Sorry, but I can only see this as an issue related to SOFTWARE, SOFTWARE, SOFTWARE..

Thx