MacBook A1181 keyboard and trackpad not responding.

OK, here's the deal. as the title says, the keyboard and trackpad aren't doing anything anymore. It will start up, and after reaching the login screen it pops up a message saying that it is not detecting a keyboard and is checking with Bluetooth for something to be paired with it, namely a keyboard.

I've seen similar discussions involving a MacBook Pro, something about a ribbon cable near the battery. Obviously since this is a Mac for, not a MacBook Pro, even if the problem is more or less the same, the internal configuration makes a solution to little different.

I have an idea of where the problem may be. For a while now, it's had this thing where, if you rest your hands a bit too heavily on one or the other side of the trackpad, the trackpad and keyboard don't behave. So naturally, like the punchline in that Doctor joke, I don't do that. Who's least, try to avoid it. But now, it seems that whatever it is it's being impacted on when the casing is flexed over much, as nice effort some sort of stress or other, so now it behaves that way all the time.

Question: assuming that I'm right, any idea of where the ribbon or whatever else cable might be I would be involved in this? And more importantly, of what I might do to fix the situation, hopefully permanently but I'm trying not to be too optimistic.

Thanks

Oh, I suppose I should mention, I recently opened up the MacBook to solve a fan problem. Namely, the computer was overheating and shutting down – I suspected that since I could hear the fan going, that might be a little bit of dust or something collected in the fan. I was right - there was a good 2 to 3 mm worth of dust and lint collected at the vents. I removed a nice sized strip of dust, cleaned up a bit more, put the fan back, reseated the connectors, closed it, and it worked fine – no more overhearing. Incidentally, useful tips before spending money on a new fan.

I suppose it's possible that something else got knocked loose, but I've already opened it again and looked inside, and didn't see anything amiss. And given the way this thing is laid out, it would be hard to miss anything. But of course, then again, I can't see inside the casing between the trackpad and the outer shell.