The Curious Case of the Missing MacBook Pro Keyboard and Trackpad
About three weeks ago, the keyboard and trackpad on my MacBook Pro (from mid-2007) began failing randomly for no apparent reason. I would turn it on only to find its keyboard and trackpad unresponsive to any input. Rebooting sometimes helped, but many times it did not. Without a reproducible pattern I could determine, it was impossible to know if the problem was caused by failing hardware, a software conflict, or both.
Imagine if this happened to you while you were out at a cafe or are about to give a presentation, and you’ll understand why I was near the brink of insanity. After some investigation,1 it became clear there was a fundamental design flaw present in the MacBook Pro that was causing the problem. If your MacBook Pro does not have the new unibody design, this design flaw could give you grief sooner or later.
The Symptoms
Your MacBook Pro may exhibit any or all of the following symptoms:
- Upon waking from sleep, the keyboard and trackpad become unresponsive; log entries in OS X’s Console say “IOUSBFamily failed to enumerate a device.”
- Booting up the MacBook Pro and into the login screen with neither keyboard nor trackpad input. The only way to do anything further is to force shutdown of the system by pressing and holding the power button.
- The keyboard is sometimes present at boot, and sometimes isn’t. You can verify this by hitting the Caps Lock key and seeing if its corresponding light lights up or not while you are at the white boot-up screen with the gray Apple logo.
- Plugging in an external keyboard and mouse works, thereby eliminating the possibility that software is at fault.
- While OS X is running, the keyboard and trackpad may become intermittently unresponsive.
The Problem
Prior to going the way of the unibody enclosure, the MacBook Pro sported a design largely carried over from the PowerBook G4. A design trait common to all such MacBook Pro models is that of the battery bay. In this design, the battery bay of the MacBook Pro is located beneath the trackpad, in roughly the middle of the wrist-rest area in front of its keyboard. MacBook Pro models that share this design are:
- 15-inch Early 2006, Intel Core Duo (MA463LL/A, MA464LL/A, MA600LL, or MA601LL)
- 17-inch Early 2006, Intel Core Duo (MA0922LL/A)
- 15-inch Late 2006, Intel Core 2 Duo (MA609LL, or MA610LL)
- 17-inch Late 2006, Intel Core 2 Duo (MA611LL/A)
- 15-inch Mid 2007, Intel Core 2 Duo (MA895LL, MA896LL, MA895LL/A, or MA896LL/A)
- 17-inch Mid 2007, Intel Core 2 Duo (MA897LL/A)
- 15-inch Early 2008, Intel Core 2 Duo (MB133LL/A, or MB134LL/A)
- 17-inch Early 2008, Intel Core 2 Duo (MB166LL/A)
Removing the battery
Remove the battery and you will see the partially exposed circuitry of the trackpad. Notably, you will see a orange ribbon cable that ends in two connections to the trackpad.
Take a closer look at this ribbon cable and you will see that it does not lie completely flat against the floor of the battery bay.
I have my MacBook Pro in a sling bag whenever I’m on the move, placed in such a way that the battery side of the notebook is always against my hip. I suspect that the jostling of the MacBook Pro, specifically its battery, against my body over time has weakened the connection of the ribbon cable to the trackpad.
Replicating the Problem
If your MacBook Pro is exhibiting the symptoms I’ve described above, here’s how to replicate the problem.
Before you proceed, install HardwareGrowler. HardwareGrowler is a subset of Growl that notifies you whenever hardware is disconnected and connected from your Mac. This is extremely useful, as it lets you see, in real time, the keyboard and trackpad disconnect and connect while you troubleshoot.
Once you have HardwareGrowler installed, perform the following steps:
- Your MacBook Pro should be running. If the keyboard and trackpad are still dead, use an external keyboard and mouse to login. Once you’re in OS X, unplug the external keyboard and mouse.
- Make sure your MacBook Pro is plugged into AC power.
- Flip your MacBook Pro over and remove its battery.
- Then arrange your MacBook Pro so that its screen is flat on a surface and its lower assembly is vertical, 90 degrees to the surface.
- Arrange yourself so that you can see both the battery bay and the screen of your MacBook Pro.
- With one finger, press the ribbon cable in the spot just before where it bulges. You may need a couple of tries before you find the exact spot.
- If you’re pressing the right spot, you should see two HardwareGrowler notifications appear on-screen. The first notification will say ‘USB Disconnection: Apple Internal Keyboard/Trackpad,’ while the second will say ‘USB Connection: Apple Internal Keyboard/Trackpad’.
- Remove your finger from the ribbon cable. At this point, the keyboard and trackpad may or not remain working.
If this troubleshooting procedure yields the results in Steps #7 and #8, congratulations — you can now be certain that it is a hardware problem, that you are not going insane, and that you have a high-tech problem to which there is, fortunately, a low-tech solution.
The Solution
If the warranty on your MacBook Pro is no longer valid, like mine, don’t worry. Simply take a small piece of paper, such as a Post-It, and fold it in half. Stick it over the spot on the ribbon cable. Then reinstall the removable battery. The battery should exert enough pressure on the piece of paper to keep the ribbon cable working.
If your MacBook Pro is still under warranty, take it to an Apple service center. While Apple has not officially acknowledged that this is a widespread problem, it’s afflicted the machines of many owners, so surely it’s not unknown to them. Demonstrate the steps described above to whomever is helping you as letting him or her see the problem as it happens eliminates the guesswork and may help expedite the time needed for repairs.
The long-term solution is, of course, to have the ribbon cable replaced, because the last thing you want is to have the keyboard and trackpad fail on you when you need to use your MacBook Pro most. In the meantime, you have a temporary fix should you need one.
1 I wish to credit Steve Eugene of Dallas for discovering the cause of the problem as detailed in his post on Apple’s discussion forum.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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A similar flaw exists in the PowerBook G4, but in a different (or additional) location. The presence of a second (upper) DRAM DIMM can put downward pressure on the ribbon cable near where it actually connects to the logic board. The effect is that the ribbon cable is pressed down where it should be allowed to flex. Stress is transferred to the far side of the cable’s connection to the logic board, causing it to break up and away from the board. That is, increased pressure on the front of the connection causes the back of the connection to “lever” up and away from the board.
I fixed this in my own PB G4 17″ as follows:
1. Remove both DRAM DIMMs
2. Pressing the connector down evenly, (carefully) apply light, brief pressure to the connection’s contact points with a fine-tip soldering iron to restore the solder points.
3. Allow to cool.
4. Place a small piece of rubber beneath the curve of the cable to counter the downward pressure on the cable when the DRAM DIMMs are reinstalled. (I used the edge of a thin, non-skid rubber pad, cut down to size with an X-acto knife.
A bit delicate, but not difficult. My PB has worked fine for another year and a half since.
It’s pretty obvious it’s a design flaw. What really sucks is my macbook pro is 3 years old and still runs great excvept for this flaw. But it’s a big flaw and is really really annoying. I paid $2000 for this laptop and 3 years is ridiculous. I actually had my isight cable go as well but was able to pick one up on ebay and install it myself.
If you buy a keyboard cable on ebay the same problem will happen because the cable is flawed.
It’s too bad that someone couldn’t come out with a 3rd party cable. I’ll bet they could sell quite a few.
I was thinking of trying to cut the cable and solder extensions to the contacts, but I’m not sure if thats even possible, it’s a very thin cable.
Pretty sure Apple would rather you buy a new macbook than fix your old one but until this problem gets fixed I’m never buying another Apple product.
Had this happen as well Fortunately I had purchased apple care and they replaced the whole keyboard/trackpad module and all affected. Took it to the Mac Store on Saturday and had it back on Monday. Love the tech support and care!
YAY! Someone else has this same problem! I’ve been having this problem since November. Thanks for the tips.
Oddly enough, I have had this exact same problem on the same model of Macbook Pro for the past couple of weeks.
When opening the lid to come out of suspend, the keyboard and trackpad are dead. The first time I had this issue, reboots didnt fix anything.
Initially I put it down to my own fault. About 4 weeks ago I installed a new HDD inside my Macbook Pro so I assumed that the connector from the Lid (keyboard/trackpad/speakers/lights etc) had come loose.
So I took the lid off and reseated the cable. It took a couple of attempts at this before I got the internal KB/trackpad back. But it came back and worked for a bit.
However, this has happened a couple of times again since. On recent occasions things started working again when I rebooted with an external mouse. I also found that the apple USB keyboard and trackpad were still visible as USB devices in system profiler even though they were not responding. This last point made me wonder if it was my cable replugging that was teh issue or if there is a software/firmware issue that I have recently introduced.
Thanks for your article, will check the connection where you suggest the problem lies. However I am still suspicious that the problem is not hardware related. Please keep us updated if you have further problems!
I have had this problem twice. Apple fixed it twice. Now I always carry a USB mini mouse. If you press between the trackpad and the keyboard, about 25% of the way from left to right you can get the keyboard back to life (sometimes) enough to authenticate. I’ve temporarily fixed the issue with a folded sticky bit off a post-it note but it won’t last long! Now if only there was a fix for the flickering keyboard back-light problem I’m now beset with.
This happened to me as well. I finally located the buried thread about it on the Apple forum and fixed the problem instantly.
I love my MBP, but that’s a lot of money to pay for something that needs to be held together with a bit of tape and cardboard. Should be fixed for free by Apple on all units regardless of warranty, IMHO. They wouldn’t have to replace the whole assembly, just do an approved mod on the cable like everyone else is doing.
Can you please post a link to that thread?
Thanks for this article…I’ve been having this problem just in the last couple weeks, and I thought it was software related (I’ve been testing a lot of alpha stuff lately). But after going through the step-by-step to trigger the problem, it was (unfortunately) spot on. I’m out of warranty, but I may go to the Apple store this weekend, I’ll post again to see how much (or if) they charge me for it. For now I’m rockin’ the post-it note!
Yes, Jared, please do post back if Apple insists on charging you. I’m interested to how just how much it’d cost to get this problem fixed, because, the keyboard and trackpad on my MBP have been flickering on and off recently.
Thanks for the tip, will try it the next time I’m on the road. It’s really been getting on my nerves for a week or two now, and I would be far more than happy if your fix works. Thanks in advance!
Thanks for the post! Those jerks tried to tell me it was “water damage” but I knew there was something else going on. I’ve never even had my computer near water.
great article!! this has happened with two consecutive macbook pros (both of the same/last generation). apple store operatives replaced numerous keyboards, and eventually replaced the machine. now, a year later, this machine is doing it as well. it does seem to have something to do with the battery and the keyboard cable, as well as the battery-on-the-hip sling thing. taking out the battery and (and i kid you not) massaging the cable (or gently pressing down along the length of the ribbon to make sure the ends are attached) seems to do the trick in an emergency. my usb mouse and keyboard alleviate the problem most of the time. i’ll try the post it trick, and take it back to have the keyboard replaced.
thanx again. now i’m off to deal with that loud rattling fan in the upper left of the keyboard.
Thank you! A folded PostIt solved my problem as well.
I was in the shop asking about a quote to get it fixed and they said that they probably needed to change the entire top and would cost about 4 000 swedish crowns (about $500).
I think that Apple really needs to fix this for free or replace all units with the same issue.
Changing the top case or the keyboard won’t solve the problem except that it will change the ribbon cable at the same time. Sometimes they change one or the other and so don’t change the cable… Sadly the technicians are generally unaware of this problem and so don’t really know how to fix it. I wouldn’t stay with the PostIt note for too long – If your machine is under warranty then get it fixed but if not, you need to give precise instructions and they will (should?) be able fix it for a lot less.
I just wanted to add a confirmation that this fix works on my Macbook Pro also, and a ‘thank you’ for reposting this fix.
It’s additionally evident that this is a hardware problem since it also occurs when I boot, via BootCamp, into Windows Vista.
Same Pro from the same date, with the same issues starting to happen around the same time. hmmm. Thanks for the info; after digging through countless threads and posts, yours is BY FAR the most logical and helpful. Thanks for doing what Apple couldn’t do by acknowledging this problem and providing a fix for it (though be it temporary). …I almost bought a new battery because ‘sometimes’ it was cured when I took the battery out and put it back in again; phew! YOU DA MAN!
I am having this same problem, but for some reason, am unable to use this fix to get around it. I would be curious to hear if others are having the same issue and not finding this fix to be adequate. If so – any more thoughts!?!
I’ve pushed the battery ribbon from all angles but can’t get HardwareGrowler to fess up any updates – what gives?
Had multiple lockups today, I scheduled a time with the local Apple store (1-1/2) hours away. I “massaged” the cable to make sure it was fully connected, and after that I have not had a problem. So I cancelled my appointment. I have had this problem for a while and the only help from Apple phone support was to archive and reinstall. That did nothing, I hope this works if it acts up again I will install the paper shim.
I am a little disappointed, my last ibook lasted 8 years without a problem, this one is only 14 months old.
For all of you who are facing this problem, I really strongly advise you to get it fixed. The keyboard and trackpad on my MacBook Pro finally gave up the ghost. No amount of massaging the flex cable will resuscitate them.
I’d post back if the Apple technicians have anything to say regarding this when I send my MBP in for repair.
I have the same issue. I called Apple and the only suggestion that they could give me was to do an archive and install. Which did not work because the issue happened again during the archive and install itself. I am waiting to hear what they have to say. My MBP is 11 months old, has been through 3 major repairs, and 2 minors one. I had the audio board replaced, two displays replaced, the power adapter replaced, and the case had to be repaired because the apple technicians did not reassemble correctly after the audio board repair.
Although I said earlier that this fixed the problem, now that it’s been a while, I have to retract my statement.
It HELPS the problem, but doesn’t FIX it. That is, my drop-outs are much less frequent, but they still DO OCCUR, unfortunately.
I went to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store, and they said the only fix was to replace the entire lower case. I said ‘but it just seems that it’s the ribbons that need to be replaced’. The rep told me ‘we don’t do that, we can only replace the entire lower case, which costs $233, since you’re out of warranty’.
This is ludicrous! Pay $233 for a temporary fix that will surely go wrong again because this is a DESIGN PROBLEM?
There must be some better solution, no?
Class action suit, anyone?
Same problem, same model, bought around the same time…
Apple “genius” claimed water damage and wants to charge me 450$ to replace the keyboard and lower case. Post-it is working for now.
i thought that MAC is flawless ,why we don’t hear Mac fan boy say about it ,we All agree Windows is crappy and we have the courage to say that ,yet i see Mac is crappier ,they don’t admit it ever
I’ve had the keyboard/trackpad failure problem off and on since a few months after I purchased my MBP back in May of ’08. I’ve had it to the Apple store several times since it started, only to be turned away each time since I was unable to reproduce the problem. I’ve tried the cable pressing approach, but that doesn’t seem to bring it back or cause it to error out. It’s been frustrating few days trying to figure out if it’s hardware or software causing the problem, and I’m thoroughly disappointed with the customer service I’ve received at the Genius Bar.
The only actual way of fixing the hardware problems on these older MBP is to replace them with the new unibody model MBPs, assuming they don’t have a similar problem lurking inside their hermetically sealed shells.
I’d be happy to know if anyone has been experiencing this problem from the software side rather than the hardware side, and what software has been causing it. I’ll be a bit mystified if it’s software as I don’t have anything out of the ordinary starting up on my system.
Had the same problem and just fixed it using the instructions above. I didn’t see this in any of the comments, but it might also help to disconnect the ribbon and reinsert it more firmly. This might give longer-lasting results. It’s really easy; you just have to take off the translucent cover, flip a latch, and push the ribbon. You can find the instructions here:
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/MacBook-Pro-15-Inch-Core-2-Duo-Model-A1211-Upper-Case-Replacement/454/4
I actually spilled a bit of coffee on my keyboard last week so I thought that’s why my keyboard wasn’t working. But the strange thing is that it was working after the spill, then it stopped all of a sudden a couple days ago. So I couldn’t have short-circuited the keyboard. After opening up my computer, turns out the keyboard is actually pretty resilient. The buttons are embedded in rubber and there are plastic covers that attempt to minimize liquid or dust leakage to the main board. That won’t save you from a large spill, but in my case, my computer survived.
Hey man, thanks so much for this post. My logic board went bad a couple weeks ago… actually it was the nvidia issue that caused a lot of the santa rosa machines’ displays to die. Had to send it off… should have been a free fix but it cost $300… not too bad. Anyway a week after the new board from apple… key board / track pad die too. A sticky note fixed the problem. And for anyone who doesn’t want to … or just can’t install hardware growler, just press on that spot on the ribbon and press caps lock a few times while doing so. You’ll see the light come on and off as you touch the sensor.
Anyway, thanks a million.
Great work. I knew that the ribbon cable was part of the problem, but I had not thought of such an easy fix. Works perfectly for me!
Hi there… I have had a similar problem… but it is a bit different. The clicker on my trackpad is what hasn’t been working. Even when I’m not touching it it acts as if it is either being held down or clicked repeatedly. I can’t do anything when this happens. With the suggestion of a ribbon cable problem I took out my battery and checked it out and fussing with it seemed to help a little, but only for a few minutes and if I’m ever in a place where I can’t plug in my computer I’m dead meat because then I won’t be able to take my battery out. If anyone has had this problem and was able to get it fixed please let me know, both if it’s a simple solution or if it cost you money. I figure it will probably be more expensive to get a new ribbon cable than to buy an external mouse, but it would be so much more convenient to have my computer working without an extra device. Thanks…
Hello, I have recently begun having a MacBook Pro trackpad problem that sounds similar to your post of July 25, 2009. Trackpad acts like I am holding down the clicker even though I’m not. Did you find a solution? Thanks.
Hi Clayton,
Thank you for this post! After at least 5 years of solid performance with a Titanium G4, I was massively disappointed with a refurbished MBP with what appears to be this very problem.
I will try this repair the next time it occurs.
Craig
I have the same problem…
I’ ve tried fixing the problem with a small piece of carton, but it doesnt permanently solve it. Pressure on the top case or the trackpad can also trigger the disconnect.
The official Apple service provider here in Greece (it took them a loooot of time to understand the cause of the problem) told me an upper-case replacement would solve it, costing me 240EUR in total.
But this whole thing frustrates me… It makes no sense paying 2000EUR for a laptop, and expecting this kind of problems…. Plus I cannot afford a repair at the moment, being a student. But my MBP is my main tool at the university, and bought something expensive to avoid problems such as these… An external keyboard+mouse can do the trick at home, but the purpose of the laptop is to be mobile…
Anyway… I was wondering if some heat-resistant silicon placed on the ribbon would do the trick. I guess it will prevent it from moving at all…
Yay – good troubleshooting, it tllies up with what I am seeing (USB “failure to enumerate a device” messages in the logs, changes with hibernate/restore that seem to erratically resolve the issue, ruling out software issue, effect of pressing on the battery).
if the lower case can be replaced for 233$ that’s not too bad. I wanted to replace the latch button anyway, and another part has a nasty scratch… odd design flaw, but your analysis of the ‘bumping on the hip” makes sense as that’s also the orientation I carry the machine in.
DON’T PAY FOR REPAIRS!
I spent hours on the phone and had two visits to the Genius Bar and nobody would pay for the repairs of this so-called hardware failure. IT’S A SOFTWARE ISSUE.
Just reset the PRAM if the issue ever occurs:
Hold ‘P’ + ‘R’ + [Apple] + ‘Option’
While holding these push power once, you may do this up to three times, it will start up and shut down again and then start up.
So far this has worked for me. I am told it works with all people who had at first an intermittently unresponsive keyboard or mouse turned permanent. For those whose problem came on full force, then that is probably a hardware issue. Oh thank you to the one Genius who is actually cool like Mac men should be!
I forgot to mention – turn off the computer before resetting PRAM
same problems here with a MacBook Core2Duo … entire keyboard and track pad do not work anymore. i’ve had this for about 3 years now – i’m kind of disappointed. i feel for the people who have had theirs for less time. so is it a hardware or a software issue ?? from this article below it says resetting PRAM in OSx doesn’t do much. has resetting the PRAM worked for anyone else ???
Have you tried the hardware modification? It is worth a try, not that I approve of having to do this at all on such a premium laptop.
In my case resetting PRAM had no effect, it was clearly that internal USB cable, and once I modded it with a small piece of tape and a tiny square of card stock I have had no problems. That was a year ago.
I can not *tell* you how great a relief it is to know that a) I’m not going crazy and b) there’s a (at least temporary) fix for this problem.
Long post forthcoming, but perhaps these details will be helpful to someone – I’d love to see Apple establish a formal procedure regarding this problem!
After about 10 months, my March 2008 Penryn MBP simply didn’t wake from sleep one day – in retrospect, this was because the mouse and trackpad weren’t working, but at the time all I knew was that the computer was unresponsive, so I just restarted it by holding down the power button.
In my case (odd?) everything would work okay upon startup, but if at any point the computer fell asleep, I couldn’t wake it up again – so at first I assumed the problem had something to do with power management. I set the Mac so that it never slept, even installing a util so that the computer wouldn’t sleep when I closed the lid. Needless to say, this limited portability (battery would run down quickly, and the closed computer would run very hot – not good for it, but what could I do?)
One day, it just gave up the ghost – frozen, even though I knew for sure it hadn’t fallen asleep. I went to the Apple store; they sent it off and ended up replacing the logic board and (?) a bunch of audio wiring. They set it up on the counter, I tested it – it worked! – closed it up, took it home – and when I tried to use it the next day, it wouldn’t wake from sleep. Horror.
Somewhere during that time, my fortunes shifted – I bumped the power button and was surprised to find that the “Are you sure you want to shut down?” dialog popped up instantly, responsively – the computer wasn’t frozen at a system level! That’s when I realized the problem was in fact the keyboard & trackpad.
I took the Mac back to the store, where the Genius took the Mac in back, jimmied with the cable a bit, and it worked again – for a few weeks. At that point, the keyboard started intermittently and randomly failing.
I am a freelance designer and needed to use the computer for work, so I started carrying around (obnoxious!!) a full-sized mouse and keyboard in my bag when I needed my laptop, and felt STUPID setting up my Mac in a coffee shop to do my work – and then setting a huge black Windows keyboard atop my Mac keyboard and plugging in a mouse! (Not to mention, this meant both USB ports were in use at all times, so if I needed to plug in a scanner or thumb drive, I’d have to unplug the keyboard first… Ughgh.)
Time for some research: now that I knew to look for ‘trackpad problems’, I found a few references to the problem online, and was happy to learn that I wasn’t the only one – but at that point couldn’t find anything (like this page!) that was conclusive. (It was a mess – nothing I read could even verify whether the problem was in software or hardware – many people seemed to think the problem only appeared for Leopard installs.)
I took the Mac back again, and explained the problem more accurately. At this point, my 1-year warranty had *just* expired – (and I am still kicking myself for not getting extend AppleCare! never again…) – but because the original repair is warranted for 90 days, I was still under temporary warranty.
This time they sent it off and replaced the entire topcase. It came back again, working this time, and with shiny new silver keys to boot. :-)
THAT repair was warranted for 90 days, but about 110 days later, the problem returned – and now fully out of warranty, I’ve been back to using my laptop like a desktop, or carrying around a keyboard… Decided to Google one last time before returning to the Genius Bar and begging for help…
… and found this post!
I installed a post-it, and am currently typing on the Mac keyboard, though a *few* times while writing this, growl has flickered on-and-off and let me know that the keyboard temporarily lost connection, so at this point it’s certainly not a stable fix.
Nevertheless – the fact that the problem is now isolatable and repeatable gives me the courage to present my case to the Genius Bar and see if I can’t get them to replace the ribbon cable for me. (Though I’m not covered under official warranty, this is still the same problem they’ve sent the computer off two times for already, and that problem began while it was covered by AppleCare – so I have some hope.)
I’ll point them to this thread and let you all know how it goes.
Thank you once again – I have peace of mind, knowing that my less-than-18-month-old Mac isn’t in fact broken beyond hope.
Best,
Jason
For the record – I forgot to mention that I also carry my laptop in a messenger back which rests against my hip…
.
I’ve been having this problem in my 2008 (not unibody) macbook pro. I’ve spent lots of time on this issue. Apple was obsessed that there was a software problem and made me install fresh OSX, reset NVRAM etc. At one point they replaced my keyboard but it didn’t solve the problem. I bought a macbook pro so that I wouldn’t have problems since I use my computer ~10hrs a day. At the end now they said they will replace the case and hopefully that would help. If they waste your time (5 days in this case) they should give a temp. computer…
Thank you! Saved me a trip to the Apple Store.
yes! thanks! worked!
macbookpro (dec 2007)
:)
Thank you so much for this fix…its the only article I’ve found that identifies the problem, and offers a fix.
I think it is ridiculous to pay a premium price for a laptop that goes bad in a year and a half. There is a lot to love about a mac…but this is enough to make me reconsider what computer I will be buying next.
Regardless, thanks again…I hope my piece of paper holds up!
BTW, does anyone know why the ribbon cable goes bad or disconnects? Is it the heat from the battery causing it?
i have a first gen 17″ Intel Macbook Pro. It’s always been used intensively, lately 12-18 hors per day.
2 years ago the battery went bad on me. It overheated on sleep mode and actually bent the computer case a bit.
The locked keyboard syndrome began three days ago. First day it began with the clicker not working unless i hit it hard, the rest of the pad and keyboard were fine. 2nd day the clicker would get stuck in ‘hold’ mode as Caroline M. described earlier (It still does). Then the Keyboard went dead. The USB ports worked fine so I restarted the computer on my 2nd internal partition. The keyboard worked fine but not the pad on this partition.
The keyboard-pad lock problem was originally happening only in my main partition, not the secondary ‘office’ one. I went back and forth re-starting in different partitions to run different utilities. Eventually the keyboard locked on both partitions, as well as booted from external drives.
I run multiple repair utilities, in many different ways, booting up from both internal partitions and also external drives with Leopard and the latest repair utilities. I re-installed my current 10.5.8 in both internal partitions. The keyboard remained locked.
Then it began to work again…. the pad works badly, and the clicker doesn’t but the keys have worked consistently for the last 10 hrs.
I have been setting up Mac turn-key systems for producers, studios and engineers alike, small and platinum. I am used to troubleshooting systems in many different ways, some don’t make sense. i’ve been a beta tester for pro-audio and graphics companies.
The whole problem started when I was working with battery power only, and surprised that it died at around 40% left. Next morning I started the computer and the keyboard issues began. I looked at the battery and it is strangely becoming un-glued.
I will be traveling from now on with my mouse and a keyboard…
All of the descriptions on this page relate to my computer as well… No amount of massaging the cable or applying pressure makes any difference. I would try resetting my PRAM (as suggested), but that is not an option as the keyboard will not respond. ARG!!!!!!!!!!!! I love my mac, but this shouldn’t be a repair issue, it is a RECALL issue! When I go into the Apple store, I am going to reference this webpage as EXIBIT A in my argument…
Bless you.
Same problems. Hardware Growler alerts when I disconnect the USB extended keyboard. But none of my masaging/pressure on either of the orange ribbon cables produces the desired Connect & Disconnect Apple Internal Keyboard/trackpad messages. (btw, is the cable referred to in the fix the large one or the very slender strip?) In any case, I see that others like me have continued to comment as recently as Oct 29. I’d be grateful if Clayton Lai, the author of the original diagnosis and fix for this problem on April 6, would share his ultimate conclusions after seven months of his own experiences and reader feedback. Also, is there any groundswell for a design flaw class action suit vs Apple? The pesky MBP battery which doesn’t sustain pressure on the cable, after all, was a mandated replacement by Apple for a battery that was itself flawed.
same problem and pressure on ribbon work doesn not work. My macbook pro make me crazy : first the DVD:CD doesn’t work after one year (out of the warranty) , then a problem with the card .. apple replace it for free but it was 2 weeks (yes 15 days) without my laptop, and now keybord and trackpad are dead ….. only 2 years …. i used to find apple computer very good (15 years I work with) but Now I am seriously in doubt
Hey, this saved my a huge amount of heart ache and money, good work.
I was wondering if anybody had come across a problem with intermittent cutting out of a portion of their screen. I was hoping to find a similarly simple solution.
I am using an external keyboard at the moment because the inbuilt one stopped working. Pushing the ribbon had no effect. Reconnecting the keyboard made it start working for about 3 seconds but I have been unable to replicate this. I also checked the connection to the motherboard and it is firmly connected.
Bought my 15″ Macbook Pro just over a year ago and never had a problem but you know what they say, a product will only last as long as its warranty. Not looking forward to shelling out $300 for a keyboard replacement when the only thing broken is the internal USB cable.
Apple should provide this fix for free. On their official discussion website there is a form 17 pages long about this exact problem and it would be even longer had they not locked it.
My keyboard and track pad stop working but when I try to add an external mouse, it doesn’t work either. I can right click with it but it won’t maneuver around the screen. Very frustrating. The only thing that’s been working for me is removing the battery and putting it back in. Ugh. It’s happening more frequently now. Will try the post-it note suggestion.
Success!
Turns out my MBP was still under warranty and the apple store had it fixed in 45 mins free of charge. Although it was just the USB ribbon cable that was broken they just replaced the entire top part (keyboard and trackpad) of the laptop so now I have a brand new keyboard and trackpad :)
Matt you’re lucky.. 45 minutes .. where do you leave !!!? because in Paris , it’s more like 45 DAYS when you go to the apple center…
my keyboard ant trackpad start again and work for a few days .. sometimes it happens again but briefly ……(if I press strongly on the trackpad .. i am not sure.. but I think it helps !) and todays it looks like it doesn’t work at all…(I use a external keyboard right now)
… so it looks like it is a connection problem.. the USB ribbon is the source of the problem ?
at the end , as Clayton Lai said at the begining of this post , the orange ribbon cable is really the source of the problem !!!! just do excatly what he ‘s written . soft pressure on the orange cable and keyboard-trackpad start again. now I am a profesional in touching the orange ribbon . It needs a little experience but now it works … thanks apple for this weird experience and this huge lost of time ! (may be they don’t care about keyboard since they work with iphone ! )
Thanks for the note, I have the same problem, have taken my computer to Mac for diagnostic, I was quoted 500 dolares to replace the keyboard and track pad, Thanks.
Thanks for the note, I have the same problem, have taken my computer to Mac for diagnostic, I was quoted 500 dolares to replace the keyboard and track pad. After following all the directions I could determine that in factis that cable wich is causing the problem. This is a year and half macbook pro wich I trrat like a baby, amaizing that something like this is happining and MAC is not cappable to accept this and take responsability, specially in a $2000 computer.
Thanks.
Woorkks!!!
thankss man!! very simple solution
you are macgyver, just whit a pos-it!! jajaj thanks again
Is this why the trackpad now won’t click down?? Now I am out of the Country I bought the Mac Book Pro in and that was only 5 months ago!!
Why dont you guys peel off the transparent plastic that is all over the part where three cables connect, UNLOCK the slot that the problem giving cable is connected to (to unlock, simply pull up the lever) and then make the cable flat to the battery bay floor and LOCK the cable inside the slot.
I dont get why you need to use paper and such?
I did exactly that, peeled the transparent plastic and unlocked the slot , that problem is that you can straight the cable bit after a while with the heat of the batter the cable bends again and got disconected, the paper, plastic o whatever aplies pressure over the cable and doesn’t allow it bend again, at least until de paper moves
ADD: The lever is a part of that small slot. With PAPER I meant other people who have this problems. There is no talk about paper in you article.
I had half of my keyboard stop working. It was the grey ribbon cable next to the copper colored one. I scotch taped it into place and it works fine now.
I cut a square from a junk-mail envelope. Cost to me? Nothing. Saving? £118. Thank-you! My MBP lives at home now, for serious work. I have a netbook to use and abuse to reduce the risk of damaging my MBP.
Just bought a brand new MacBook Pro 2 weeks ago. I gave up on Windows PC but installed Parallel for using all my Windows applications. The problem started today as describe by many of you. My pointer started to jump, I was unable to navigate because of erratic movement of the pointer. I used my trackpad then tried my Logitech USB mouse. Same problem, so it seems that it is not related directly to the trackpad but the interface/signal for navigating the screen. As it is a brand new MBP, I will return it to Apple shop in Australia and see what they will come up with. But what I am more concerned is that since 2009, they are still manufacturing these MBP with that flaw encountered by many of you. Apple should just recall and repair at no costs.
So, like someone said earlier, yeah… PC is below Apple standards, but now seeing that… sorry I have some doubts. Dells, Toshibas and major brands are probably as good or even better built than a MBP. This is from 25 years experience. Now that I switched to Apple, I bump in a major flaw in design.
I am curious what the guys at the Apple store will come up with. I keep you posted…
Thanks. You made my day :)
Excellent article. Very concise and clear. Love the good photos. However, there’s more… :P
I thought you might be interested to know that, whilst there are certainly many people having the exact problem and cause you describe, and having success with a similar fix, there also seems to be a large number of people with the same sort of mysterious missing trackpad and keyboard issue, but for whom the cause does not appear to be this cable, or any other hardware thing.
I’ve been chasing this fault for some time now and have read many forum posts etc. In my case, for example, I get the same trackpad and keyboard freeze, while external devices still work, etc. BUT, there is never a USB disconnection/reconnection — and no amount of fiddling with that ribbon cable (which is not buckled in my case) does anything either.
So in fact, it would appear there is a double-whammy fault going on with MacBooks. Oh dear :(
If it’s of interest to others, there two potentially useful things I have recently discovered.
The ‘total freeze (KB/TP only) that can only be fixed by full restart’ seems to have changed to ‘only’ a 15 to 30 second freeze since updating to OS X 10.6.3. It will freeze, then unfreeze, then freeze again some time later. BUt also…
That update having made it possible to do more testing far more conveniently, there would now appear to be a link to Adobe Flash Player running in either Firefox or Safari (background or foreground windows/tabs) and this dreaded problem.
So far, point 2. has not been completely confirmed. But I’ve managed to type this entire comment (and even proof edit it) without a freeze, whereas I’d seldom get this far if I had, say, a YouTube site opened somewhere. (I can confirm the fault occurs whether using Firefox OR safari btw.)
Bryan.
I have tried pressing down this ribbon and it doesn’t work!
I am going to just take it to Apple and see if I can get some sort of sympathy from them. Regardless, I can’t afford an entire new laptop. Will have to settle for the repair charge for now.
A few of the defective parts are HERE
http://www.powerbookmedic.com/xcart1/product.php?productid=17470&cat=0&page=1
Can anyone confirm that replacing the flex cable fixes the problem please. Also how easy is it to replace the flex cable. I have seen plenty of videos on how to replace keyboard and remove the topcase but none on how to replace the flex cable.
Thanks
I’m ordering a replacement “flex cable” for my A1211 2.16 GHz unit at the linke below.
PowerBookMedic has other parts for related models that may be helpful for related cases.
Always REDUCE/RE-USE/RECYCLE first…
only when all that fails, do you buy again.
http://www.powerbookmedic.com/xcart1/product.php?productid=17470&cat=0&page=1
Hello Patrick I just wanted to see if you had any luck with this fix. I am about to attempt this as well for my A1226 2.2GHz rather than buying the entire top case.
Thank you!
Patrick, I’d also be grateful if you’d share your experience: Did replacing the flex cable fix the problems? I’m ready to buy the part, but suspect I don’t have the expertise to do a replacement myself — so would have to find and pay a repair person I can trust to do the job.
I am having a similar problem which started out intermittently and then went completely. Now the keyboard and trackpad never respond. Backlighting does work.
I have done the following since total failure of KB and TP
Installed new HD
fresh install of 10.6 (was running tiger when failure occurred)
reset pram
reset smc
also loaded the flash gala preview
updated firmware
installed growl and tried applying pressure on orange ribbon – no response.
keys do not respond at boot up.
Nothing has yielded a response.
Any ideas as to how I might diagnose the source of the problem?
Hi All, the intermittent operation of the trackpad and keyboard is most DEFINITELY down to the orange ribbon cable. Period. Yes, using a folded post-it note, will temporarily solve the problem, as will unlatching the ribbon from the trackpad circuit board and re-plugging it. BUT EVENTUALLY IT WILL FAIL COMPLETELY! The problem, as some folks here have already said, is the slight curve in the orange ribbon cable as it joins the trackpad circuit board. Apple designed this cable just slightly too long, which is why it’s slightly raised. The intermittent pressure from the battery against this raised ribbon cable causes miniature breaks in the tiny copper wires that pass through the ribbon cable. It’s called “metal fatigue” and in this case causes a broken connection. So, there you have it, the problem explained. This is, without doubt, a design flaw. I shall be taking all of these comments to Apple and I shall also be taking legal advice on what steps to take next. No amount of replacement keyboards will stop the fault recurring.
Hello! I’m new here. Just wanted to say hi
I did’t read all the posts here to see if anyone has already reported my problem or not, but my issue is a little different than the one discussed. My keyboard doesn’t NOT work, but certain keys seem to be keyed indefinately. For instance, I open my computer and I can’t even login because the e key is just scrolling across the text box. I am sometimes able to offset this by holding the delete key, but as soon as I release it the e key starts again. Restarting, pulling the battery,pushing on the cable, beating on the keyboard SOMETIMES works, but no ‘fix’ seems to be foolproof that I’ve discovered.
I think my best bet at this point is to get an external keyboard and mouse and try to disable the internal keyboard/trackpad entirely.
I’m sure I’ve found this issue discussed before, but can’t seem to find it now.
Thanks for the tip. It worked… much to my surprise.
On a rural road a state trooper pulled this farmer over and said: “Sir, do you realize your wife fell out of the car several miles back?”
To which the farmer replied: “Thank God, I thought I had gone deaf!”
Thanks for the article!!!!
So far so good – although I have probably just jinxed it by posting this…
Fixed with a 0.5″x1″ pice of notepad paper. Macedge NH took $90 worth of labor to tell me there’s nothing wrong with the trackpad or the keyboard. Thank you, Macedge.
Excellent error analysis and solution by Clayton Lei. Thanx A LOT. This article should be on apple.com instead of endless, confused, and confusing assumptions by more or less desperate users. The HardwareGrowl trick is excellent thought our. It helped me diagnosing my own, and now I can see, that in fact there are numerous small fall disconnections and reconnections going on while tabbing away on my keyboard.
I think, however, it’s important to stress (as Bryan has already done) that we are seemingly facing two different problems with similar symptom, the other one being a sofware/OS bug of some kind.
But kudos to Clayton beautiful, clear, and intelligent error analysis. It helped me a lot!
I can’t get hardware growler to do anything when pressing on the ribbon cable on my A1181 black macbook
USB keyboard and mouse work OK though
I’m not sure if to replace the cable or not, or if I have a logic board problem
anyone have similar experiences with an A1181 macbook?