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Salty · Mar 21, 2010, 08:46 PM

Hey all, so apparently USB is still working, but the keypad and trackpad on my Core Duo MacBook just konked out. I'm wondering if it's a loose cable inside or if it could be anything else. Any suggestion on what it could be? Power Button still works but that's basically the only button on it that it registers any input from.

AKcrab · Mar 21, 2010, 08:53 PM

Since the power button still works, odds are it's not a loose cable, unfortunately.

Does system profiler show the keyboard and trackpad under USB?

edit: I would try resetting your PRAM. That would tell you if the keyboard is registering at all.

Salty · Mar 21, 2010, 09:22 PM

PRAM reset did nothing

amazing · Mar 21, 2010, 09:57 PM

You probably know that to "really" reset PRAM, you have to hold the keys down through at least 3 bongs?

Somewhat confused: to reset the PRAM, the keyboard has to be working, right?

Question: What happens if you hold down "shift" during startup (you have to hold it down for a very long time, until it starts up in "safe" mode.) Does that work? What about holding down command-s during startup? Does that work?

Basically, just checking to see if keyboard works at early stages of bootup...

Last question: can you reset the nvram? To do that you have to startup in Open Firmware, which means that the keyboard has to work. Here's how you reset the nvram:

To reset open firmware just startup in OF (startup holding command-option-o-f) and at the prompt enter the following (<return> means hit the return key):

reset-nvram<return>
set-defaults<return>
reset-all<return>

The computer will restart after the last command.

Salty · Mar 21, 2010, 10:58 PM

keyboard doesn't seem to work at all, tried starting up and holding down P R command and option on my keyboard that I've got connected via USB, still a no go.

seanc · Mar 22, 2010, 01:36 PM

Either a faulty cable for the top case (would usually break the power button) or a cable between the keyboard and trackpad somewhere. Best bet is to take it apart and have a play around, if that fails replace the top case, plenty available on eBay

Salty · Mar 22, 2010, 05:30 PM

It happened once before, I'm thinking maybe I should drop it a bit and that might fix it

seanc · Mar 22, 2010, 05:32 PM

Originally Posted by Salty

It happened once before, I'm thinking maybe I should drop it a bit and that might fix it

At least take the hard drive out. Always amusing to read the SMART values on a dropped drive during data recovery.

amazing · Mar 22, 2010, 05:48 PM

Ah! It happened once before. How it get back to working that time?

Salty · Mar 24, 2010, 02:44 AM

I closed it, turned it on and off and that fixed it before.

This time it turned out the cable was loose, I took it apart and put it back together, reconnecting the keyboard and track pad in the process... only one extra screw left after I was done! For the record THERE ARE A HELL OF A LOT OF SCREWS IN THERE!

amazing · Mar 24, 2010, 11:07 AM

Good to hear that it's now fixed. Any idea how the cable got loose?

If you have to take it apart in the future, just print out 2 copies of the disassembly plans from ifixit.com and tape the screws directly to one of the copies. No extra screws when you're done!

seanc · Mar 24, 2010, 02:04 PM

+1 for taping

The cable is only a push fit, it could have popped out slightly if the laptop got bashed. Unfortunately you can't really see the status of the connector before you have to unplug it to lift the top case up.