Macbook Pro trackpad not working? Try this!

This is very good advice. A year ago my wife's 2006 Macbook lost the ability to click using the physical button, and the mouse would begin clicking at random. The battery (which was easily accessible and part of the casing on those models) looked fine, until we took it out. It was so warped on the machine-facing side that we couldn't get it back in. Apparently it had pushed on various parts of the casing such that the mouse was affected. With the battery out, the mouse returned to normal.

I'm surprised to hear that it can happen with the unibody models as well, but thanks for sharing and letting us know.

danoftroy said:

So, if your trackpad stops right or left clicking, then take out your battery, power up using the power supply, and see if your trackpad works without the battery.

Click to expand...

This is a good observation, but keep in mind most newer Mac portables don't have easily accessible batteries. Of course, it's still possible to remove them it just takes more work.

Bingo I have a 06 model and once I took out the battery the trackpad is working again thanks!!!

The battery might be the problem . . .

On my MBP2008 the trackpad was acting up, finally it became difficult, as in more force than I felt was safe to apply, to click.

The battery was swelling, presumably due to age. I took it in (still under AppleCare at the time) and they replaced the battery as expected. They also replaced the trackpad as it had been damaged by the ordeal.

On the 2008 problems getting the battery compartment to close without a bulge may mean the battery is swelling.

Troy

Thank you SO MUCH for posting this! This was exactly the problem my wife's 2006 MacBook was having, and your suggestion was dead-on.

-The Doctor

This seems to be for older MacBooks? I have a Late 2011 and my left click is becoming more and more unresponsive. Its really annoying. Would taking it to Apple be a good idea?

Newer MacBooks have the battery under the trackpad too ,I had the same problem with a 2011 pro, remove the battery and trackpad work again, the swelling of the battery not happened very Often but ...

yeah that swelling of the battery will drive you crazy I remember my white macbook doing that and the trackpad had a mind of its own. Removing battery it worked just fine like you mentioned.

Yes, thank you...this was one of the first posts I came across after inheriting an older Macbook (first Intel model) with non-working trackpad and indeed the battery was swollen and trackpad is now working again ;-)

If the click mechanism isn't working you could also always turn on tap-to-click in the preferences.

If it's a case of a swollen battery then of course you should get that fixed since there are more worrying things about that than the trackpad.

ljusmc said:

This seems to be for older MacBooks? I have a Late 2011 and my left click is becoming more and more unresponsive. Its really annoying. Would taking it to Apple be a good idea?

Click to expand...

If its still under warranty then yes.

unibody

My 2009 MBP (model 4.5) is now having this issue, and I wanted to open it up and see if the battery has swelled.....but i am not sure how to do that.

Hi all,

I had two issues crop up with my trackpad unrelated to each other - so heres how I dealt with them (mid 2009 13' MBP)

Issue 1. Pregnant Battery

Things to know if its the battery at fault.

1. If the battery is UNDER 300 cycles and below 70% charge it will be replaced

2. If the Battery is OVER 300 cycles and the swelling is causing extreme physical structural damage it may be replaced at the discretion of Apple.

I first brought my unit in for checking after about 2 years, out of warranty, and my battery was 310 cycles and only had 40% charge - literally probably a week out of downright replacement.

They Checked my unit however and still sent the battery to Apples repair center feeling they might be able to do something. It was checked over, given the all clear and a few weeks later was called back in and was sent on my merry way - Verdict: Sorry Dude they cant do anything for you. If it had been below 300 I would have got a new battery (I was offered one installed for $80 however as a courtesy which I declined at the time).

Over a year later - with only 70 more cycles made (I leave it plugged in) my battery had swollen ALOT.

So I bring it to the store and explain my predicament - they had checked my unit previously and it had no issues except a dying batteries.

Their solution was obviously to take out the battery and lose portability.

So I argued that their faulty part, which was previously given the "all clear" was essentially destroying the unit. Which would mean losing functionality or the faulty Apple part destroying the unit due to the swelling (which was extreme).

So they took out the old battery, took lots of photos of my pregnant battery and sent them off to Apple (I was allowed to keep my unit).

A week later I was informed I would be getting a brand spanking new battery for my 3.5 year old out-of-warranty macbook pro BUT would have to pay for installation. WIN WIN!

Issue 2. Faulty Trackpad

The second Issue cropped up a few days ago (how I came across this thread).

Trackpad started going all erratic - changing screens, opening apps on their own, mouse moving all over the place etc.... I had already taken out the trackpad and cleaned it with Isopropyl, which did not work.

Bad news is: Already ordered a new trackpad (after SMC/PRAM reset failed to help).

Good news is: I fixed the old one!

I had nothing to lose except my sanity if I wait for my delivery so decided to go-for-broke.

• I heated up some distilled water in the kettle
  
• Added dish Detergent.
  
• Soaked the old trackpad for 10 mins and used a small paintbrush to clean it thoughoutly.
  
• Rinsed well with fairly hot semi-boiled distilled water.
  
• Dried Throughly with paper towels.
  
• Left it in the sun for 8 hours to dry completely

Result: I'm kinda peeved that I just bought a new one .. however the water "might" cause corrosion on somewhere internally on the trackpad thats not visible to the naked eye eventually.

I'm guessing oily dirt that could not be flushed out with the alcohol was the cause of the problem.

Hope that helps someone out ... now off to post my laptop for sale and finally get a new model

What worked for me

I recently just reformatted my Macbook pro and my trackpad stopped working after I logged in, I could see the mouse arrow moving around but I could not select by pressing the pad. What eventually worked for me was 1st: Pressing hard on the trackpad and applying pressure all across the surface. 2nd: After pressing on the trackpad surface for a while I found out if I pressed hard enough I could select but it was a pain pressing the hell out of the pad just to make a selection so I went to "Preferences" and then selected "trackpad" and then selected "Tap to click" and it started to work like it use to, but I ended up having to use 3 fingers to select and drag..which was annoying as hell. So I went to "Preferences/Universal Access/Trackpad Options/ and select "Dragging". That worked.

Also try: Shutting down computer, plug it in, then start pressing Shift/control/option while pressing the power up button for 15 seconds and when you let go the light on your power cord connected to your Mac should go to green then back to orange, then power up your mac again.

Also try: Command+Option+P+R while you power up your mac and wait til it chime 2wice ...then start up again.

Hopes this helps....someone, I know how it is

Track pad AND mouse not working

But what if both the trackpad AND the mouse don't work? Surely, the battery wouldn't be the problem with the mouse. But both are completely ineffectual and I'm now stuck using my mother's computer. Thank You very little Apple.

bjp said:

But what if both the trackpad AND the mouse don't work? Surely, the battery wouldn't be the problem with the mouse. But both are completely ineffectual and I'm now stuck using my mother's computer. Thank You very little Apple.

Click to expand...

Sounds like a trackpad issue. Odd that it woud spontaneously go out though! Maybe a bad cable. There is also a tension screw inside the macbooks that changes the clicking feeling, maybe yours got way overtightened or came loose. What model is it?

Put a piece of folded paper between battery and cable!

This is a well know problem with the MBPs with removable batteries. It's a defect in the connector cable for the keyboard and trackpad. If you place a piece of paper, blue-tak etc. on top of the flat ribbon cable that sits under a protective flap in the battery compartment, the pressure of the battery when fitted can correct the problem.

I had this faul intermittently for a couple of year. Apple wanted to charge me $$$ to replace the whole board, but a 2 cent piece of scotch tape fixed it for over a year. It did eventually fail completely, but I saved some money.

There are photos of this on the web. I'll try to dig out a link.

Thanks for saving me money and time!

I have a MacBook 4.1, suddenly the track pad stopped working this week just like others in this thread. Sure enough, same characteristic problem - a swollen battery pack. Removed it, and everything's working.
I do not need the battery pack (I only use this Mac for managing my music) - and did not want to have to buy a new battery or external mouse. Thanks for the great advice!

Check this, too

Hi,

I have an early 2008 Pre-Unibody 17" MBP (4,1), and am on my 2nd battery for the same issue (pregnant battery).

The track-pad problem stems from a lack of physical clearance between the bottom of the laptop (i.e. the swollen battery) and the surface of the desktop it's resting on: you can verify this for yourself by propping up your laptop with a thin book on the backside edge of the laptop, and you'll find your track-pad problem instantly disappears!

So the first thing to do is check if the rubber feet are missing from your laptop (as mine were), and get replacements; that'll buy you some additional time.

If they cost an arm and a leg (and they DO!) and if you're willing to go DIY non-OEM, there are MUCH taller rubber feet bumpers available at a hardware store (or Walmart) in multi-packs that have an adhesive backing on their flat surface: buy two (or four), and put them on each corner, and you're back in business. (It's good to go with two in the back below the screen, at first, since it makes using the laptop a bit more natural; use four, if your battery is REALLY pregnant.)

This replacement battery is a few years old, and shows 414 cycles, with 2 hours run time available when fully-charged (down from 4-5 hrs max, IIRC, when it was new). It's on it's last legs anyway, and eventually will have to be replaced, but they swell when they get old: it happens.

PS there's a trapped gas puncture "fix" available on the web, too, but I'd try this first: no reason to vent toxic gases, if you can avoid it.

Thank You!

Hi, Just wanted to document for others. The track pad on my MacBook Pro wasn't responding to clicks either. Taking out the battery solved the problem.

Glad I Googled the problem and found this forum!

Thanks!

JJ

Thank You So much for this, it really helped!!!!

I tried reboot and SMC reset to no avail.

Then I unplugged power and Thunderbolt and I could click again. I don't know which one did the trick.

Greetings. Wonderful advise RE: removing battery—fixed my trackpad issue lickety-split.
I hesitate to buy a new battery since my MBP late 2006 is on it's last legs as it is... Does someone have a recommendation as far as covering the open battery slot (? don't know what it's called...) on the bottom of the computer?

Thank you kindly.

ursaah said:

Greetings. Wonderful advise RE: removing battery—fixed my trackpad issue lickety-split.
I hesitate to buy a new battery since my MBP late 2006 is on it's last legs as it is... Does someone have a recommendation as far as covering the open battery slot (? don't know what it's called...) on the bottom of the computer?

Thank you kindly.

Click to expand...

Duck/gaffer's tape will do that nicely
I had an older Macbook pro to fix, just this week. Battery went bad several years ago, and the owner took some poster board, trimmed to fit. Covered over with silver duck tape. Didn't look too bad...
I have a white MacBook 2007. Removed a swelling battery last year. I took the battery case apart, and removed the battery cells. Put the empty battery case back together, and that empty battery case "works" very well.
I have to remember that it will shut off if I accidentally unplug the magsafe connector