Early 2015 MacBook Pro extremely slow and...

[brainwave89]

My early 2015 13-inch retina MBP keyboard and touchpad stopped working. I replaced the keypad cable which enabled the keypad and keyboard to work again. The computer started to be extremely slow. I replaced the original hard drive with a working 250GB hard drive from a 15-inch early 2015 MBP. I formatted the drive and installed Catalina. The install took over four hours. I can sign into my new account but it is still slow. I haven't installed anything after the new install. It takes 41 seconds to open a new Safari window. After I close Safari and then re-open it takes 14 seconds. It has 8GB of RAM. Opening Activity Monitor does not display any irregularities.

I cannot access the Hardware Test upon startup (pressing D upon start), nor PRAM or safe mode. Once I'm signed in, the touchpad and keyboard work.

Any suggestions to make it work somewhat normally again is appreciated.

 

[Analias]

My early 2015 13-inch retina MBP keyboard and touchpad stopped working. I replaced the keypad cable which enabled the keypad and keyboard to work again. The computer started to be extremely slow. I replaced the original hard drive with a working 250GB hard drive from a 15-inch early 2015 MBP. I formatted the drive and installed Catalina. The install took over four hours. I can sign into my new account but it is still slow. I haven't installed anything after the new install. It takes 41 seconds to open a new Safari window. After I close Safari and then re-open it takes 14 seconds. It has 8GB of RAM. Opening Activity Monitor does not display any irregularities.

I cannot access the Hardware Test upon startup (pressing D upon start), nor PRAM or safe mode. Once I'm signed in, the touchpad and keyboard work.

Any suggestions to make it work somewhat normally again is appreciated.

The problem is sensor related. Either a faulty sensor or a fault with one of the components on the keyboard/trackpad sensor data lines. If there has been any liquid damage you'll have to inspect the trackpad circuit board and logic board for corrosion. If no liquid then a replacement trackpad should do the trick. It could be any of the multiple sensors on the mac, but as you were having tp/kb problems it is likely related. Pre-2015 you could've run ASD to determine which sensor was at fault, not sure how it's done now though.

 

[brainwave89]

Thank you, Analias. Replacing the hard drive (from OWC) now has the computer working happily.