Macbook Air trackpad and keyboard stop responding

[chandler99]

Got an interesting one.

We have a macbook air - mid 2012 that is freezing randomly. When i say freezing i mean the track pad stops working and the keyboard stops working, although the power off button still allows us to turn it off. There seems to be no logic to when this lockup will happen, no set time - it just happens.

I've tried all the usual suspects like pram reset, disk repair etc..

No here's the strange bit, i wiped it yesterday and it locked up within the recovery screens.

I'm truly stumped and appreciate any insight you guys might have on this weird one..

 

[scaredpoet]

First thing to rule out is a failure on the controller handling the physical keyboard and trackpad. Do you have a keyboard and mouse, either USB or wireless, that you can connect to the MacBook Air and see if they work even when the built in hardware stops?

 

[cyber16]

If you find that an external keyboard & mouse work find.
Just replace the trackpad. On the underside of the trackpad is a small pcb that holds the usb controller chips for both the keyboard & trackpad.
Be sure to replace with the correct model year part since the keyboard key assignment logic is also stored on that pcb
btw: this is an easy diy job is out of warranty

 

[chandler99]

Hi chaps,

i've tried a keyboard and mouse and its just locked dead still.. any thoughts?

 

[cyber16]

Try to boot into a clean OS to rule out any software issues.
Boot onto a osx disc or external drive.

 

[chandler99]

Thanks,

I've tried wiping the hard drive, booting into internet recovery and i still happens.

 

[lun]

Hi!

Do you have by any chance a toshiba ssd?

I had intermittent lockups for quite a while when my ssd failed after 2 years of use.
Apple genius told me, those freezes were an early sign for a failing ssd though disk checks did never reveal anything. Even the firmware update in 2013 was successful.

Please be careful and do not forget to back up.

 

[chandler99]

Hi!

Do you have by any chance a toshiba ssd?

I had intermittent lockups for quite a while when my ssd failed after 2 years of use.
Apple genius told me, those freezes were an early sign for a failing ssd though disk checks did never reveal anything. Even the firmware update in 2013 was successful.

Please be careful and do not forget to back up.

I had a 128gb Samsung. Just brought a 256gb Toshiba and have the same issue