MBP keyboard/trackpad problem

[NewMacMan113]

Hi everyone. I'm fairly new to macs, but I'm familiar with macrumors thanks to iphone 4 and 5 rumors.

I just got my first mac from a friend of mine and I really love the way macs work. But the reason they gave this mac was because of a weird problem it's having. (it's a 2009 13" by the way)

Essentially, the keyboard/trackpad are not recognized at all upon booting sometimes. HOWEVER, if I boot it and they ARE recognized, the computer will work perfectly fine for weeks, until I shut it down completely. At that point, it may or may not recognize on the next boot.

For example, last week I was using it, and the battery died. So, I plugged it in at home, restarted it, and no keyboard/trackpad at all. (backlight is still on). So, I plug in a USB mouse, and reboot it 3 more times, nothing. I go grab a snack, come back, boot it, and everything is working great. I put it to sleep that night, woke it up in the morning, etc. for several days. No problems at all. I even did an update and restarted, it booted fine with keyboard/trackpad. Then, just for fun, I shut it down again. It booted 5 times perfectly. The 6th time? No keyboard/trackpad....

I'm fairly familiar with PC's and I'm not afraid to open up the mac if necessary. (it's clearly out of warranty), I'm just looking for any experts opinion on why this is happening, and how I might be able to fix it?

I don't have an apple store near me either; so I can't take it in. Thanks for any and all help! p.s. I'm typing on it right now.

 

[Satori]

I'm not certain what might cause this. However, I would try an SMC reset as this can help with intermittent hardware faults.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

 

[NewMacMan113]

Thanks for the fast reply!

I've tried the smc reset, and the PRAM reset; but neither seem to help the issue.

 

[Satori]

Do you get the same symptoms with an external keyboard and mouse?

 

[NewMacMan113]

Do you get the same symptoms with an external keyboard and mouse?

No I don't. The external keyboard/mouse always work. If the built-in keyboard/trackpad aren't working, that's how I shut the computer down. I just plug in my usb mouse and keyboard, and everything is fine.

I keep those plugged in and use them to restart the macbook until the built-in keyboard trackpad are recognized again.

 

[Satori]

No I don't. The external keyboard/mouse always work. If the built-in keyboard/trackpad aren't working, that's how I shut the computer down. I just plug in my usb mouse and keyboard, and everything is fine.

I keep those plugged in and use them to restart the macbook until the built-in keyboard trackpad are recognized again.

I guess that makes it less likely to be a logic board or SMC fault.

I had an old macbook where there were occasional problems (similar to yours but less frequent) that were caused by Universal Access settings. They had somehow set themselves to ignore the trackpad when a mouse was plugged in and to use the keyboard for mouse functions. Worth checking out maybe?

 

[NewMacMan113]

Hmmm, definitely interesting. I'll look into that.

And I agree, from what I've been reading online, it doesn't seem like this is a logic board problem; but it also doesn't seem like a bad connector either; as once it is recognized, it works fine forever (until a full shut down.)

*It also looks like the keyboard and trackpad don't even share a cable; they have separate cables/sockets on the logic board. Which makes it really odd that it's always both are or aren't working. Very odd.

*UPDATE: I checked all of the Universal Access setting once I replicated the problem, and no luck :/ So, it looks like it must be something else.

 

[dakhein]

Are any other devices plugged in when this problem occurs? And to confirm, when this problem occurs do you see a dialog/wizard (such as when an unidentified keyboard is plugged in press this button) or a no mouse is plugged in kind of message?

 

[NewMacMan113]

Are any other devices plugged in when this problem occurs? And to confirm, when this problem occurs do you see a dialog/wizard (such as when an unidentified keyboard is plugged in press this button) or a no mouse is plugged in kind of message?

I have tried it with and without devices; and with and without being connected to the charger; it still occurs.

When it does occur, the bluetooth setup assistant comes up and says "there isn't a keyboard connected."

 

[Satori]

When it does occur, the bluetooth setup assistant comes up and says "there isn't a keyboard connected."

This is to be expected if your MBP isn't detecting the keyboard/trackpad.

Since it seems unlikely that it is a hardware fault - I think a clean install of the system is the way to go.

 

[NewMacMan113]

This is to be expected if your MBP isn't detecting the keyboard/trackpad.

Since it seems unlikely that it is a hardware fault - I think a clean install of the system is the way to go.

The one thing that makes me question a clean install is the fact that the times in which the keyboard/mouse AREN'T recognized; they are literally unusable. I can't even do a PRAM reset, or safe boot, etc. via the built in keyboard. This makes me question whether it would change at all with a clean install.

 

[dakhein]

For those same reasons it seems more likely to me to be a hardware issue. The OS detection seems to be behaving properly. The hardware seems to have the problem responding in a consistent or timely manner. Plus rather than install all over again one could try booting to the recovery partition (assuming 10.7 or 10.8) using the Option key at boot (USB keyboard if necessary) or to a OS install DVD, booting as many times to try and replicate the keyboard failure. Then you could at least eliminate software as the issue.

 

[IggySniff]

I'm having the same problem with my MBP, the trackpad and keyboard won't work sometimes on boot, but i can use a usb mouse to restart and then everything works fine. I also recently did a complete fresh install when i put in an SSD and the problem still continues.