Trackpad Issues on Linux on 2013 Unibody MBP

[smirking]

I've tried four different flavors of Linux on a 2013 15" MBP and I'm having similar trackpad issues on all distros. I've tried lightweight configurations and distros that have everything you could possibly want installed by default. All of them are having the same issue. The trackpad keeps going dead while you're using it.

Every variant of Linux that I've tried on this machine has the same issue. I'll be dragging the pointer using the trackpad and then it'll suddenly go dead and no movement will be registered.

Has anyone run into this before with Linux installed on their old Intel Macs? I'm baffled as to what's even going on.

 

[Snowlover]

Just came upon this , and I had similar experience on 2011 macbook air.

Is it just that you can't get the pointer to move, or does the entire system freeze like mine did? Connected mouse - nothing , no response from keyboard. Had to power off.

My issue was with some conflict happening with the Broadcom wireless driver in later linux kernels. As soon as I enabled wifi the system froze.
I finally got linux mint 21.3 to work as it still uses kernel 5.15, but is only supported till April 2027. On my machine, any kernel past 6 causes the problem, and i haven't worked out the correct broadcom driver to use instead of the supplied one.

I don't know if you have this same issue on your 2013, but you could try mint 21.3 and see if that works.
You could also try resetting SMC/PRAM and see if that helps.

 

[JulianStaples]

I have the same issue with a 2011 MBP on Linux right now. Whatever I try, the trackpad will keep 'freezing' at random.

Weirdly, the same machine ran Linux Mint without any issues at all last year. Just recently I've come back to it with a plan to set it up as a simple laptop solution for my parents. Did a complete swap of the lower case a couple of weeks ago because the old one was horribly dented, with a new SSD installed. But now this trackpad issue has developed, and while it is still usable (if annoying), I don't want to inflict something this unwieldy on my elderly parents. 🙁

So far I've tried:

• Different distros. Specifically Zorin Core and Lite and Mint Cinnamon and XFCE. The trackpad issue didn't seem to present on Zorin Lite from my early testing, but I ditched that for non-trackpad issues (WiFi glitching). Would rather get Mint working for the customisation I want to do.
• Different trackpads. I wondered if I'd broken/damaged something during my repair work, so I swapped in a spare trackpad for the same model. But the same issue presented.
• Different hard drives. I took an SSD from another 2011 MBP I have running Mint 22.3 with no issues and installed it in this one. Still trackpad 'sticking' issues.
• Different drivers. Tried with both the standard 'libinput' driver and the alternative 'synaptics' driver suggested in the troubleshooting steps in the 22.3 release notes. No joy.
• General Googling/troubleshooting. I've run a log in terminal to note inputs from the touchpad, and when the cursor 'sticks' on the screen, there are still inputs generated in the log, so that feels like it's not a hardware issue. I've tried some troubleshooting ideas on other forums around system settings changes. Nothing fixes it.

It's just so weird. I have Linux Mint 22.3 running fine on an identical 2011 MBP and a 2010 15-inch MBP as well. And I've installed half a dozen more distros on old MacBooks with no issues, despite me being a bit of an idiot. 🫤

Might try an older Mint version next. 21.3 as above might be a starting point. Otherwise, I'll have to find a different distro I guess. 🙃