Why did my internal keyboard and mouse suddenly stopped working?

Your issue sounds like the battery and/or case are swelling and crimping the ribbon cable connecting the keyboard and track pad to the logic board. There have been fixes discussed using adhoc materials to fix the issue, but I am not convinced it is an oversight that Apple should have a real fix for. I am going to spend the day at the closet Apple store in the next few days and will report back.

My brand new MacBook Pro had this same problem, turns out hitting the outside of the keyboard and mousepad works too!

Same issue happening to me.

I had it repaired three times for the same issue, before Apple replaced my laptop.

I've had the new laptop for about two weeks, and it just happened again.

The trackpad and keyboard stop responding, and when I restart I get a prompt to connect bluetooth mouse and keyboard.

It was working when I was in one meeting room, I closed the lid, I walked to my desk, I opened it, and it didn't respond.

I'm in utter despair, after all the hassle I went through getting a replacement, and now it's happening to the new one!?!?!?!

I have just faced the same problem. Keyboard and trackpad of my MacBook Pro 13” Early 2015, do not respond now it all.

The problem started after I installed macOS High Sierra before 2 weeks. Everything was working fine before that. For the past 2 weeks whenever such thing was happening I was just shutting it down and turning it on again and was working. Now this option is not working too. I am just wandering what has happened as I was taking good care of my system.

I hope the issue can get resolved.

Mine seems to be having a similar problem. However, it comes and goes randomly whenever.

I plug USB devices in. Each time I plug something in or unplug something, it seems like there's a chance for the keyboard and trackpad to become either enabled or disabled.

My (annoying) solution, therefore, is to keep a USB mouse or something on hand, and just repeatedly plug/unplug it until I can type without it.

I have the same issue here. But in mine internal keyboard works just the trackpad, it does click and it's not moving.

Cable connector on board is damaged with water spill, I cleaned up but no luck. Replaced touchpad and keyboard either not helping.

I have the same issue my keyboard and trackpad totally disconnected on my 2015 MacBook Pro 13".

It randomly started doing it I haven't dropped it or spilled water etc...

I can get my keyboard and trackpad to work if I press down a few times on the laptop with both hands on either side of the trackpad (pretend you're giving it CPR lol), so my only guess is that a ribbon cable is loose somewhere. It's kind of irritating to do that every couple days because it keeps doing it, but at least I can use my keyboard.

OK, have the fix for you and its a simple one! First, I will rundown my issue so there will be no question as to what the issue was! Started off by randomly losing my keypad and trackpak, mayby once a few weeks. It gradually became worse to every day and having to reboot the Mac to sometimes get it back, sometimes it worked, some times it did not. Eventually i had complete failure. I reformatted my drive and installed a fresh OS, didnt work. I checked my battery with Coconut to see if it was ok, and it was. I tried the fridge method to see if I had a swollen battery, did not change.

Finnaly i decided to order the trackpad ribbon cable, to me it was the only thing that made any sence since it wasnt a software issue, or a hardware issue. I ordered the cable from Amazon for a whopping $12.00 CAN and had it in 4 days, installed it and man do ever like using my keypad and trackpad now!!!!! Works great and right away. Saved my self 400.00 from taking it to Apple. Below is the link if you like!

Tools required - 1 Pentalobe 5 (P5) screwdriver for the case, 1 T5 (torx)screwdriver for the battery/trackpad cover.

Amazon ribbon cable for Macbook Pro 13" Retina early 2015

Hope this helps everyone, easy 10 minute fix and a $12.00 part

Cheers!

Rob

15" MBP E button stoped working whila playing a game. I use it for movement and all of the sudden my character starting running sideways as if I were pressing it.

I tabbed out and back in. Character stopped moving but at the cost of E button not working.

I was thinking of overheating the battery but I use a cooling fan (external) which helps a bit. Temperatures does not seem to be that high, around 60 degree C.

Ideas?

Is anyone having this issue after waking your MacBook up from sleep state while running a virtual machine program like VMware?

Same Issue here, I have a 2012 retina MBP. First time, keyboard and trackpad suddenly stopped working. Now I was only in Photoshop and they stopped working, after a reboot everything works fine.

Funny thing about that EFI update that purportedly solved the problem: it ONLY works with OS X 10.9.0.* It won't work with OS X 10.9.5 -- or anything else. *Does OSX 10.9.0 even exist?

How do I find my internal keyboard on a Macbook Pro

I have same problem on my MacBook Pro 13". Keyboard and trackpad stop working after I put it into sleep mode. Anyone here who can suggest me that how could i fix it?

This happened with my MacBook Pro and I was told that there wasn't a problem with the ribbon cable.

They just restarted the MacBook a few times and did a "cold start?"

I really like my MacBook and it is out of warranty and I don't want to mess around with it.

Please help me

how does one disable bluetooth if the keyboard is unresponsive?

I removed the outer cover I've for my mac 2015 and all of a sudden the keyboard and the mousepad were responsive again. It appears therefore in my case it's about external pressure rather than battery heating/swelling up that was the problem. Good luck!

I'm also having this issue! Currently using a 2015 13” MacBook Pro Retina. Issue occurs most frequently when I boot up with the charger plugged in.

1. Keyboard and trackpad is only unresponsive during the boot up. i.e. it does not stop working when I'm already logged in (OS-X)
2. External mouse and keyboard works fine when plugged in, internal keyboard and trackpad remains unresponsive.
3. Problem usually resolves when I force boot off and leave the mac for 15-30minutes.
4. During the last event (20mins ago), I noticed the "No drives" icon on the toolbar, after I logged in with an external keyboard/mouse while the internal keyboard/mouse remained unresponsive.

I am starting to suspect that this might be an issue with a swollen battery, but I lack the tools to remove the back cover. Are there other signs (apart from telling it physically) that this might be an issue with a swollen battery?

Anyone else that had this exact problem? Currently waiting for the pentalobe driver to arrive before I remove the back cover for physical inspection

Thanks for your help!

Same issue! I’ve been having it for a number of days. It was working one minute, then the next it wasn’t. When I plug in an external mouse and keyboard it works.

I am finding my system works at a cold temperature. Need to get it fixed ASAP.

It’s not under warranty I’ve had it nearly 3 years.

I see that this is still a huge issue with most and I did have success fixing it.

As I mentioned in a previous comment, I tried cooling the system to see if it was swelling battery, it was not. That led me to purchasing a ribbon cable off Amazon.

To replace the cable you need a 5 point pentalobe screwdriver to remove the back cover. The job took 10 minutes to complete. Its now been over a month and have had 0 issues.

Hope this helps :)

I had the same problem with my mac. After going through this forum i was able to fix the issue.

A few days ago my outlook had stopped working (it wouldn't load). To fix that, I created a new outlook identify (i.e. and created all outlook accounts from scratch). Within 1-2 days of that I had started trouble with my mouse and keyboard freezing. It was never a hardware issue.

I wiped out my office installation and did a complete new install. I haven't had the keyboard and mouse issue since than.

As unbelievable as this may sound i had the same issue with my keyboard not working on my 2018 macbook pro. I was going crazy for days looking through the web for fixes. After going through a few posts about unplug cables and cables not seating properly. All i did to get my keyboard to work was press softly down with both hands on the keyboard the walla it works.

I had the exact same problem on a Mac Book pro late 2015.

One day out of sleep -> no keyboard nor pad.

I then clean installed the last Mac OS and it was fixed. A few weeks later : same problem. This time i knew it wasn’t material.

Solution ? A simple PRAM reset !

Here’s a link if you don’t know how to do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5laIcLM...

Internal keyboard stopped working for my MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) too. Same problem, from time to time it works, later it stopps workin.

It's cold now, here in northern Argentina, and although in the morning when the MBP is cold it does not work. It does not seem a problem with heat.

I upgraded to macOS Mojave 10.14.4 hoping that SMC gets reset. It worked for 1 week and stopped again.

I have a 2015 Macbook Pro 13in and this has happened to me before. It happens all the time when I tilt the laptop when or holding it in at an angle. Sometimes it happens when I try to wake the computer from sleep. I then start button mashing and get some bluetooth interface box. Sometimes putting it back on the table and leveling it out helps. An occasional slap around the trackpad will fix it.

This just happened to me and I tried the following methods:

• Compressed air blow on keys at an angle (didnt help)
• Pressed many keys with a slight pumping action (didnt help)
• Opened the back-panel, pressed the connection cables

Sometimes this would work but then every morning the same issue would occur.

So then I tried Apple Diagnostics by pressing “D” during start-up and weirdly enough my keyboard and mouse were working here, so that rules out a failing/loose cable.

The diagnostics went through and stopped at one point complaining about the power being at 45W but requires 75W to proceed with full diagnostics. So I connected my charger and continued with diagnostics, where everything checked out fine.

I then restarted normally and my trackpad and keyboard were working again :o

At this point I am not sure if my battery is failing but it seems if enough power is not coming on the lines then the keyboard and trackpad are simply disabled.

MacBook Pro 13-inch, early 2015: keyboard and trackpad stopped working, power button still worked. I was able to fix it by using a usb keyboard to do the following steps:

NVRAM reset:

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Turn on your Mac, then press and hold these four keys together immediately: Option, Command, P, R.
3. Release the keys after about 20 seconds, during which your Mac may appear to restart. For example, you may hear a startup sound more than once, or see the Apple logo more than once.

No this is not working in my case. I walk Round with external mouse and keyboard for two years now.

Replace Touchpad Trackpad ribbon cable