MacBook trackpad "click" broken.

Hi there,
My late 2009 MacBook trackpad no longer clicks, by this is mean that when i push down on the trackpad, it makes a clicking noise as it should but the computer itself does not actually recognise that the trackpad has clicked, i have tap to click switched on which works fine and makes the computer perfectly usable, however i would like the trackpad to work as intended.
Now, i am guessing the reason this has happened is that somehow the wires - or whatever connects the trackpad to the rest of the computer - has somehow become damaged or otherwise disconnected.
I'm almost 100% sure that its a hardware problem as i don't see how it could be a software problem.
I don't know how it happened i turned my macbook off as i usually would one night, turned it back on the next morning and the trackpad did not recognise the click. I can see no external damage to the trackpad or surrounding area.

BASICALLY my question (now i have finally gotten to the point) is 1. will apple replace this, i am a long way out of warrantee but earlier this year the screen of my macbook was dodgy and i took it into the apple store out of warrantee and they replaced the entire screen, so does anyone know whether apple would fix this for me.
Failing that, what would be the cheapest way to go about fixing this.
Cheers in advance and apologies for the extremely long post.
-Alex

We are not Apple so we can't make any promises. Your guess is as good as ours. Go to your local shop and see what they say.

Yeah that's what i suspected, I'm working on a way to get there as it's quite a distance from me but just thought i would ask in the meantime
Cheers.

alexwillard said:

BASICALLY my question (now i have finally gotten to the point) is 1. will apple replace this, i am a long way out of warrantee but earlier this year the screen of my macbook was dodgy and i took it into the apple store out of warrantee and they replaced the entire screen, so does anyone know whether apple would fix this for me.
Failing that, what would be the cheapest way to go about fixing this.
Cheers in advance and apologies for the extremely long post.
-Alex

Click to expand...

Like "CrimsonRequiem" mentioned...since you're out of warranty is tough to say if Apple will fix it. Technically they shouldn't (since you're out of warranty)...but I've heard of lots of stories where Apple repaired things that "technically" they didn't have to! Just got to go to your local Apple Store...and see what happens.

As far as repairing it yourself (if Apple won't fix it for free). Since you mentioned having a "late 2009" MacBook...you can purchase the trackpad separately (previous models you couldn't):

MacBook Unibody (Model A1342) Trackpad (922-9551, 922-9175, 661-5591) - iFixit

...or if you're REALLY lucky...maybe you can find one used on e-Bay.

HTH,

- Nick

p.s. Any way some sort of food particle got lodged under the trackpad...causing the "physical clicking" not to operate?

pigoo3,
It seem to me to be a case of Apple sometimes fix things when they don't have to almost to keep people happy.
Anyway, thank you for the reply.
I don't think anything is lodged under there, i tend not to eat over my laptop nor does it sound like there is anything under there. It sounds like it should do, and indeed feels like it should; no stickiness or odd noise just pretty standard which makes me think it's a problem with the connection to wherever the trackpad connects to.
Thanks again both of you
-Alex