Upgraded RAM on my Macbook Pro now my keyboard and trackpad do not work!

I did some research and found out that I could upgrade the RAM on my late 2008 Macbook Pro 15" up to 8GB. So I went to NewEgg.com and bought 8GB upgrade which came with two sticks of 1066 DDR3, 4GB each. I installed them according the directions on the Apple Website. However whenever I turn my machine on my trackpad and keyboard are completely unresponsive. My machine works just fine with a USB keyboard, but this is driving me nuts. I tried PRAM, but it won't work because my keyboard is completely unresponsive. Please help.

talldorknhandso said:

I did some research and found out that I could upgrade the RAM on my late 2008 Macbook Pro 15" up to 8GB. So I went to NewEgg.com and bought 8GB upgrade which came with two sticks of 1066 DDR3, 4GB each. I installed them according the directions on the Apple Website. However whenever I turn my machine on my trackpad and keyboard are completely unresponsive. My machine works just fine with a USB keyboard, but this is driving me nuts. I tried PRAM, but it won't work because my keyboard is completely unresponsive. Please help.

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The solution is to reinstall the original ram…reboot the computer…and verify that the MacBook Pro's trackpad and keyboard are working.

Then you could reinstall the ram from Newegg (if you feel like it)…and see if things are still messed up. Or just return the ram to Newegg…which is probably the wrong ram or the ram is defective.

Then purchase the correct ram from:

- OWC
- Crucial

HTH,

- Nick

It appears you have the correct memory for the late 2008 15" MacBook Pro if you bought DDR3 1066 PC3 8500 modules. Take note, however, that Apple states your machine will only take 4 GB while Mactracker and OWC state that it can accept 8 GB. It may or may not work right with the two 4 GB modules. Do like Nick says to see if the memory is the problem or if you messed something up when you changed out the modules.

I was double checking the ram requirements for 2008 15" MacBook Pros…and the early 2008 "non-Unibody" MacBook Pro's took PC2-5300 ram…the later 2008 "Unibody" models took PC3-8500 ram.

So verifying which MacBook Pro model we're dealing with would help to verify the correct ram type.

- Nick

He stated in his post:

I did some research and found out that I could upgrade the RAM on my late 2008 Macbook Pro 15" up to 8GB.

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So I'm assuming he did buy the correct modules.

It's been quite a while since I cracked open my MBP but is there a ribbon cable connecting the KB/trackpad to the motherboard? If so is it possible you did not reconnect the ribbon properly? That would explain why the USB KB works while the original does not.

chscag said:

So I'm assuming he did buy the correct modules.

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If it's a 2008 Unibody MacBook Pro...then 8gig of PC-8500 is correct...and maybe the ram from Newegg was bad.

Sometimes I just like to verify the model...just in case it was misidentified by the OP.

- Nick

scottmcp432 said:

It's been quite a while since I cracked open my MBP but is there a ribbon cable connecting the KB/trackpad to the motherboard? If so is it possible you did not reconnect the ribbon properly? That would explain why the USB KB works while the original does not.

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This is a very good thought...but with Unibody MacBook Pro's you remove the lower case to upgrade the ram...so the keyboard/trackpad cabling shouldn't be involved.

But who the heck knows...since the keyboard & trackpad aren't working properly...maybe the cable did get disconnected somehow.

- Nick

It's pretty impossible to dislodge the keyboard/power switch flex cable. It's just long enough to travel from the underside of the top case to the logic board connector. It goes in horizontally, and is held in place by a locking bar, part of the connector. The trackpad connects via a separate connector, it's unlikely both have come loose.

All we can do now is to wait for the OP to report back if replacing the original RAM fixes the problem. I've never seen RAM cause the keyboard and trackpad pad to fail, but there's always a first time.

New RAM for MacBook Pro

what are your thoughts on this stick of RAM? does the brand matter?
Newegg.com - Mushkin Enhanced 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Dual Channel Kit Memory for Apple Model 976644A