Keyboard and Trackpad stop working with battery installed - 2007 MBP A1226

Hey everyone, just to get specs out of the way, I'm running Mountain Lion on my 2007 MBP A1226 with 2.4 RAM.

So a few years ago my battery swelled up just a bit and the keyboard and trackpad stopped working while it was in. I'd have to manually unplug the computer and re-start without a battery to keep them working. I disposed of the battery and have been running it just from the power cord since.

A few weeks ago my power cord messed up (frayed inside from 7 years of use I assume), leaving me sans computer. I figured I'd order a power cord to prolong the life a little more, saw a relatively cheap off-brand battery too, and bought both.

The new power cord seems to work fine, it booted up, I ran a few programs, and browsed the internet for a few minutes. Then I put the battery in to make sure that was working. It's functional, but my keyboard and trackpad are messed up again. The battery fits, I didn't force it in, and it sits flush with the bottom of the laptop.

Any help is appreciated.

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Edit: After messing around with it some more, it seems that the ribbon cable that connects to the logic board is the problem. If I just touch it where it's visible in the battery compartment everything stops working. It appears to be bowed out a bit. Any ideas on fixing this?

Edit: After messing around with it some more, it seems that the ribbon cable that connects to the logic board is the problem. If I just touch it where it's visible in the battery compartment everything stops working. It appears to be bowed out a bit. Any ideas on fixing this?

Click to expand...

It sounds like the ribbon cable is damaged. Ribbon cables in the MacBook and MacBook Pro models are very susceptible to damage from the internal heat. They dry out and then work intermittently. It looks like you'll probably have to replace the entire keyboard and ribbon cable. I believe they come as one part (I could be wrong so check around).

Anyway, go to the ifixit site and see what they advise. www.ifixit.com

chscag said:

It sounds like the ribbon cable is damaged. Ribbon cables in the MacBook and MacBook Pro models are very susceptible to damage from the internal heat. They dry out and then work intermittently. It looks like you'll probably have to replace the entire keyboard and ribbon cable. I believe they come as one part (I could be wrong so check around).

Anyway, go to the ifixit site and see what they advise. www.ifixit.com

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. I just took the laptop apart and made sure the connections were alright, and reset the cable in there, booted up and nothing worked. Took it out again and left it slightly bowed out like it was and now it works again. That's definitely the problem.

So either I return the battery for a refund, or drop another 20 bucks on a new ribbon cable giving me about 100 bucks invested in this old computer. I might just go battery-less again until the thing craps out for good.