After replacing the battery, trackpad and keyboard stopped working

Joined
Oct 13, 2015
Messages
135
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
London, UK
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook 7,1 2.4 GHz, 2 GB ram
Unfortunately I had to deal with an accident replacing the battery. As soon as the job was completed I expected/hoped to have everything working. Unfortunately the screen showed the image of a mouse and the mouse didn't work. Im using an external keyboard, which Im learning how to use, so forgive the evident mistakes.
Is there a way to see if I made any damage to the motherboard. Maybe hopefully I only damaged the cable connector of the trackpad and keyboard or both the connectors and the trackpad/keyboard. Your knowledge and wiseness is very much appreciated. Thank you.
 
Last edited:

Raz0rEdge

Well-known member
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Messages
16,080
Reaction score
2,503
Points
113
Location
MA
Your Mac's Specs
2022 Mac Studio M1 Max, 2023 M2 MBA
How old is the notebook and did you do the battery replacement yourself? If so, open it up again and check the connectors, you might have just forgot to connect things back up.
 
OP
B
Joined
Oct 13, 2015
Messages
135
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
London, UK
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook 7,1 2.4 GHz, 2 GB ram
It's a macbook pro early 2015. And yes I checked that the connectors are connected properly.
 

Raz0rEdge

Well-known member
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Messages
16,080
Reaction score
2,503
Points
113
Location
MA
Your Mac's Specs
2022 Mac Studio M1 Max, 2023 M2 MBA
You might want to visit iFixIt and look at the tear down for MBP's of that era and see if the cables on yours look like that. You might also want to unseat and reseat the cables. These ribbon connectors require the proper amount of pushing and gentleness to get them seated properly.
 
Joined
Aug 28, 2017
Messages
535
Reaction score
30
Points
28
Location
Wales, UK
Your Mac's Specs
iMac 27" 32GB i7 3TB & 1TB NVME OSX 13,5,1 late 2013
check the cable going to the trackpad.

if the keyboard is also dead do the backlights come on ?

if not you could have damaged the connectors on the logic board and that's why its no longer working. if you can attach an image of the connectors and the cables.
 
OP
B
Joined
Oct 13, 2015
Messages
135
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
London, UK
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook 7,1 2.4 GHz, 2 GB ram
check the cable going to the trackpad.

if the keyboard is also dead do the backlights come on ?

if not you could have damaged the connectors on the logic board and that's why its no longer working. if you can attach an image of the connectors and the cables.
yes lights don't turn on. Are they separate from the keyboard itself? which means that some damage to the motherboard has been done...
 
Joined
Aug 28, 2017
Messages
535
Reaction score
30
Points
28
Location
Wales, UK
Your Mac's Specs
iMac 27" 32GB i7 3TB & 1TB NVME OSX 13,5,1 late 2013
yes lights don't turn on. Are they separate from the keyboard itself? which means that some damage to the motherboard has been done...
it may not be the same connection for yours as I just seen its a 2015 MacBook Pro so they likely use one cable to the keyboard and one for the trackpad.

I would say disconnect both again.

then reconnect them.

and try a pram reset and an smc reset and see if that solves the issue
 
OP
B
Joined
Oct 13, 2015
Messages
135
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
London, UK
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook 7,1 2.4 GHz, 2 GB ram
it may not be the same connection for yours as I just seen its a 2015 MacBook Pro so they likely use one cable to the keyboard and one for the trackpad.

I would say disconnect both again.

then reconnect them.

and try a pram reset and an smc reset and see if that solves the issue
How can I do a pram reset and an smc reset without the keyboard working? Can I do it with the external keyboard? I don't think...
 
Joined
Aug 28, 2017
Messages
535
Reaction score
30
Points
28
Location
Wales, UK
Your Mac's Specs
iMac 27" 32GB i7 3TB & 1TB NVME OSX 13,5,1 late 2013
as I said disconnect the keyboard and trackpad again.

then reconnect them and try a pram reset with just them if not and you have an apple keyboard try the following

command option p r all at the same time after power on and see if that resolves the issue.

I doubt the cable could be damaged for the keyboard and trackpad but did you remove the logic board is my next question ?
 
OP
B
Joined
Oct 13, 2015
Messages
135
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
London, UK
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook 7,1 2.4 GHz, 2 GB ram
as I said disconnect the keyboard and trackpad again.

then reconnect them and try a pram reset with just them if not and you have an apple keyboard try the following

command option p r all at the same time after power on and see if that resolves the issue.

I doubt the cable could be damaged for the keyboard and trackpad but did you remove the logic board is my next question ?
Did not remove the logic board. Tried to disconnect and reconnect and command option p r all at the same time after power on...and unfortunately nothing changed. I might take it to an apple place and ask how much they charge to fix these problems of trackpad and keyboard if the rest of the machine works...it shouldn't be too too much...
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,242
Reaction score
1,463
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
Unfortunately I had to deal with an accident replacing the battery.
What was the accident? When someone mentions an "accident"...depending on what that was...the accident could have damaged something not related to replacing the battery.

Nick
 
Joined
Aug 28, 2017
Messages
535
Reaction score
30
Points
28
Location
Wales, UK
Your Mac's Specs
iMac 27" 32GB i7 3TB & 1TB NVME OSX 13,5,1 late 2013
Did not remove the logic board. Tried to disconnect and reconnect and command option p r all at the same time after power on...and unfortunately nothing changed. I might take it to an apple place and ask how much they charge to fix these problems of trackpad and keyboard if the rest of the machine works...it shouldn't be too too much...
ok as you didn't remove the logic board.

you shouldn't have had to disconnect the keyboard or trackpad then. ?


normally apple would say its an obsolete model now so you may need a 3rd party vendor to repair it
 
Joined
Aug 28, 2017
Messages
535
Reaction score
30
Points
28
Location
Wales, UK
Your Mac's Specs
iMac 27" 32GB i7 3TB & 1TB NVME OSX 13,5,1 late 2013
What was the accident? When someone mentions an "accident"...depending on what that was...the accident could have damaged something not related to replacing the battery.

Nick
good point there nick

what accident was there ?

as that will help us a bit further..
 
OP
B
Joined
Oct 13, 2015
Messages
135
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
London, UK
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook 7,1 2.4 GHz, 2 GB ram
What was the accident? When someone mentions an "accident"...depending on what that was...the accident could have damaged something not related to replacing the battery.

Nick
To me there was no accident, just an unpleasant surprise...
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,242
Reaction score
1,463
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
Mentioning the word "accident"...can be confusing if there was no accident.:)

As far as the battery. Was the old battery swollen/very swollen?

Many times the battery (or part of the battery) is located under the trackpad...and when the battery swells...it prevents "physical clicking" of the trackpad from working...but tap-to-click usually still works. Some keys on the keyboard may also stop working due to the swollen battery.

It is possible if the battery got swollen enough...physical damage could have occurred to the cable connections/logic board. Hopefully if the battery was swollen...nothing leaked out of the battery.

If the replacement battery is good...and if the installation of the new battery went ok...then the issue could be elsewhere (hopefully not damage).

Nick
 
OP
B
Joined
Oct 13, 2015
Messages
135
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
London, UK
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook 7,1 2.4 GHz, 2 GB ram
Mentioning the word "accident"...can be confusing if there was no accident.:)

As far as the battery. Was the old battery swollen/very swollen?

Many times the battery (or part of the battery) is located under the trackpad...and when the battery swells...it prevents "physical clicking" of the trackpad from working...but tap-to-click usually still works. Some keys on the keyboard may also stop working due to the swollen battery.

It is possible if the battery got swollen enough...physical damage could have occurred to the cable connections/logic board. Hopefully if the battery was swollen...nothing leaked out of the battery.

If the replacement battery is good...and if the installation of the new battery went ok...then the issue could be elsewhere (hopefully not damage).

Nick
the battery was swollen but everything else worked. But I guess I messed up in the installation of the new battery, sadly...even if the past installation went smoothly....I really don't know what happened this time...
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,242
Reaction score
1,463
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
You could try reinstalling the old battery to rule out any possible issues with the new battery.

Nick
 
OP
B
Joined
Oct 13, 2015
Messages
135
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
London, UK
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook 7,1 2.4 GHz, 2 GB ram
what would you do before taking it to an apple store or third party....try and change the cable connector to the trackpad? and move from there?...
 
OP
B
Joined
Oct 13, 2015
Messages
135
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
London, UK
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook 7,1 2.4 GHz, 2 GB ram
If the keyboard is faulty, does it necessarily mean that the backlight is faulty too?
 
Last edited:

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top