Macbook Pro keyboard / trackpad issues.

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  • Spork Schivago
    Badcaps Legend
    • Mar 2012
    • 4734
    • United States of America

    #1

    Macbook Pro keyboard / trackpad issues.

    A customer brought me a Macbook Pro. It's his daughters. She spilled some sort of liquid on it. I told him the sooner he brought it, the better, but it took him about 3 months to get it to me (she doesn't live in the same area as us).

    Anyway, I order a genuine trackpad and keyboard / backlighting.

    I put it all together. Last night, he sends a text asking if I can backup everything and redo the computer as well. I said I need the password. He gives it to me, I log in, and guess what? Some of the keys don't work. The J, M, stuff like that. If I hit them enough, for example, the m key, it'll type a bunch of letters like cbn and some weird characters.

    Anyone have any experience with these? I'd like to try to test if it's a faulty replacement keyboard or if there's some sort of damage that occurred to the motherboard. I'd like to add, after removing the motherboard and examining it, it doesn't appear that the liquid made it down that far. It was some sort of red coloured liquid (like wine or juice). The keyboard had it on there and then the backlighting plastic stuff, but that's it. Not sure if it somehow sorted something out on the keyboard that then shorted something out on the motherboard or if it's just a bad replacement keyboard.

    I'm going to try to reseat it, just to see what happens, after the backup finishes copying.

    Thanks.
    -- Law of Expanding Memory: Applications Will Also Expand Until RAM Is Full
  • diif
    Badcaps Legend
    • Feb 2014
    • 6978
    • England

    #2
    Re: Macbook Pro keyboard / trackpad issues.

    Check the keyboard connector closely. It's possible some liquid has run down the ribbon cable and is in the socket. Or a bit of dust has entered or it's not sitting correctly.
    Go to http://www.keyboardtester.com/ and see which keys don't work correctly.

    Comment

    • Spork Schivago
      Badcaps Legend
      • Mar 2012
      • 4734
      • United States of America

      #3
      Re: Macbook Pro keyboard / trackpad issues.

      Originally posted by diif
      Check the keyboard connector closely. It's possible some liquid has run down the ribbon cable and is in the socket. Or a bit of dust has entered or it's not sitting correctly.
      Go to http://www.keyboardtester.com/ and see which keys don't work correctly.
      Right now, I've found the UJM key's don't work. I can't go to the site, because I can't connect to the wireless network. I can always change my password I guess and connect that way. A bit odd that they're almost vertical from each other, right? The 'u' key types 'OTUY' most of the time. Sometimes, it types other letters. The 'j' key types 'adfs' most of the time, sometimes some other letters. The 'm' key, if I hit it enough, it doesn't appear to type letters, but does keyboard combo's, like minimizing the window and popping up a different window, or typing really weird characters that aren't found on the keyboard (the degree symbol, some other odd looking characters with funky things over the letters (like what you find in certain languages, like German), etc).

      I like the dust idea and I didn't think about that. Once these backups finish, I'll take a can of compressed air and spray in there.

      Out of curiosity, have you ever replaced one of these keyboards? They're a freaking nightmare! You have to tear the entire laptop apart. Remove just about everything!!! And there's sooooo many little screws, all of different sizes. The keyboard alone must have around 100 screws! It's insane!!!!!
      Last edited by Spork Schivago; 04-05-2017, 10:18 AM.
      -- Law of Expanding Memory: Applications Will Also Expand Until RAM Is Full

      Comment

      • Stefan Payne
        Badcaps Legend
        • Dec 2009
        • 1267
        • Germany

        #4
        Re: Macbook Pro keyboard / trackpad issues.

        Seems like you're in luck and only need to clean the keyboard or replace it...

        And you should take a look at the board either way and see where the liquid went and clean the area...
        Last edited by Stefan Payne; 04-05-2017, 10:45 PM.

        Comment

        • jiroy
          Badcaps Legend
          • Jun 2016
          • 2416
          • Lebanon

          #5
          Re: Macbook Pro keyboard / trackpad issues.

          When a keyboard start loosing vertical series , like the most common IJM or QAX it means a route is cut , rusty or the keyboard is faulty . Mac ones are impossible to repair since they're very tiny and covered from both sides by plastic .
          One of my customers is still waiting since a month to finish the 100 screws , lol ..

          Comment

          • Spork Schivago
            Badcaps Legend
            • Mar 2012
            • 4734
            • United States of America

            #6
            Re: Macbook Pro keyboard / trackpad issues.

            Originally posted by Stefan Payne
            Seems like you're in luck and only need to clean the keyboard or replace it...

            And you should take a look at the board either way and see where the liquid went and clean the area...
            Stefan Payne,

            This is the new replacement keyboard. So maybe cleaning the contacts where it plugs in will work. I don't have any contact cleaner, but I do have some compressed air.

            Transfers finally finished. When my wife gets home, I'll open it up and take a look. Replacing the keyboard on these things is a good amount of work. It's not like normal IBM compatible laptops. With those, usually the keyboard is the first or second thing you remove. With these MacBook Pros, the keyboard is the absolute last thing you remove.

            Just about everything has to come out, and there's sooooo many little screws, all of different sizes. I contacted the seller of the keyboard and let him know of the problem, but I doubt he'll refund me or send me a replacement. I ordered it off e-bay, but before I got the password, I just typed random characters and it seemed to work, so I left positive feedback. That was my mistake I guess. I should have tested it fully before leaving that positive feedback. Lesson learned I guess.
            -- Law of Expanding Memory: Applications Will Also Expand Until RAM Is Full

            Comment

            • Spork Schivago
              Badcaps Legend
              • Mar 2012
              • 4734
              • United States of America

              #7
              Re: Macbook Pro keyboard / trackpad issues.

              Originally posted by jiroy
              When a keyboard start loosing vertical series , like the most common IJM or QAX it means a route is cut , rusty or the keyboard is faulty . Mac ones are impossible to repair since they're very tiny and covered from both sides by plastic .
              One of my customers is still waiting since a month to finish the 100 screws , lol ..
              Thank you. Is the cut route always on the ribbon cable or in the keyboard? Anyway it could be just a bad connection where the ribbon cable goes into the board? I'll still blow it out and reseat it. Maybe we'll get lucky?
              -- Law of Expanding Memory: Applications Will Also Expand Until RAM Is Full

              Comment

              • Spork Schivago
                Badcaps Legend
                • Mar 2012
                • 4734
                • United States of America

                #8
                Re: Macbook Pro keyboard / trackpad issues.

                Just wanted to update the thread with the final outcome. Something on the motherboard was broke. A new replacement keyboard came, exact same problem. We tried cleaning the contacts on the connector on the board, but it didn't help.

                We contacted the customer and because of the price of a new board, he decided to just use an external wireless USB (USB transceiver) keyboard designed for a Mac. Thanks for the help though!
                -- Law of Expanding Memory: Applications Will Also Expand Until RAM Is Full

                Comment

                • stj
                  Great Sage 齊天大聖
                  • Dec 2009
                  • 31015
                  • Albion

                  #9
                  Re: Macbook Pro keyboard / trackpad issues.

                  did you wash the main board?

                  Comment

                  • Spork Schivago
                    Badcaps Legend
                    • Mar 2012
                    • 4734
                    • United States of America

                    #10
                    Re: Macbook Pro keyboard / trackpad issues.

                    Originally posted by stj
                    did you wash the main board?
                    No, probably should have I guessed, but it didn't look like any liquid physically made it to the board at all. This was a very sticky red liquid. It was on the keyboard and a bit under the keyboard, but it seems that plastic like backlighting pad (the size of the keyboard) captured everything that made it past the actual keyboard.

                    I believe the customer's daughter used the laptop for a good while after spilling the liquid, despite the damage. I was thinking maybe somehow, she just shorted out a certain part of the keyboard controller, not the whole thing. Maybe when the liquid got in on the J key area, it grounded something out, where it didn't kill the whole keyboard, but just that one vertical row?

                    I gotta admit, I don't know a lot about how keyboards work with computers.
                    -- Law of Expanding Memory: Applications Will Also Expand Until RAM Is Full

                    Comment

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