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Model A1286. Released February 2011 / 2.0, 2.2, or 2.3 GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7 Processor

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I broke my trackpad wire. Keyboard dead. <SOLVED>

Hello all, long time lurker and admirer here o/ What a great community going on.

To my question:

In the process of reapplying the TIM on the CPU/GPU heatsink, I failed to remove the protective bracket over the trackpad/keyboard wire on the logic board. As a result, the trackpad wire is ripped up pretty bad. The keyboard wire seems all fine but did get snapped out by force from its connector, during the incident.

When I powered on the mac (not really understanding at first what had happened, yeah I know, just shoot me) the mac reported that it did not have a trackpad connected. "No problem, we'll use the bluetooth magic mouse, which works." Well then the keyboard doesn't work. "No problem, we'll use the spare USB keyboard". So when I've managed to both point the cursor to the password window and write it down, the mac says "Login is not possible because an error has occured."?

I'm really lost. I've managed to buy a spare trackpad cable, which will arrive mon-wed 8-11.4, but what is going on with my keyboard? And the login?

As a final shocker twist in this plot, the keyboard does work(power on, keep option in, arrow keys to navigate partitions, enter to choose), when I boot into the bootcamp W7 partition. Which then obviously proceeds with never loading but stopping at a black screen.

As I said, I'm lost. Is the trackpad cable a good place to start? I sure hope so. What else is going on with my mac? Will I need a new top case? Is my OSX broken?

This I know - a dude fixed his trackpad and keyboard by just repositioning his trackpad cable, on a 2008 MBP:

link to Apple communities discussion thread.

Thanks all

EDIT SOLUTION FOUND FINAL FIX

I bought a replacement trackpad wire quite cheaply via ebay and following the guide found here on ifixit installed it. Surprisingly for me the rumours and claims found when googling around is true - the trackpad wire does have something to do with the keyboard and topcase aswell.

A bit sadly disappointed for not getting even one trial answer from anybody here, oh well problem solved and I will continue onwards.

Good luck to anyone who might stumble onto this little monologue of mine - DO NOT BUY A NEW EXPENSIVE TOPCASE JUST BECAUSE SOME SELLER SAYS SO - this happened to me and luckily my trackpad wire arrived so swiflty that I didn't have even time to order that US$300 replacement topcase.

Answer this question I have this problem too

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Go ahead and put your answer down here so that we can accept it.

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Congrats on this! I damaged my trackpad cable in replacing my keyboard. and there is function to the keyboard (not much) only how you described with a bit of key function only when typing in my wifi password (not in OS X) but this gives me hope! my trackpad cable arrives today. Ill keep you informed.

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I can't find an answer anywhere in the Internet, hopefully you can answer this-- so, if the trackpad cable is broken, can/will that affect the keyboard as well? I broke mine and now the keyboard doesn't work. Could it be as simple as replacing that cable for them both to work again?

Thank you!!

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Pontus Lindholm will be eternally grateful.
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