Why is my keyboard/trackpad not working?

HERE IS THE FIX!!! Macbook Air 13 Frozen keyboard and track pad

My mothers MBA 13 suddenly became unresponsive with both the Track Pad and Keyboard. I could get them to work momentarily after a SMC Reset. Then flashing the PRAM made it a bit better...to the degree of a less than a minute. Obviously not acceptable! The best tools for the whole job were a wired external keyboard and a USB wired or wireless mouse, because they allowed me repair to orchestrate the process without freezing. Mostly it allowed me to narrow down the problem and the capability of troubleshooting it.

A side note is that this whole problem seemed to clearly be that the MBA was thinking it had Blue Tooth keyboard and trackpad peripherals nearby. It's never even been near one in it's life. When I'd look at Track Pad in preferences, the on board settings were gone and replaced with the Blue Tooth trackpad hunting window. This was also the case for the keyboard. I used my wireless BT Apple keyboard to see if it would even see it. NOPE. That's when I knew something was up. Usually I try everything before performing a restore but nothing would clean it...not even a Restore! But an upgrade and Presto!

After all I went through I would recommend a possible fix that could save you lots of time. It's the reverse engineering of my fix. I didn't try it because the machine is working perfectly after all I did. JUST TRY THE Mountain Lion Upgrade. There's nothing to lose if it works and the process below will likely work if it does not. Personally I think Apple is avoiding admitting to a fix due to a Mud on the Face reaction. I was furious that a 1.5 year old MBA in perfect condition came up with a false repair that cost more than it did! Shame on APPLE for not addressing this properly!!! The fix was clearly built into ML 8.5 and they have not told us! Everybody should get a free ML 8.5 upgrade!

NOTE: The Power key actually should be working when none else do. This allows you to run the SMC and PRAM functions. Details for doing so below.

Here we go.....

First off...obviously back up all your important files externally using the functionality allowed by the connected keyboard and mouse.

Then...

1. Using external keyboard and mouse, run a full OS restore. (This was LION 7.5)

2. After doing so I still found the same glitch. I then figured the last option was to update to Mountain Lion 8.5. It's only 19.95, and I did it as a last resort instead of throwing it out, as I had seen many comments regarding a $1300 repair for the same exact symptoms.

3. After running the full update she now has her wonderful baby back and it's even running faster.

So Apple owes me a couple six packs of beer after making me pay them 20 bucks to fix their fault. Not holding my breath!

I don't believe for one second that it's a hardware issue as APPLE has told so many. Personally I think it's a firmware glitch somewhere on that particular hardware that is referred to as the Top Case. If it were a hardware issue I would presume that SMC resets and flashing the PRAM would have ZERO results, as opposed to working for ten to twenty seconds.

Glad I know the fix so when mine packs up I won't be so terrified! Her's came VERY close to finding the recycling bin.

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Darn lucky they don't sell cars!!! RECALL?'''

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HOPE THIS MAKES YOU A HAPPY CAMPER!!!'''

Note: Portable computers that have a battery you should not remove on your own include MacBook Pro (Early 2009) and later, all models of MacBook Air, and MacBook (Late 2009).

Shut down the computer.

Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.

On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.

Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.

Press the power button to turn on the computer.

Note: The LED on the MagSafe power adapter may change states or temporarily turn off when you reset the SMC.

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Resetting NVRAM / PRAM

Shut down your Mac.

Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.

Turn on the computer.

Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears.

Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.

Release the keys.

Keyboard and trackpad not working.. Macbook Air.. FIXED :-)

I've had the same problem on and off for years even through several system upgrades. About three days ago my keyboard and trackpad were not working and I could not restore them. After trying everything I could read about it I still had the problem. . . Then finally I found out my problem.

I had access to the MBA via an external keyboard and mouse. Same problem as above. My trackpad preferences did not see my onboard trackpad. Only a spinning wheel.

FIX.. Turn off bluetooth.

My MBA was close to my iMac. Both machines had bluetooth on. My iMac preferences showed my MBA and was trying to share it. I think it had the monitor. I had two monitors showing in my upper menu. As soon as I turned off bluetooth on my iMac my MBA came back to me. Totally fine. I assume I could have turned off bluetooth on the MBA and it would have resolved the problem also.

I imagine that if I took the MBA for a walk away from my iMac the problem would have gone away also. The MBA was waiting for the iMac to take over.

I was ready to take my MBA apart to look inside..

All is well now.. Ken E

So after I tried everything on this page with the PRAM reset and SMC reset for at least 2 hours I eventually gave up and just decided to unplug all the cables from my macbook air and replug them back in to see if it'll work (Just in case), and guess what?! Everything's working now! Holy c***!!! I don't know if anyone will want to give it a try, but I was so done with it and frustrated after I unplugged the cables on the back of the macbook, I wasn't expecting it to work anyway and screwed everything back in and tried turning it on and moved my finger on the touchpad and it all worked! I also unplugged the motherboard, blew on it a couple of times to make sure no dust got caught....I don't know what fixed it. But all that unplugging somehow worked.

*Edit: The charger wasn't plugged in, so the macbook was completely turned off.

Simon,

Did you reformat the drive and run a clean install of the latest OS? I wiped moms clean and the new one worked fine...to this very day.

Ok Guys. Here is what I did.

Whenever it worked I configured a fixed ip based wireless connections to only a set or wireless SSIDs that I use. I bought a $20 power bank wireless router to ensure I can carry that small thing around with my MBA. Then I enabled remote access to the machine. System Preferences -> Sharing -> Remote Login and also Remote management. I allowed access only to one id on the machine. In the remote management I also allowed machines to connect using VNC.

Now I have access to the machine even if it freezes. I then gave the machine to a freelance apple repairer who was able to resolve the hardware issue by removing the board and removing the short on the board that was causing the whole thing in the first place.

That has now resolved the process and along with my iPad that I carry with my MBA at all times, I know have a means to get to the machine in case it stalls.

Check it out!

I had the exact same problem. My MBA was sitting overnight and unresponsive to kybd and trackpad in the morning. Had to reboot using the power key, which ws still working.

Based on above comments, I hooked up an external kybd and mouse, which worked.

I turned bluetooth on and off again, and that restored my kybd and trackpad functionality. I tried it because of the above comment on the MBA thinking a BT mouse was around.

Worked for me with minimal effort.

I had the same problem, with my early 2014 MacBook Air. I opened it and saw fresh milk. My 2-year old had been watching tinga tinga on it and must have decided that it was a good idea to pour milk down the key board. In such case, there is only one thing to do, the distilled water trick. You take out the battery. Then you put your mac on a baking tray and rinse it with distilled water - humidity doesn't kill a computer, it's the salts that does (or the milk). I repeated five time, submerging the mac every time, then drain and put in the oven at 40 C for 4 hours. Plug back in the battery, and it's as good as new (as is mine that I'm writing on now :)

Solved: This is usuallly not an hardware problem. My Mac was not updated to latest osx software(Verify in top left corner at apple logo and about. App store update will not always tell you). I updated and still it did not work. I tried many of the suggestions with delete pl lists etc. But after returning to the mac after some days I made an safe mode start(shift button pressed at start until logo is shown) again and it worked. Then shut-down the mac and made an normal start. Still working. For sure the osx update was the key, but if it was the safe mode start which gave the final fix I'm not sure.

I spilled the funniest bit of water on my trackpad and keyboard, finally turns out they both don't work. I really can't afford a keyboard and a mouse with lunch pocket money. I just put it drying with a fan overnight. WHAT CAN I DO PLEASE HELP MEE!!

I am having the same problem with my 13" MacBook Air 2011 but ONLY when I try to operate without power. The battery is fully charged but keyboard and track pad won't work unless it is plugged it.