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The March 2015 update of Apple's 13" MacBook Pro Retina Display, model A1502, features fifth-generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors and introduces the Force Touch trackpad.

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Losing Connection from Keyboard and Mouse

Hi everyone,

Recently I replaced the battery in my Macbook Pro 13 Retina using the wonderful guide supplied on this website, after a water spill incident a year ago. I waited a year in case there were other problems that I thought would arise due to the water spill. While replacing the battery I accidentally broke a small black lock that connected a flex cable coming from the logic board to the trackpad/keyboard. It seemed like the connection was flush and secure however at times I lose connection to my keyboard and trackpad and the only way to regain the connection is by tapping under the trackpad or at times a restart. Anyone have any suggestions? Anything will be much appreciated!

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The black lock bar on the connector you are referring to pinches the cable from the keyboard and trackpad between its contacts to make sure that there is a good mechanical connection. That is why tapping will help. I would recommend having the connector its self replaced.

A possible solution could be to remove the back cover again and on the top of the connector where the cable slides in- Place a thin non conductive spacer in there like a small portion cut off of a business card. This would mechanically push the ribbon cable down onto the pins - BUT - you might mess the connector up even more, loosing all functionality of the keyboard, power button, trackpad in the process. That is why I would recommend just having it replaced.

Any local competent microsoldering repair shop should be able to help you out with this, but it is not the cheapest repair either.

Good luck!

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2 Comments:

Thanks for the reply Joseph, if I do put non conductive tape on top of the connection, why do you say I might mess the connection even more? Thank you.

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The reason being that it is quite fragile. The cable and connector.

The connector has that latch on it so that you can put the cable in without it really having any physical contact with the internals of the connector. Then to clamp down on the ribbon cable when it is in position.

There are a lot of very small pins in it, and what you would be doing is forcing a thicker connector into the slot. It would take some extra force that it was not designed for and if you do snag on something internally, you most likely will not notice until it is too late.

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