Thunderbolt, Keyboard, SD Reader, and Trackpad stopped working
Hey iFixit community,
I have a late 2013 15’ Macbook Pro Retina. 2.3 Ghz Quad i7, 16gb Ram, 500 SSD and Dual Graphics ( NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2048 MB, Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB).
Issue:
- Initially, random shutdowns. Computer would freeze 5-10 seconds, fans would run, and shut off. No message prompt or error screen when I fired it back up.
* Took it to apple (possible first mistake), replaced battery for $300. New power chord $100
- Shutdowns returned after about 2 days. I troubleshooted online and found others with the same issue routing back to Thunderbolt Ethernet Driver. Found instructions on how to disable the driver and hopefully resolve the problem. (instructions here - outluch.wixsite.com/rmbp-crash)
- Before I could execute the instructions, my keyboard and trackpad stopped functioning. I also noticed both thunderbolt ports and SD card reader stopped functioning, and aren’t recognized in system report.
- I can’t get the computer to boot in diagnostics or disk utility to clear the drive. The computer just boots up as normal (this could possibly be due to the keyboard not functioning?). Can’t tell if SNC NVRAM resets are working as I’m trying on both the attached keyboard and an external via USB. No change.
- I did briefly get the troublesome folder with question mark a few days ago. Booted up again and since it’s been running fine.
Question - For someone with knowledge / experience, IYO does this sound like a failing logic board? Another piece I’m not familiar?
Many thanks ahead for the time,
Ev
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5 Comments
I can't tell exactly what you're saying in the last part. The computer works just fine now?
It sounds an awful lot like a logic board issue, but it could also be a software issue.
You can try booting a mac OS installer over USB and checking to see if the mouse and trackpad function properly there to rule it out.
by Alec M
Thanks Alec, "running fine" was a poor choice of words - it's running with crashes. But it did boot up (no black screen with folder / question mark). Do you mean boot an OS install from a portable drive? I can't get the computer to boot into disk utility
by Evan Hill
Based on what has been described and the fact that they happen almost at once, especially since you got the question mark folder, that leads me to believe that the logic board is on its way out, my macbook pro has a similar issue of it locking up at random and the fan being at full speed. I also had a diagnostic done on it that suggested it was the logic board that is failing.
by Marcus Harris
Out of curiosity, how often did you use thunderbolt before it started acting up?
by Alec M
Sometimes on this model of MacBook, the thunderbolt chip will violently fail, welding traces under it and around it together. This can either short essential voltage lines to ground, or interrupt voltage/data connections to other circuits which could cause it to boot improperly. There is no way to get thunderbolt back after this happens, since that area of the board is irreparably ruined. This may not be the case in your situation, but I would definitely recommend doing what Dan said, and taking it to the apple store, as this is a known issue. The apple store also might just recommend you a new laptop, and in that case I'd recommend doing a logic board replacement, since that will end up being much cheaper in the end than a whole new computer.
by Alec M