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The larger of Apple's MacBook Air laptops featuring dual microphones and 802.11ac Wi-Fi connectivity.

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Keys not working - need to replace entire keyboard?

The left and down arrows on my keyboard aren't working, but all other keys are fine. I removed the key caps and cleaned the interior parts, but that didn't help. Pressing on the rubber key cup nipple doesn't do anything. As far as I understand, that means that the issue is in the keyboard's circuitry or other finicky parts, and not the key itself.

What other parts could cause this issue? Would buying replacement keys help? Is there any way to fix it without a complete teardown of the upper case?

Thanks!

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Keyboard signals go through the trackpad plus a cable connecting trackpad to logic board. The only way to know where is the fault, is changing other parts, considering logic board can't be ruled out unless you replaced all other parts with known good ones. Unfortunately there's no other road than try and error. The cheapest and least troublesome would be try first the cable, then trackpad and finally the keyboard. The fastest replacing the full topcase.

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Thank you! It looks like changing any of those parts (trackpad or cable) would require a complete upper case teardown - is that correct? Is there any less invasive way to do it? I've never attempted a repair before and am fairly daunted by the number of steps in the process.

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@morning_glory Cable and trackpad are right under the battery, it's just a matter of having the right screwdrivers and no need for a complete teardown. The keyboard is very troublesome even for Pros and I would really discourage that step, better to go for a 2nd hand topcase instead.

Have a look at the guides, you'll get an idea of the steps involved and tools needed: MacBook Air 13" Mid 2013

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Thanks for your advice! It looks like it's cheaper to buy a new-to-me similarly vintage computer at this point than to buy new parts, so I may go that route instead.

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