MacBook Pro Trackpad Suddenly Stopped Working Completely

Question

The trackpad on my Macbook Pro of 2 years has suddenly stopped working out of blue.

The trackpad doesn't move, respond to any gestures nor do any clicks work. This is really frustrating as I used gestures a lot to navigate around my laptop, and even though I use a bluetooth mouse it makes using my laptop unnecessarily laborious.

Does anyone know what may be causing the problem, and any solutions?

Answer 1

The trackpad is connected over USB - so try these things before seeking hardware service:

1. Check System Information app like the image below
2. Disconnect all external devices and restart to reset the NVRAM (that causes the hardware tree to repopulate)
3. Make a system backup and possibly reinstall the latest combo update / or install a new OS on an external drive to ensure it's not a problem with the OS / software

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Answer 2

Run Apple Diagnostics

(I'm assuming you have at least a late 2013 MacBook Pro)

One of the best tools in your arsenal is Apple Diagnostics. It will run through a battery of tests to see if there are any issues with your hardware. From a powered off state, turn on your computer and hold down D until the diagnostic screen appears.

If errors are detected, it will give you a code - trackpad codes are NDR001, NDR003, NDR004 - be sure to write it down, whatever it is as your failed trackpad may be a symptom of something else (possible, but not likely). It is also likely that your trackpad has failed and there is no error code - I have personally seen this condition.

You can get more info from the following links on Apple's Support site:

• Using Apple Diagnostics
• Apple Diagnostics: Reference Codes

Replace the Trackpad

The good news is that the trackpad is very inexpensive (trending at less than $40 at the time of this post) and easy to replace. iFixit.com has an excellent step by step guide but basically it involves taking off the back cover and removing the battery to gain access to the trackpad.

In my personal experience, every trackpad issue I have encountered has been a failed trackpad (I managed a private school IT department with about 1,500 MacBooks) I have yet to encounter a failed trackpad due to anything else (like a logic board).

Answer 3

The battery of my MacBook Pro inflated after 4 years of working since the yesteryear. Now side effects of this inflation are:

• My trackpad is curved from its center to the upside (instead of being flat)
• The margins of the trackpad are about 0.5mm upper than the top surface of my laptop
• The click functionally is possible only with a lot of pressure
• The term Service Battery is appeared in the battery at the menu bar

In my case, the correct solution is to service the battery but I fixed it temporarily by enabling the Tap to click option in the trackpad's preferences.

If these items matches in your laptop, the battery maybe breaks the trackpad. So it is better to service the battery.

Answer 4

I encountered the same issue. Possible list of things to try

• Get into Diagnosis mode by holding D while booting up. For me, the trackpad was working in this mode
• Try booting into Safe Mode. You can do this by holding down Shift during boot. For me, trackpad was not working in safe mode either
• Reset NVRAM and SMC
• Reinstall the OS from the recovery screen. This solved the problem for me. It took an hour, but I wish I had just done this sooner.

Answer 5

The alternate possibility is that a large amount of dust and stuff has accumulated within the trackpad. This procedure is the same as replacing the trackpad, simply remove the back remove the battery, disconnect the USB between the trackpad and the main computer, carefully remove the small screws holding it in position and the trackpad will lift straight out. You then want to clean all of the edges both on the main body of the machine, where the trackpad was housed, and the perimeter of the trackpad. Some people recommend a cleaning agent to do this. You'll be surprised how often this works.