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slimmy18222

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 13, 2017
52
12
Italy
Hello, my A2289 MacBook keyboard and trackpad does not work anymore. keyboard backlight is working, Touch Bar is working but I can’t use it (change or touch anything on it, just displaying information). If I connect external keyboard and external mouse all work perfectly, but internal keyboard and trackpad does not work.
The Apple Hardware Test completes with the error PPF003 indicating that the fan is not working properly. (PPF004).
Does it worth try to change keyboard and trackpad? or Maybe I need logic board repair? I take apart trackpad and no signs of corrosion.
Already tried clean install and update. Also PRAM and SMC resed done.
 
Out of curiosity, why are you not get it repaired under warranty?
 
Out of curiosity, why are you not get it repaired under warranty?
I already purchased like that. I guess that previous owner did not fix due to water damage warranty exclusion criteria. But as i mentioned, I see no liquid spill at all inside.
 
I already purchased like that. I guess that previous owner did not fix due to water damage warranty exclusion criteria. But as i mentioned, I see no liquid spill at all inside.
I would still try my luck with Apple.
At lest you would get a proper diagnosis.

I hope you get it resolved one way or another.
 
Take it to a brick-n-mortar Apple Store and let them have a look at it.
The worst they can say is no, they won't repair it under warranty.

Then decide what to do.
It's best not to buy used Macs when you know the item "has a problem"...
 
Thank you for all your replies.
I cannot really let this Mac go, it was a good deal for me. Anyway after teardown the whole mac I noticed what seems a trace of some kind of liquid flow from a to b in the downside of logic board (photos attached). But I don't see any trace of corrosion or water sensor color change. I cleaned all with 98%alchol and reassembled it. Now apple diagnostics show no error detected (maybe it was just fan ribbon needing to be reseat), but keyboard and trackpad still not working at all. Only key working is finger print, and touch bar display image but don't accept any touch.

I guess I'll try go to the Apple Store and try to get it repaired under warranty.
 

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(sigh)
If you've pulled it apart as far as it looks like you have, they're probably not going to touch it...
I hope the will, i'm very carefully. But if the mac was already diagnosed as liquid spill by apple from prevously owner i guess they will not accept it anyway.
 
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Ufortunately, as expected, Apple wont accept fixing this under warranty, as prevous owner declared liquid spill damage, voiding warranty. They simply wanna change bottom case assembly and logic board.
Putting logic board in ultrasonic cleaner can help me even if i can't see any corrosion sign?
 
What do you expect to clean with ultrasonic? Water damage is connected as well to shorting circuits if battery was connwected or if there was current flowing. So i would expect some damaged components if there is no proper shorting protection...more on this, i am not sure if the PCB assembly is designed to withstand high frequency vibrations, may cause solder joints to crack etc
 
What do you expect to clean with ultrasonic? Water damage is connected as well to shorting circuits if battery was connwected or if there was current flowing. So i would expect some damaged components if there is no proper shorting protection...more on this, i am not sure if the PCB assembly is designed to withstand high frequency vibrations, may cause solder joints to crack etc
You are perfectly right.. My last hope is that problem is not located to Logic board, but keyboard or trackpad itself.
 
UPDATE.
I found as spare parts one A1989 top case nearby me. So i decided to give a try and buy the A1989 trackpad of this case. Obviously, even if they have same flex cable connector, the A1989 trackpad isn't working when connected to my A2289 logic board. I managed to swap the "new flex" to my old Trackpad and it worked! But not only trackpad, also internal keyboard now work flawless. The A1989 trackpad cable has a different design so it can't be used in A2289. Then waiting for a new trackpad cable I put back my "old" one, and surprisingly it is still working! That mean my trackpad and cable connector was good. I've done literally nothing in this board or keyboard or trackpad, except looking for shorts or visible damaged area. I think that connecting the other trackpad somehow "unlocked" it. Anyway all works good except for TouchBar that dislay image but wont accept touch. That maybe due to touch driving data cable problem, or maybe it neet do be "unlocked" to accept imput as the same as my trackpad. Dunno.
 
Only switch a different trackpad and reconnect the old one do the trick! Now keyboard and trackpad works perfectly. Now the only problem remain the touchbar, it display image but wont accept touch control.

Looking in diagrams i found that there is a component lost:



Can be this the problem? Connectin an other touchbar won't fix, still display but not accept touch control
 
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