Virus? No keyboard or trackpad control.

[duggram]

My 2012 MacBook Pro went out of control this afternoon. I’ve rebooted multiple times and tried safe mode once. Problem does not resolve. On the last reboot the trackpad acted normal for about 30 seconds. It did that again just now. The screen keeps trying to switch to a different screen, ie control key + an arrow key. This behavior went on for an hour. I called Apple Support and they logged into my laptop but the behavior couldn’t be reproduced. Not sure what to now.

 

[Darth.Titan]

On an almost 10 year old MacBook Pro with keyboard/trackpad issues, I would bet your battery is swelling. Have you ever replaced the battery?

 

[capamac]

I've had a similar problem before. I tracked the problem down to a failed, corroded circuit on the trackpad. I bought a replacement trackpad and it works fine now. The repair is challenging as it requires one to remove the glued-in battery to access the trackpad. I bought a new trackpad and new battery from Ifixit . The trackpad part seems exactly identical to the original apple trackpad. The battery from Ifixit is very obvious not a 100% perfect match to the Apple battery and it didn't hold a good charge for me.

I recommend buying the replacement trackpad from Ifixit but not buying the battery from Ifixit. Try and use your exiting battery. You'll need to purchase some double-sided tape to re-install the battery so it doesn't shift around. Or just send it to Apple and have them fix it for you.

I wound up buying a second replacement battery, from a broken MacBook on eBay with a low-use (400 cycles) battery that was still good, and which was an official apple battery. That works well.

Or ... Or just go out and buy a new MacBook Air M1 for $7xx from Best Buy.

 

[capamac]

(Mine was an Early 2015 MBP btw. I inspected the battery carefully and saw no sign of swelling nor leakage, despite having more than 1,700 charge cycles. I'm not sure how the trackpad component became corroded. I suspect it was from cleaning the keyboard with a lightly dampened cloth (?). Or perhaps from humidity/condensation. Or maybe the corrosion leaked out of a component on the trackpad circuit board?)

 

[wordsworth]

Not quite sure what you mean by 'the screen trying to switch to a different screen'.

Just out of interest, do you have an external keyboard and mouse you could try? See whether your laptop works that way?

You might also check to see whether the battery has swollen at all. You'd need the correct screwdriver to take the back off.

The battery in my old white MacBook was swollen and it affected the behaviour of the trackpad. The cursor would move rapidly all over the screen at random when I attempted to use the trackpad.

I think the swelling may have been more visible externally in my MacBook due to the polycarbonate casing and its rear access panel to the battery (and to the memory). In the 2012 MacBook Pro the casing may not be so susceptible to such visual evidence of a swollen battery.

Of course, it may not be the battery at all, though these are simple, cheap troubleshooting procedures and so worth a try perhaps.

In the meantime, do you have a backup of all your data?