Chosen Solution
A few weeks ago my MBP A1260 (2.4GHz) suddenly rebooted out of the blue (never does that) and I subsequently smelled a bit of “burnt silicon” while it was rebooting. It didn’t feel particularly hot (and the fans had been idling), but apparently it still had overheated. Then I noticed that neither the trackpad nor internal keyboard would work anymore. Luckily, external keyboard/mouse do work (USB or bluetooth), and everything else still works fine. I have googled high and low and unfortunately the one popular easy fix (touching/taping the flex cable under the battery) does nothing. I have bought a replacement flex cable (the one that connects the main board to the top case and its components, including bluetooth) and tried installing that today, but still no dice. Since the cable seems fine, I assume the issue is on either end of it: top case ($200-300) or main board ($600+). The main board was replaced earlier this year (after a faulty nVidia blackout issue) and “looks” fine, as does the top case and trackpad circuitry. (No obvious signs of melting/overheating). Is there any way I can further diagnose this, before shelling out any further $$? Thanks for any pointers! Cheers
it’s a tough question the only test that doesn’t involve money is to test the top case on a different macbook pro. do you know anyone with the same computer?
i agree with markus. if you can obtain a known-good top case you can test with, use it to see if it’s the logic board or the top case’s controller that went out. also, which smells worse, the underside of the top case, or the logic board? primitive method, I know. Is it also safe to assume you don’t have AppleCare at this point? You had the logic board replaced for the GPU issue; that work is warrantied for a period of time. Even though the GPU still works now, if the top case connector on the logic board went out, and you’re within (I believe 90 days) that part is still covered since it’s all one unit.
This is actually a rather common fault with this line of MBPs. As the power button still works i believe (don’t know for sure) that the USB controller on the topcase fails. Keyboard and trackpad are connected via USB internally. Open up system profiler and you’ll shure won’t find them listed anymore.
I would try wiping the system and reloading the os
