Apple says fix coming for MacBook Pro keyboard, trackpad lockup issue

Posted:
in General Discussion edited June 2014
Apple on Wednesday added a section to its Support Pages regarding a recently reported issue with the new MacBook Pro with Retina display that, for some users, causes laptop's keyboard and trackpad to freeze unexpectedly.

MBP


According to the document, Apple said it is aware of an issue that, in a small number of cases, causes the built-in keyboards and trackpads on late-2013 MacBook Pro with Retina display laptops to stop working. The company is reportedly working toward a solution that should be available soon.
Apple is aware of rare circumstances where the built-in keyboard and Multi-Touch trackpad may become unresponsive on 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display (Late 2013) computers and is working on an update to resolve this behavior.
For now, Apple suggests resetting the keyboard and trackpad by closing the computer's display to put it to sleep for about one minute, then reopening. This should remedy the problem at least temporarily while the company works on a more permanent fix.

Users first complained of the repeated lockups on Apple's Support Communities forum last week, with the largest thread racking up nearly 1,000 replies and over 48,000 views.

Apple refreshed its MacBook Pro with Retina display lineup last week, introducing Intel's Haswell processors and Iris Pro integrated graphics to the popular portable. In conjunction with the hardware launch, the company also debuted its latest Mac operating system in OS X Mavericks.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 19
    krawallkrawall Posts: 165member
    I had this happen quite a few times already and only have the computer for around 2 days.

    My solution is actually, when it freezes up, I will press the power button, the display goes immediately black and upon a press of a button I am at the login screen. I then login and cancel the shutdown dialog. Works for me and is faster than closing the lid for a minute.
  • Reply 2 of 19
    ktappektappe Posts: 824member
    What about older MacBook Pros? We have several 2012's that have this exact same behavior.
  • Reply 3 of 19
    Rare? This has happened to me once for every hour I've used my new 13". It's not a difficult fix (shut the lid, wait 45 seconds or so, open the lid and go back to what I was doing) but it's exceptionally annoying. That they have the stones to call it "rare" when obviously it's a widespread problem only makes things worse.

    Honestly, why can't they just be straight with us and say "Yeah, we know it's a serious problem, but it's a software thing and we'll have a fix out to you shortly"?
  • Reply 4 of 19
    snovasnova Posts: 1,281member

    Can someone confirm this problem only happens on Late 2013 rMBP 13"? I'm interested in buying a Late 2013 rMBP 15"

  • Reply 5 of 19
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by snova View Post

     

    Can someone confirm this problem only happens on Late 2013 rMBP 13"? I'm interested in buying a Late 2013 rMBP 15"


     

    I can't confirm it, but there aren't any mentions of 15" models showing similar behavior in the support.apple forums I'm following currently.

  • Reply 6 of 19
    Just bought one, will keep an eye out for this. Mercury is retrograde for two more days. :-p
  • Reply 7 of 19
    akqiesakqies Posts: 768member
    I wonder what the differences between the keyboard and trackpad, or rather the associated connections that make this only happen on the 13" and not the 15". I'd say it's likely an issue with the logic board, something a driver update can often resolve, unfortunately driver updates can sometimes be very tricky if this is only happening with select machines. I hope an update comes quickly… like before the inevitable daylight savings bug this coming weekend. :p

    krawall wrote: »
    My solution is actually, when it freezes up, I will press the power button, the display goes immediately black and upon a press of a button I am at the login screen

    Off-topic: I am not a fan of the Power button not the keyboard. I hit by accident way too often when hitting volume up. I wish it requires an extra long press like with the old eject button on Macs, but ideally I'd like it to be removed in favor of Touch ID so I can conveniently login.

    cash907 wrote: »
    Rare? This has happened to me once for every hour I've used my new 13".

    No matter what Mac this happened to you'd say it's happened to you constantly.
  • Reply 8 of 19
    I must be lucky as I've not seen this on my 13" yet since it arrived on Tuesday.... :D

    Having only ever had windows notebooks before (i've got a mid 2011 Mac Mini, but this is my first Mac notebook) I'm absolutely blown away by the build quality, performance and battery life so far...
  • Reply 9 of 19

    I also have heard about the issue of Macbook Pro from news. As per the your information concern I would like to say that you have given good information on retina display. Apple has recently fix this issue with its pro version which is very nice for users.

  • Reply 10 of 19
    lilgto64lilgto64 Posts: 1,147member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Cash907 View Post



    Rare? This has happened to me once for every hour I've used my new 13". It's not a difficult fix (shut the lid, wait 45 seconds or so, open the lid and go back to what I was doing) but it's exceptionally annoying. That they have the stones to call it "rare" when obviously it's a widespread problem only makes things worse.



    Honestly, why can't they just be straight with us and say "Yeah, we know it's a serious problem, but it's a software thing and we'll have a fix out to you shortly"?

     

    Rare doesn't have to mean that it only happens to those who are affected very infrequently. If Apple has sold 10,000,000 units and about 1,000 are affected - ever if those 10,000 are severely affected - that qualifies as rare. 

     

    Ever hear phrases such as your mileage may vary - or individual results may vary? 

     

    Plane crashes are rare - but that statistical frequency is utterly irrelevant to you when you are a passenger on a plane that is about to crash. So should the entire airline industry be shutdown every time a single aircraft crashes? No, but there have been cases where entire fleets of a  given make and model have been grounded - generally after multiple aircraft suffered the same failure. 

     

    So in the case of computers - now that Apple has enough evidence to indicate that there is a problem that is affecting some portion of a given model - should they get Chicken Little to give a press conference and announce that ALL MAC COMPUTERS HAVE A SERIOUS FAULT - no, while they may not be expressing the full and unbiased view of the situation - and no matter how much better it might make those affected feel for Apple to come out with a sweeping statement - does that help the situation? or would it lead people unaffected or who are considering purchases to be unnecessarily affected? The fact that they have acknowledge the issue at all and stated that they are working on a fix is an excellent step and about all you can expect and is far better than denial that there is an issue at all. 

  • Reply 11 of 19
    That's great news.
    When will they fix the Image Retention issue too?
  • Reply 12 of 19
    My 2011 Mac Air upgrade Sat to Maverick froze key board for good and now Apple is saying $215 please to replace. Anyone else have issue?
  • Reply 13 of 19
    I have one of these new 13" Retinabooks, it happens about once a day.

    NABD
  • Reply 14 of 19
    snovasnova Posts: 1,281member

    wow.. just look at all of the one post wonders.. the trolls of really loving to stack the deck here.

  • Reply 15 of 19
    I started experiencing this on my Late 2013 MBP 15". Looks like the KB article that talks about the fix doesn't apply to my model :(
  • Reply 16 of 19
    I have an older MacBook Pro, bought in 2011, but it is the same issue. NO KEYS work on the keyboard. It happened suddenly and I can't tell if any new SW had just been installed that may have precipitated it. I tried the "sleep trick" but to no avail. I am relegated to the virtual keyboard now.

    The mouse is fine.

    One or more of the keys must be "locked down", thus causing this phenomenon. I will try cleaning the keyboard next.
  • Reply 17 of 19

    Does anyone have an issue with the old wired keyboard with the new upgrade? We have an older 2008 24" Desktop Mac and now our numeral keyboard no longer works.

     

    Also, while typing, the keys will occasionally get stuck in ALL CAP mode without pushing the Caps Lock button. Can't get them to go back to lower case either...

     

    See thread on numeral keyboard...

  • Reply 18 of 19
    stanwinestanwine Posts: 1member
    Hi
    I have been using my refurbished MacBook Pro Retina display 15" in my business for more than15months without ever in knowing of this problem.
    This morning I woke my machine from Sleep only to discover my keyboard wasn't responding. I disconnected all USB connected devices and re-booted (several times) without success.
    Is there a solution yet/ Should I switch to my MacBook Air keeping my fingers crossed that I'm not struck dead there as well?
    The prospect of reverting to my Dell laptop running Windows 8.1 is a daunting picture.
  • Reply 19 of 19
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,491moderator
    stanwine wrote: »
    Hi
    I have been using my refurbished MacBook Pro Retina display 15" in my business for more than15months without ever in knowing of this problem.
    This morning I woke my machine from Sleep only to discover my keyboard wasn't responding. I disconnected all USB connected devices and re-booted (several times) without success.
    Is there a solution yet/ Should I switch to my MacBook Air keeping my fingers crossed that I'm not struck dead there as well?
    The prospect of reverting to my Dell laptop running Windows 8.1 is a daunting picture.

    This doesn't sound like the same issue. Your keyboard shouldn't die completely even after a reboot. Is it just the keyboard or the keyboard and trackpad?

    You don't have to give up using the laptop, a wireless Apple keyboard and a wireless mouse will let you use it until the keyboard is fixed and possibly allow you to diagnose the problem of why the keyboard isn't working.
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