weird series of problems post reassembly A1286
My Macbook Pro, late 2011, started to overheat and go to sleep mode. So i decided to renew the thermal paste. After disassembling and renewing thermal paste, i reassembled it back and turned it on.
Some additional information at this point. I was using this notebook with bootcamp. In order to work around the UEFI boot problem, i installed rEFIt earlier. Therefore i used to press alt-key at startup and choose which OS i wanted to boot in.
After reassembly, i pressed the alt key, came to OS selection menu, chose Windows. At this point i noticed that the trackpad wasn't properly working. Touching the trackpad trying to move the cursor, i managed to move the cursor a little bit, thought that i hadn't connected the connector properly and decided to fix it later and moved on to boot into windows. After a white line blinked several times on the top left corner, i received a blank black screen and it didn't boot. Then i restarted the computer and tried to boot into Mac OS, came to user login screen, but the keyboard wasn't working and i couldn't enter my password.
I opened the case again. There i noticed that the ribbon cable from the trackpad was torn completely. I know that i didn't tore it and it is a very precise clean cut tear, just at the point where it used to fold upwards towards the logic board connection. It was weird that i was able to move the cursor in this torn state of the ribbon cable. I decided that it wasn't the end of the world, i could keep using an external mouse and moved on to reconnect the keyboard ribbon. After reconnecting the keyboard ribbon, i turned the computer on, and even the alt key wasn't functioning and i was booting directly into MacOS and still couldn't enter my password.
I reconnected the keyboard ribbon, lifting the lock putting in the keyboard ribbon and locking the connector lock again. It seems to me that it is properly connected, after lowering the lock it won't come out when pulled. But i am back where i started. The alt key works, i can navigate with arrow keys through OS options, windows still won't boot and i still can't enter my password on Mac OS login screen.
So the questions:
1) How is it possible that some keys of the keyboard (alt key and the arrow keys) work at the OS selection menu and the rest doesn't work at login screen. Is it possible that the keyboard ribbon is partly damaged, so that some keys work and the rest doesn't? Would you think that it is partially damaged or not seated correctly?
2) How come can i boot into Mac OS but not into Windows? If there is a problem with the SSD connection, i imagine that i wouldn't be able to boot into both OS, which is not the case.
3) How was i able to move the cursor while the ribbon cable from the trackpad was broken and torn? It seems that there was some level of connection just by contact, even though it was torn. Can you fix a torn ribbon cable just by taping it together?
I would appreciate any kind of additional information very much. I need to identify the problem in order to resolve it.
Best regards and many thanks
EDIT: Some new information.
I have realized that i was able to open the dropdown menu for wlans on OS selection screen with the arrow keys. I chose the option to give in the name and password for the wlan, and i was able to type in the name and password for the wlan, using all the keys on the keyboard. Though the weird thing is that i have to press every key at least twice to be able to write something. The first key stroke won't display anything and the second displays the character. Nevertheless i still can't type anything on OS login screen.
This leads me to believe that i don't have a keyboard but a logic board problem, which may be caused from static to any other micro damage to the circuit i may have done during the reassembly. I would still very much appreciate any input.
Update (10/22/2017)
By the way, i noticed something peculiar. There is this typical sound when you power up the computer. It is like a mechanical sound, as if an engine starts to work. I noticed that after the reassembly, this sound changed. Not completely, but the ending changed. I don't know what causes this sound in the first place and i am not sure if its change means anything at all.
If you plugged in a USB keyboard & mouse do they work correctly then?
Dan さんによる
I didn't check with a usb keyboard yet -i don't have one-, but after disconnecting the trackpad completely, mac os realised that there were no pointing devices connected and a window popped up looking for bluetooth mouse. I was able to connect my bluetooth mouse and it works.
hasi hasi さんによる
At this point you'll need to at least replace the cable. Do a good inspection to see if the trace is cut. If not then I would recommend you replace the full touchpad (trackpad). Here's the IFIXIT guide: MacBook Pro 15" Unibody Late 2011 Trackpad Replacement.
Dan さんによる