Keyboard not working. Only power button and trackpad are responsive.

No liquid damage whatsoever

I replaced the battery following the iFixIt guide for Apple MacBook Pro 13’ A1708 Battery replacement. After booting up it seemed totally fine until I tried typing in my password and had no responses from any of the keys.

• Checked keyboard and trackpad ribbons and reseated them
• Restarted, checked every key if any of them worked but only the power button is responsive
• Battery is good and trackpad is responding.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Hi! @danj and @michaelt16950!

Dan's comment was correct, the ribbon was VERY SLIGHTLY damaged. Apple technician showed me that the ribbon cable had a tiny tear on the left side (barely visible, I suggest scrutinizing the ribbon cable) which severed a smaller line that seemed to break the entire cable already.

Apple Service Center quoted me 40 USD for labor and 200 USD for the entire keyboard and trackpad assembly. If you DIY'd the battery, I suggest just sourcing a part-out A1708 or a third-party keyboard assembly since it generally seems easy to do as well (Which will run you about 60-100 USD and a little bit over 3-4 hours of rebuilding the keyboard assembly).

Another suggestion is just to take it to Apple. If you have researched a little bit more, the first-generation facelifted MacBooks (A1708 and others) have a free keyboard replacement due to their faulty switch design. The technician only declined the warranty because I replaced the battery myself, thus voiding the warranty. (Plus, at least you know it'll work and the peace of mind is much more enjoyable than stressing about fixing it ourselves. Haha).

Hope this helps.

Nathan