Fixing a MacBook Pro Trackpad Button That Sticks
This is totally off-topic, but… My main computer (work and home — it goes everywhere with me) is a MacBook Pro. Over the past few weeks, I’ve noticed that the trackpad button has been sticking, like it has something stuck underneath it. Cleaning crap out of the keyboard is easy enough - just run the Shop-Vac over it and everything gets sucked out. But the trackpad button? That’s an entirely different story.
The problem in this case appears to be that the opening between the trackpad and the button (see crappy cell phone picture, below) is big enough for small, foreign objects to enter.
The solution? It’s surprisingly simple. Just insert the corner of a piece of paper into that gap and slide it back and forth to dislodge whatever’s causing the problems (again, see the crappy cell phone pic, below).
That’s it. Assuming that the foreign object is “dis-lodgeable,” your problems should be solved and your trackpad button should work like new.
Published on November 18th, 2007 - 24 Comments
Filed under: Off Topic
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worked like a charm good tip and thanks, saved me a trip to the genius bar at mac store.
m
Comment by matthew — Feb 5th 2008 @ 7:29 pmThank you, helped for me as well:)
Comment by Rami — Feb 6th 2008 @ 9:00 amMe too! Many thanks!
Comment by Kevin — Feb 25th 2008 @ 2:32 pmThink it just worked for me too! Thanks!
Comment by danny — Mar 23rd 2008 @ 12:40 amThis fixed my soft trackpad button, thanks
Comment by L — Mar 29th 2008 @ 9:25 pmWorked great! Thanks for the tip… this saved me a trip to the Apple Store.
Comment by John Broady — Apr 3rd 2008 @ 10:07 amWorked for me, too. I had to upgrade from a piece of paper to something a little more robust to really get into the crack, though.
Comment by James — Apr 15th 2008 @ 9:31 amdamn!!! thanks that worked a charm….my gunk was on the bottom edge, but paper worked great there too!
Comment by jason pitt — Apr 25th 2008 @ 2:37 amThanks for the tip, i need to do that 5-6 times with different kind of paper, but it finally works - thanks!
Comment by Partyboy — Jul 21st 2008 @ 1:29 pmAWESOME. it worked. mine was sticking a little
Comment by poop — Jul 27th 2008 @ 10:49 pmThis unfortunately didn’t work for me (couldn’t get the paper far enough under the button), but it was apparent something was jamming it (the origami star trick didn’t work either). Here’s my solution: I took the battery out and blew very quick hard bursts of air into the small openings on each side of the track pad button’s area. A very small piece of resin or something that appeared to be resin (hard flat amber substance) came out and the button works perfectly fine now. Hope this helps someone else!
Comment by levi — Aug 15th 2008 @ 2:11 pmfanx. this was pissing me off!
Comment by treve — Sep 1st 2008 @ 10:20 amHey Man,
Great tip, worked quite well.
thanks again,
Comment by Anand — Sep 3rd 2008 @ 6:55 pmAnand
Holy crap. Totally worked. Had the problem several times before and just stuck to the trackpad tapping. Eventually it would go away. Apparently it went away after being jostled around or something. Awesome tip.
Comment by Adam — Sep 7th 2008 @ 2:59 pmI thought I was going to have to take my laptop apart to get it cleaned. I had to use a couple of pieces of paper to get it to work, but now it works like new once again… Thanks!
Comment by Chad — Sep 7th 2008 @ 8:37 pmBrilliant solution. I’m very finnicky about my things not functioning the way I want them to and your solution got my trackpad button functioning good as new.
Comment by Jafman — Sep 8th 2008 @ 1:01 pmseems to work good!!
Comment by Pepijn — Sep 15th 2008 @ 8:29 amYou’re awesome! This has been driving me nuts. and works great now!
Comment by Karl — Sep 22nd 2008 @ 12:56 pmI finally got it to work but be careful not to let the paper tear off under the button, it took me about 10 minutes to pry out a small corner of paper.
Thanks!
Comment by adam — Sep 28th 2008 @ 6:34 amthank you so much you just saved $160!
Comment by gemma — Sep 30th 2008 @ 6:04 pmI can’t believe it was that fucking simple. I’m buzzed the fuck up on Jameson and I did it because I was so annoyed with no problem.
Comment by JustElwood — Oct 10th 2008 @ 5:51 amBTW’
Comment by JustElwood — Oct 10th 2008 @ 5:52 amUsed the corner of a pack of zig zags, perfect, sturdy and not going to tear off in there.
If you take out the battery and take a long thin strip of paper and thread it through the opening in the metal and basically floss the gunk out it also works. I actually just did this about 2 minutes ago after struggling to do it the way the initial post suggested… this way is much easier!
Comment by stone — Oct 24th 2008 @ 2:34 pmWonderful! Worked like a charm. Thanks for saving me a trip to the Apple Store!
Comment by Hithah — Nov 7th 2008 @ 9:46 pm