Chosen Solution
I have an issue with my 13” MacBook Pro retina, Early 2015. Sometimes when I turn on the laptop I get an unresponsive track pad and keyboard and a message saying: “Bluetooth keyboard setup. There isn’t a keyboard connected.” This issue occurred sometime after using an unofficial charger (lesson learned) that would get very hot, I have since replaced this charger with an official one. I’ve been doing some research on the forums and suspect the issue is due to battery swelling affecting the trackpad cable. I have been trying to minimize battery temperature, monitoring the temperature with CoconutBattery, not charging my phone through the USB port, charging while not using the laptop and also keeping the MacBook charger connected as much as possible but the issue still seems to occur sometimes, for example it occurred after watching a movie last night and then shutting down the MacBook, in the morning the error was present. My fix for now has been to cool the MacBook in a freezer (covered), or use an icepack for 20 minutes then wait another 20, after this the error disappears which implies it is due to battery swelling but I would like some advice on whether or not a trackpad cable replacement could fix the issue or if a battery replacement is necessary, or if it is something else I am overlooking. Battery temperature connected to charger but not charging is currently at 91.5F it usually stays in the range of 86-98 depending on what I’m doing, but will reach temperatures of around 102F if I’m charging the macbook and running a lot of applications. CoconutBattery information: Cycle Count: 802MacOs Battery Status: GoodBattery Failure: NoneLoad cycles: 802
To start with your battery is very close to the end of its life of 1000 cycles. Can you give us a snapshot of CoconutBattery main window so we can see the rest of the values Adding images to an existing question that way we can see if its time or if you still have some life left in the battery. At this point I think you’ll need to pop the bottom cover off to inspect the battery physically to see if its blistered (post a few pics for us to see as well). If it has then that is likely pressing on the cable pushing it into the bottom cover. This does two things the length of the cable is shorted as the arc it’s now being pushed to forces it to stress the connector points pulling the contacts away internally on the connector interface. The other issue is the abrasion of grit that connects on the bottom of the bottom cover which wears the ribbon cables insulation so it shorts out on the case. Here’s a good pic of the cable being taken off.
So… You may need to replace both the battery MacBook Pro 13" Retina Display Early 2015 Battery Replacement and the ribbon cable MacBook Pro 13" Retina (Early 2015) Trackpad Cable. So here’s the other shoe! I’m assuming you have not had any liquid spillage into the system (water, coffee, tea milk or soda. Or even used a spray cleaner directly on the case). If you had any, then you may need a new trackpad.
Can you loosen up items so the battery is not putting pressure on the cable to see if it will boot up the next day or at anytime to prove if the pressure on the cable is a problem, it may be shorting out?? Just do your troubleshooting one step at a time until you prove your bad item, freezing it could only be contracting a loose metal contact and getting a good connection now, remember, metal shrinks when cold and expands when hot.
