If you’re having trouble with your MacBook‘s trackpad, no matter what model it is, don’t worry. They are not common problems, much less normal, but you may have a simple solution at your fingertips and it may even be a simple configuration problem. In this article we cover all the possible causes of this malfunction, as well as what you should do to try to solve it before having to resort to technical service.
Most common trackpad problems and their causes
As we said before, it is not usual to experience failures in the MacBook trackpad, although within the cases that have been known these years we can highlight four problems that are usually the most common among users who have reported them:
- The trackpad remains static and does not emit any haptic or physical sensation of movement, also clicking on macOS or not.
- Cursor movement problems in the system (very slow or fast, jerky …)
- Two-finger scrolling or secondary click does not work.
- It does not allow scrolling down and up on a web page or document.
Likewise, these problems can have various causes, these being the most repeated in all of them:
- A misconfiguration of the trackpad settings on the system.
- Damage caused by liquids and / or humidity that has entered the equipment.
- Blows that the computer or that specific part of it may have received.
- Break in the electrical connection that connects the trackpad to the computer’s motherboard.
- Factory defect whereby the trackpad stops working properly.
What can you do to fix the problem
It is evident that the malfunction of this component greatly worsens the experience of using the MacBook, since it is also an essential element to be able to handle it (unless you have another external accessory). In any case there are a series of actions that you can carry out on your own in order to try to fix it on your own, as long as it is a software failure , which cannot be ruled out even in the face of failures that may have the appearance of being physical.
Check your macOS settings
As we saw previously, one of the causes of a “malfunction” of the trackpad may be due to not having it properly configured. If this works well enough for you to be able to review your settings, try to follow what we tell you below. If you have trouble even navigating the system, we recommend using an external mouse or trackpad for this. Must open System Preferences (from the dock if you have the icon located there, from the Apple menu on the top bar or by pressing cmd + the search space) and then go to Trackpad.
Once you are in that settings window, you will find three tabs that you should check in order to see if you have it properly configured. You can find all these options:
- Point and Click : all possible settings for click types, trackpad touch responses, and even cursor speed.
- Scroll and zoom : in this section you can find all the settings related to scrolling the trackpad with one, two and even three fingers. If the problem you have is with this section, you may have to modify something here.
- More gestures: here are other options also related to scrolling and gestures to open certain macOS functions.
Try to restart all processes on the Mac
No matter how well equipped your Mac is in terms of processor and RAM, it is not exempt from suffering some specific problems at times that cause the computer to slow down or make some functions stop working. And of course the malfunction of the trackpad can also be related to it.
For this reason, we recommend that you try to close all the applications that you have open and wait a few seconds to see if everything returns to normal. If it does not work, you should try restarting the computer, either through this function or directly by turning it off and on again (do it with the button if you cannot scroll through the system). This will restart all the processes open in the background and thus eliminate the possible problems that they were generating.
Does the MacBook have enough battery?
Although this is one of the strangest points for not being related a priori, the truth is that it can be the cause of this problem. The trakcpad, like the rest of the elements of the laptop, is powered by the battery it has and therefore it is possible that if it does not get enough current it will not work well. This is usually not normal, since its consumption is very low and it should work even with 1% battery.
If you see that the battery level of your equipment is below 20%, try connecting it to the power through its charger and see if it already works. In theory, you shouldn’t even have to wait for it to charge, since enough power would already be reaching it to function. If you find that after this it already works well, you should take the MacBook to technical service because it is not usual and there could be a defective component for which the trackpad does not receive enough power supply.
If you suspect it is a software bug
If the problem with the trackpad has appeared when you have updated to a new version of macOS and it did not happen to you before, it is very likely that this update contains that bug. As a general rule, these types of problems, if they occur, cause problems for thousands of users and therefore Apple releases updates that will correct it as soon as possible. Therefore, we recommend updating macOS to a more recent version if it exists (you can check it in System Preferences> Software Update or through the App Store if you have a very old version of the system).
Another possibility to eliminate these bugs is by restoring the entire operating system and possibly without backup. That would kill any kind of problem-related software-related item. If despite this you continue to experience problems, the last solution you have is to put an older version of the system in which you remember that it worked well. If after that you have not been able to solve it either, you will only have to go to technical support.
Is it a repairable part?
If you find yourself in that position of not having been able to solve the problem on your own and you are going to go to the technical service, it is likely that you have some doubts about it. The first thing you should know is that, although it depends on the model, it is usually repaired and in fact they could even do it on the same day if they have stock of that part. In the worst cases, you would have to wait a few days. If it is considered that there is no solution, they could offer you a reconditioned and fully functional MacBook as a replacement for yours.
Regarding the price of the repair there is nothing established because there may be different causes that cause the problem. Of course, if the MacBook is under warranty and they detect that the fault comes from a manufacturing defect, that is when you can be happier, since the repair will be completely free.
If you are thinking of changing it on your own , you should know that you can also, although it is not the most advisable. The reason for this is that you would lose the warranty with Apple if you still maintained it, in addition to that it is not an easy process and could mean that the computer is completely damaged if you do not have a certain skill when opening it and changing the components. No less important is the fact that you will not find 100% original MacBook parts, so the user experience afterwards would be less than what you had before.
