Why doesn't my iBook know it has a trackpad?

January 13, 2006 2:44 PM

Why doesn't my iBook know it has a trackpad?

Why doesn't my iBook (a G3/600/Late 2001 model) know it has a trackpad half the time?

Just about every time I start up my iBook, or wake it from sleep, the trackpad doesn't work. The Mouse/Keyboard/Trackpad control panel doesn't even know it exists.

The trackpad hardware is perfectly fine, because I can often convince it to work again by putting the computer to sleep, then waking it up by clicking the trackpad/button. But "often" isn't good enough and it's very unpredictable.

As a result of this problem, I have to say the poor old thing does great service as my main computer, considering I keep it running without reboot or sleep for weeks at a time.

Any ideas? Any way to reliably reset or reload the driver or bus involved or whatever it is I need to do?

Here's the thing: I know I should just reinstall the whole OS and see if that fixes it, but I've tweaked and fiddled so much and I'm so short on disk space I'm hoping it won't come to that, especially as the only installers I have handy are for 10.3.1 and there'll be a ton of upgrades to get back to 10.3.9.

posted by AmbroseChapel to technology (7 comments total)

I had this problem right before my logic board blew for the third time. Apple fixed it under the warranty extension program for these particular iBooks. I am not sure if yours fits the time period in question, but it might be worth looking into.
posted by astruc at 3:05 PM on January 13, 2006

Thanks for that link, but it says the program finishes in April 2005. The trackpad problem has been going on for over a year, with no other problems, so I'm crossing my fingers that it's not that and someone else has an idea?
posted by AmbroseChapel at 4:36 PM on January 13, 2006

If you leave near an Apple store, take it and ask them. DO NOT let them throw some ridiculous dollar amount at you for a replacement until you know what the actual problem is. You could also try Apple phone support. I've never used either so YMWV.
posted by mr.dan at 5:28 PM on January 13, 2006

This happened to my friend when he re-installed Tiger using a retail copy instead of the copy of that came with his laptop. The driver that shipped with the initial Tiger retail release won't work for the trackpads in a new-"ish" iBook/PowerBook.
posted by basicchannel at 5:37 PM on January 13, 2006

Oops... I failed at reading comprehension. Please disregard.
posted by basicchannel at 5:38 PM on January 13, 2006

My trackpad does this too, I have a 600MHz g3 that's getting on 4 years old now and is otherwise reliable. I can't find the link I originally discovered that described this problem, but it's related to the connection between the trackpad and the motherboard, as the system gets older the connection degrades.

The way to resolve it is to shut the computer down, pop off the keyboard, pull out the airport card, use eyeglass-type screwdrivers to pull off the shield. The trackpad connector is in the bottom-right area, there's a dark brown or black clip (I can't look, because I'm typing and all) with a mostly-orange cable, gently pull up on the left side of the clip and it unlocks. Pull the cable out, wiggle it around a bit, give it some air, then put it back in and click back the clip.

I am doing a poor job of describing the process, but if you dig into Google for "ibook trackpad" you may be able to pull up better instructions. This should give you a few months of stable trackpad use before you have to do it again. If you're remotely comfortable with computer-innards it won't be a problem.
posted by cCranium at 7:20 AM on January 14, 2006

I haven't actually tried it, but assuming that cCranium isn't just cruelly playing with my hopes, that's great stuff. And even easier for me, because I'm too poor to have an Airport card!
posted by AmbroseChapel at 5:05 PM on January 15, 2006