MacBook Pro Keyboard and tracking pad issues

Question

I bought a refurbed macbook pro from Apple about 10 months ago. I've loved everything about it . . . until now. Yesterday I turned it on and started having keyboard issues. First the y key wouldn't work, then the rest of the keys followed. At that point, it was still starting up normally, but then the tracking pad would only "right click" on items on my desk top, so I couldn't open applications.
Now it will only open up in safe mode and it makes a noise like I'm pressing all the keys at once at start-up. Nothing happened to it between Saturday night when it was working perfectly and Sunday morning so I'm mystified. I brought it to the genius bar this morning and they also couldn't see what was wrong. Genius said something about how some keys looked "stuck" but mentioned it didn't looked like anything was spilled on it or anything.
The only "weird" thing about it is that the hing between the screen and the keyboard has always been a little loose but I didn't know until my husband bought a new pro a few months later and I felt the difference. The genius didn't seem to think that would mean anything.
They told me it would be at least $280 to send it out, diagnose, and fix it. Considering it's less than a year old, I'm a little reluctant (and poor) to do that right way especially since he had no clue what the problem might be.
I'm planning on trying another Genius Bar to see if they might have a better idea (hey, it worked with my ipod once) but I've been combing the message boards to see if anyone has had a similar issue. I found an older thread that talked about 2008 pros haven't issues with the keyboard and trackpad freezing due to a "faulty pressure connector" so I might try that solution when I get home. But any other ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Answer 1

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
If you bought your Mac from Apple 10 months ago, it should still be covered by the 1 year warranty and as long as the problem was not caused by accidental damage of some sort, it should be repaired at no cost to you. Was the store aware that you were still under warranty?
You can even upgrade to 3 year Applecare if you do so before the first year of ownership is up--definitely something to do if your Mac is having troubles already.
When you see the next genius, make sure they know you are still in the 1 year warranty period, and if you can, upgrade to 3 year Applecare.
You can also call Applecare on the phone and tell them about these problems and ask them for a case number, which will at least establish that they started while you were still under warranty. If a problem first occurs under warranty, Apple will honor the warranty until the problem is fixed, even if the warranty runs out in the meantime.
Good luck!