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Repair guides, support, and troubleshooting information for the first 13-inch MacBook Air to feature Apple's ARM-based M1 SoC (with an 8-core CPU and up to an 8-core GPU). Released in November 2020 and identified by model numbers A2337 or EMC 3598.

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Weak haptic feedback on left side after repair

Hey there! About two years ago, I spilled coffee onto my MacBook, which entered into the trackpad. After that, the force touch didn't work anymore, so it wouldn't register a click anymore if i press down, but only on the very left side (about the leftmost 25%). So today, I finally decided to replace the trackpad, and it works again. The only problem is that the haptic feedback in general seems a bit weak, and also the haptic feedback on the very left side, where it previously didn't work, is significantly weaker than the rest of the trackpad. What could cause this, and how could I fix it?

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You replaced the trackpad, but did you replace the cable as well? I would be curious to see what the cable and/or the little daughter board fr the trackpad/keyboard look like.

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So. I did a lot of poking around because I always meant to and if this isn't the cable I would be surprised. I will have to do a little more poking around to be sure, but the haptics on this are driven by a chip on the trackpad itself. I presume it also talks to the touch controller (which is also on the underside of trackpad) but since I don't have a schematic for the touchpad itself, or the little interconnect board the keyboard connects to it's a lot of extrapolating based on datasheets and what I can get from a multimeter.

I would absolutely check the cable and make sure there's no liquid that got into any of the parts of the cable, or that the cable isn't bent or torn anywhere.

Apple also calibrates those when they do the repair themselves, but I have never seen that make a specific difference to function so I am unlikely to think its needed.

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Hm, when I took it apart, I had a look at the cable, but it seemed completely fine to me. didn't see any corrosion or anything.

Do you think it could be related to dirt in the part underneath the trackpad? There were still some small stains when I replaced it, and I was too lazy to clean it completely - it might be that but I'm not really sure.

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@justindee I'm doing some more science on this because I'm just really curious. It's sort of an odd problem. Cleaning everything up might not be a bad idea. I doubt it's the issue, but it wouldn't hurt. I would be more likely to be concerned with more solid debris than stains from a liquid spill.

I would also make sure that the shims that are on the underside of the trackpad (as featured in this step of the Guide) are all present. If the trackpad sits too close to the housing it can cause some inconsistencies in the haptics.

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Justin crwdns2934231:0crwdne2934231:0
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