MattyRay

Q: Random Keys Working Sporadically

I have a MacBook Pro OSX, that I bought about 4 years ago. It has worked PERFECTLY for me. Until now. What is happening is at RANDOM times and for RANDOM lengths, a few keys (t,y,u,i,o) will STOP working. It is totally random and there seems to be no pattern to it at all - they simply will work, and the stop, and then work again (as you can see, they are working NOW). I brought it in to the local computer shop (Best Buy) and they did a hardware analysis to see if the keyboard was broken. It came back and said the keyboard was functioning fine. I don't know what to do at this point?? I've read about the battery perhaps swelling up and causing this, but IDK...ANY help would be GREAT!!!!

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Mar 10, 2014 1:32 PM

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Q: Random Keys Working Sporadically

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  • by pjspjs,

    pjspjs pjspjs Sep 17, 2016 5:05 AM in response to cmonnow
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 17, 2016 5:05 AM in response to cmonnow

    Thanks that worked.. partially as diminished the problem.

    My issue is mostly Q to P line.

    I am convinced that it was El Capitan making the keyboard more sensitive, or a related firmware upgrade. My son changed the keyboard to English, and it got worse. I changed it back to Swiss French and it got better. If I flex the keyboard downwards the problem disappears for a few days, (Putting downward pressure on the middle of the keyboard).

    Regards, Phil

  • by saveliev,

    saveliev saveliev Sep 19, 2016 1:21 AM in response to pjspjs
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 19, 2016 1:21 AM in response to pjspjs

    I think it's just a hardware problem.

    I have the same issue in my 2011 macbook air with the q-to-o keys.

    The only long-term solution seems to be the replacement of the keyboard, but it's quite hard for me and I don't want to spend a lot of money for Apple's assistance.

    It's a pity since otherwise the laptop still works great..

  • by spudnuty,

    spudnuty spudnuty Sep 19, 2016 7:37 AM in response to saveliev
    Level 5 (7,097 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 19, 2016 7:37 AM in response to saveliev

    MBP keyboard front array .jpg

    Here's a picture of the front membrane contacts on a MBP that I posted earlier in this thread.

    So as you can see the contacts here are all arranged and wired horizontally. Any crack in the trace will cause the downstream keys to stop working. (Not sure which way is downstream.)

    Sometimes flexing the keyboard will cause it to start working again but a permanent fix involves replacing the keyboard. It's quite a pain to do the replacement due to the number of screws and the fact that everything has to come out of the MBP but the replacement keyboards are cheap now.

  • by pjspjs,

    pjspjs pjspjs Sep 19, 2016 8:47 AM in response to spudnuty
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 19, 2016 8:47 AM in response to spudnuty

    I understand the hardware issue. However, my problem started with an update to El Capitan and related firmware fixes. I think previously the detection of the hardware (key functionality), by the software (OS) and related microcode was more fault tolerant. Since I reduced the key repeat speed. It has mostly stabilised. I am not saying it has gone away. I can live with it without having to change keyboards. For me the problem is a combination of poor keyboard design and poor software fault tolerance. Previous OS's were more tolerant as nothing else changed :-)

  • by spudnuty,

    spudnuty spudnuty Sep 19, 2016 9:16 AM in response to pjspjs
    Level 5 (7,097 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 19, 2016 9:16 AM in response to pjspjs

    Right on! That's why I'm still using Mavericks 10.9.5 and continue to do so on all my new installs. It seems unintuitive to me that an OS update would cause only a certain keyboard string to fail but I've seen weirder anomalies!

  • by SegunLee,

    SegunLee SegunLee Sep 21, 2016 3:46 PM in response to gtasha
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 21, 2016 3:46 PM in response to gtasha

    That is really strange because I had the same problem with my u, i and o. I tried the Option 5 times solution and all the other solutions on the Apple recommended pages and they didn't work. Then, I tried your method - Ctrl 5 times - and it worked. W T F indeed!

  • by rjjcvb,

    rjjcvb rjjcvb Sep 29, 2016 7:28 AM in response to MattyRay
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 29, 2016 7:28 AM in response to MattyRay

    Same problem:

    t y u i o sometimes does not work.

     

    It seems that they work better when my macbook pro late 2011 is hot!

     

    Sometimes by pressing all of them at same time couple of times, it starts to work again....

    I suspect that this as something to do when they have changed my motherboard with newer version, but the said that is has nothing to do with that

    Only was to solve this irritating problem is changed the whole upper case! 317€ (218,12€ upper case + installation)

     

    With external keyboard all is OK....

     

    I guess I'll just live with it for now.

  • by Jennnnnnnnnn,

    Jennnnnnnnnn Jennnnnnnnnn Oct 4, 2016 10:47 AM in response to MattyRay
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 4, 2016 10:47 AM in response to MattyRay

    Called apple Today. FINALLY THIS WORKED!!!!! I tried everything else and nothing else lasted for more than a couple minutes.

     

    How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

  • by Musicandnothing,

    Musicandnothing Musicandnothing Oct 8, 2016 2:39 AM in response to MattyRay
    Level 1 (25 points)
    iPad
    Oct 8, 2016 2:39 AM in response to MattyRay

    hi, I got the same problem! got a late-2011 Macbook Pro. Some letters have stopped functioning since 3 days ago! It started with D and now other letters !! the point is that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't work. The other point I'm going to add is that I'm typing this using the dictation option on Mac. Please help me if you know how to resolve this cause this is really really annoying.

  • by Phil Sinclair,

    Phil Sinclair Phil Sinclair Oct 11, 2016 2:19 AM in response to pjspjs
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 11, 2016 2:19 AM in response to pjspjs

    Now I am totally convinced it is OS related. Upgraded to Sierra, keyboard working slightly better. As Sierra was having Java JDK problems. I reinstalled the original mid-2011 OS Lion. Keyboard working perfectly and error free. Reinstalled a
    vanilla version of Sierra. Seems to be ok with the keyboard key repeat slowed as per previous posts. I also realised that clicking on Safari links often went to rename option, and that seems to have gone away to.

  • by Zonker in Russia,

    Zonker in Russia Zonker in Russia Oct 11, 2016 2:23 AM in response to MattyRay
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Oct 11, 2016 2:23 AM in response to MattyRay

    I finally replaced my keyboard. Not too expensive, but took a long time - 120 tiny screws, I believe.

     

    In any case, it works now.

  • by Phil Sinclair,

    Phil Sinclair Phil Sinclair Oct 11, 2016 2:24 AM in response to Zonker in Russia
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 11, 2016 2:24 AM in response to Zonker in Russia

    This email account is no longer active. Your email will automactically be treated as spam. If you wish to make contact please resend your email to philipsinclair@bluewin.ch

  • by reeay,

    reeay reeay Oct 13, 2016 6:56 PM in response to MattyRay
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 13, 2016 6:56 PM in response to MattyRay

    Have this issue too.

     

    As the person above said, pressing option 5 times may work.

     

    Another trick is to hold down the keys that are not working (all at once).

     

    If those don't work, re-boot.... & use another keyboard

  • by headndshoulders,

    headndshoulders headndshoulders Oct 14, 2016 2:35 PM in response to honest abe77
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 14, 2016 2:35 PM in response to honest abe77

    Thank you very much! That worked for me.

    It took me:

    • one call to service,
    • taking of the keys that not working from keyboard,
    • google the issue once…

    Stil, shame on OSX UX designers. This acessibility feature is so dumb and random.

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