keyboard problem MacBook Pro

Oh yes!

Saw a post about this problem referring to a Canon scanner... Well! That was exactly what I did! installed the driver for a Canon Lide 25. Mac OS X scan program working fine, toolbox failing. On Leopard 10.5.1...

Then... Keyboard failures. Never seen before in my life. The "first letter missing" sometimes happens, but mostly because I tend to not press hard on the first key (God nows why and I should too...).

Well, I removed the driver (kernel extension) after terminating the xxx_ButtonManager in Activity Monitor.

No more issues for me since, and I hope that never again. Canon has a 30D digital Camera of mine for 2 months for repair, they haven't released a Leopard driver for this scanner and I must use it under VMware Fusion over XP. No more Canon for me!!!

However, some users might really have hardware problems. But please check on your software, it can save you a lot of hassle!

Other post refereed VMWare Fusion. Yes, it also gave me a hard time on Leopard, but 1.1 seems to be fine. Just don't forget to update VMWare tools regularly.


Kind regards,

Paulo Neves

Impossible to join the Apple call center here from Switzerland. MacBook Pro's keyboard gets totally dead every 30 seconds or so as long as no key was pressed, after sleeping mode. It comes back by pushing a lot (varying) of times any key. It's my first mac (appart from my lisa) and I NEED IT TO WORK !! The sleep and awake (in good shape) function is mandatory on a portable machine !
Is it worth going to an Apple retailer (i bought the machine on the online store) ?

The problem seems to now be ported back to Tiger for me. Did a clean install of Tiger, and completely removed leopard, (Not even Archive and Install Option chosen). The problem still exists but i musts say it's dramatically lower (About once per day). It seems to also get out of control when you cycle through multiple windows or when you try to "right click" an item. P.S. Did the recent update (Pro Application Support) do anything to fix it.

NB. Release notes said "improved keyboard stability ......."

the problrm is still here.
it is so ******* annoying that i even stopped recommending apple computers to people who consider bying one :O

apple, please come up with a fix! quick!. or at least with a statement or something …

I'm getting desperate with this problem...
As a new apple customer i discover that the only support available is by phone,
because the local apple dealer does not want to support my mac, just bought online.
Contacting Apple by phone needs a lot of time and patience.. i now doubt i would recommend to buy an Apple computer to anyone.

Greg, just found your original post. See you are not in the USA. Maybe someone with experience overseas has found an effective way to interface with AppleCare. I'm working from w/in the USA and just know how to make it work here.

In the USA this works: Have you gotten a case number? If yes, use that to get to second tier support. In one frustrating call I got a low level AppleCare tech who said they did do hardware support. I was directed to a "Genius Bar" which in my case is 4 hours away. WRONG. I called Apple sales on another line to confirm what I should expect from AppleCare. I was advised to request second tier support. Which I did until I got there. Then it was smooth sailing. At the very least, you'll get to knowledgeable problem solving. It will help if you can list symptoms and solution attempts. In my case, they replaced my computer.

If a repair is ordered, it is my experience that a local authorized dealer WILL help you.

Yep. Same problem here. Intermittent keyboard freezes.

I'm a brand new Mac owner (I've had this computer for 1 week) and have no idea what to do! Good thing I bought AppleCare; I've already called them 3 times.

Brand new MacBook as well with the same problem. Just wanted to add my name to the list so Apple will take notice already and release a fix. I would hate to have to bring my laptop back to the Apple Store and deal with that whole bit.

someone mentioned that it might be related to the Trackpad.

They said if they left their trackpad alone for more than 10 seconds then the keyboard started responding again.

I just tried this after my keyboard stopped responding and had not come back up during the time it took me to call the apple number in the UK and then find the number for my local store (which isn't very local) and then call that number only to find out that both were closed and then get cut off. Nice customer support. It's only just gone 6pm here.

I have tried this twice now after my keyboard had just failed again and both times it seemed to work.
Coincidence?

I posted earlier that my problem seems to only happen after waking from a safe sleep but now seems to be happening when it is running. My partner has also just told me that her keyboard has started to not respond either. She has a Macbook intel core duo. Mid-range white one about a year 1/2 ago.

I wonder if the safe-sleep is corrupting anything when going to sleep and only gets resolved after a restart?

It does seem to be getting worse over time though.

Hi all

I have the very first macbook pro model and it's been fine up to installing Leopard. Since then the keyboard has started to exhibit this issue and is getting worse and worse every day almost to the point of being unusable. The trackpad has never failed thought.

As noted above, if you leave the trackpad alone after the keyboard is locked up for about 30 seconds it seems to return. If you keep using the trackpad it doesn't return. I check if the keyboard is back when you press caps-lock. It will light the LED when it's working, not when it's frozen.

This seems to be a software issue. I have typed this comment on it so it seems to keep working once you keep using it. Maybe a trackpad issue? It would poke the keyboard to wake it when the machine is gone into low power mode so maybe there is a fix in there somewhere? Hope apple take note of this issue soon. To be honest, I'd say there is some developer in apple fixing this at the moment, as with all things, knowing there is an issue and then engineering a solution and testing it takes time.

We'll have a fix this week, hopefully.
Donie

Message was edited by: donie

I was having a similar problem as well. My MBP is about 3 weeks old now and had Leopard on it. I noticed that certain keys on the keyboard would cut out occasionally but after pressing them a few times, they would work again. I was worried that this may be a hardware issue so I erased Leopard and installed Tiger just to see what would happen. It seems to be working better now, but I still experience some lag with certain keys.

If this is a hardware problem, how many instances have to occur for a company like Apple to do a recall? or are recalls only for safety hazards? It seems that there are so many people dealing with this issue. I bought a warranty on it so I think I will be safe if this is a hardware issue and my keyboard does die.

same problem here. 3 week old macbook pro. i develop for a living and this problem is driving me nuts. come on apple! fix it.

Finally decided to bring mine in yesterday. Got the call, and i'm gonna pick it up tomorrow. I hope it truley is a hardware problem and is now fixed. Will post any new developments.

P.S. 1 Day for a repair, pretty quick!!!

Also having keyboard issue. Details on setup:
10.5.1 MacBook Pro 2.4 Santa Rosa, stock machine, no kexts, abnormal drivers (Sidetracked etc), or Virtualization software installed.

No Keyboard problems with Tiger, or first 3 weeks on Leopard.

Keyboard issue only began when I first plugged in external USB mouse under Leopard. After the mouse was unplugged the keyboard problem began.


Donie, I think you are right with the trackpad use connection. My symptoms are if I use only my trackpad for 20 seconds, the keyboard sleeps.

Keyboard returns if I don't use the trackpad for 10 Seconds. Does not sleep unless you then use the trackpad and DON'T use keyboard for the 20 seconds.

Given the regularity of these intervals and the fact that it seems connected to external USB pointing/keyboard devices I believe this is a power management issue of the USB ports, and possibly confusing the external and internal USB port. I agree with Donie a fix should be coming hopefully sooner rather than later. Otherwise, a 10 second wait is the best work around I have found.

From reading the thread it seems almost everyone on it have used an external USB mouse or keyboard. This could be the root of the problem, though no way to fix it. I don't have a bootable (haven't set up TM either) backup to check if the first connection of the mouse caused it. Does anyone else have one to test this?

keyboard and trackpad still dead.completely disappeard. still don’t know what to do. really disappointing 😟