Keyboard randomly stops working after Leopard Install

I had an exchange because of the monitor that were unable to open completely, but also that keyboard was affected. A friend on mine has the same problem too, we both have the Santa Rosa model.

I posted this on the other thread but thought it might be worth putting here:

I've been having the keyboard freezes on my MBP, especially the first letter being missed out when I begin to type, on BOTH Tiger and Leopard since I got my machine in August. This is really annoying when you're typing long Word documents and of course anything else. The recent update hasn't fixed that, but has appeared to fix the freezes after waking from sleep. Something I have noticed, and it's to my shame that I have to say it in this forum, but I don't get these problems in Windows XP running via bootcamp on the same machine. Not sure if I'm the only one that's experienced this!? Suggests to me it is a software problem and not a hardware issue. I really would love to find a solution for this problem, I don't want to use Windows more than I have to............. none of the suggestions in this forum so far have worked for me dammit!

You might wanna check this out:

http://www.petergabriel.dk/mbp.html

mymacbookwillgothedealerafternewyear.
ifyouallbroughtyourmacbooktherewhereyouboughtuntillitcamebackrepairedapplewouldb eforcredtodealwithit.
sorrybutthisiostheonlywayicantypenow.

norestartorresetwillgetmymacbookprobacktonormalanymore.
sothebugisrathereasilytosee.
great,thedealerwillhavetodealwithitnow.
applewillrecievethousandsofbrokenmacbookprostorepairinthenewyear.

regardsFrancois

youcanworkalittlebycopiyingaspaceandpasteiteverytimeyouneeditanddeletewiththemou sebyactivitingtextandtypeoverit.tabnolongerworksbutcanbelivedwithbyusingthemouse aswell.

ifyouhaveanotherusbkeyboarditmightworkaswell.willtrythatlater

very strange, just update my battery software http://www.apple.com/support/macbook_macbookpro/batteryupdate/
am just back for a week or so from a month to the philippines and now after the batteryupdate my macbookpro is doing fine. as you can see the spacebar works fine as well as the other keys.

I just went in 15 minutes from 100% batterylife to 65%. My battery usually shuts down all of a sudden anytime between 60and 40%. There is a replacement program by Apple and so I will bring the battery to the dealer as soon as my newly ordered one is in.

If my keyboard problem isn't solved I will report it here again.
Francois

I have the same problem. This is ridiculous. If the big sales point for Apple is the stability of UNIX based OS, then please have the keyboard work on your laptops.

lol
the greatest thing is that they will reveal new laptops in mw08, I am afraid that they will stop working on our problem..

I too have this problem.

For a minute or so, no keys will respond at all. Eventually, it just starts working again. Really frustrating! 😟

sorrytoreportheproblempersists
newbatteryandallupdatesbutstillmykeysdontwork

willbringmymacbookprotothedealer

pittythereisnorsponsebyapple
thelaptopisuselesslikethis

iamverydisappointredbyapple
mymacprowasalsobrokenandgonefortwomonthsuntilrepaired
nowmylaptop

pleaseAppleReleaseyourOSXtoothermoreresponsiblePCmanufacturers
Iusethismachineforwork,itsnotaniPodvehiccle
Appleisgoingdownhillveryfastnow

grgrggrgr

well,since Ireally need my laptop, I tried to push just above the trackpad as one of the posters suggested. And yes that works. I have to push as hard as I can, I use one vinger until it hurts and the aluminium just barely deforms. When I do that my Macbook stays good for a while. I push and use the spacebar to see when to stop pushing.

All other things worked only for moments or not at all. But the method by pushing the aluminium cladding just above the trackpad now seems to remidy my problems. At least I can continue to work. Have to say that my previous battery had swollen almost 3mm out of its casing and so it might just have caused a problem above the battery with the laptop components. At least I have a story to tell to the dealer. My Macbook is out of warrenty but I hope they will get my Macbook repaired.

I really hope Apple already knows about this issue and is working on a fix as we speak because I, too, have this problem.

Details:
-Keyboard randomly become non-responsive/ track-pad is responsive
-caps lock/ num lock lights are non-responsive
-Volume, keyboard back light, and screen light buttons are also non-responsive
-after holding down random buttons, keyboard becomes responsive again, but not for long

computer detail:
-I have had my MacBook Pro for three months with Tiger and this never happened.
-two weeks after installing Leopard, Keyboard begins to fail with increasing occurence

Apple! Please help us!

PS it happened when I was typing this message

My MBP 17"-- purchased in April 2007 with OS 10.4 installed -- had occasional problems from the start with the left caps key. I installed Leopard at the end of November and the problems seem to have increased lately. The machine has now been running for two hours after a cold boot with no left caps functionality in MS Word, MS Entourage, Apple Text Edit and Finder (file renaming) while the right caps key does work. Now -- inexplicably after beginning to write this reply -- I suddenly have left caps functionality!
My reason for replying was a curious phenomenon in Parallels while running a Win XP VM. Here, caps lock sometimes goes bananas, leading me to wonder whether a VM was causing the problem. I can't see why, though, as a VM that hasn't been started is not likely to have any effect in the Mac OS. The intermittent effect suggests that it is not a hardware problem. I don't relish the idea of "lending" my precious Mac, which I use for work, to a dealer for an uncertain length of time, when the dealer probably doesn't have the slightest idea of what's wrong. There was an update from Apple before Christmas that referred to a keyboard issue, but it has had no noticeable effect. In the absence of any useful information/update from Apple, we might all try contacting the press? Is a concerted/multinational effort here an option?

As I posted here I had exactly these kind of problems, tab, space, delete keys not working. It seemed to be Leopard but something else also hapend during the last 2 months. My battery expanded some 3 mm and must have pushed something up inside my laptop. Now when I push the areas just above my trackpad quit hard the keyboard becomes fully operational again. It is described by others here too to the same effect.

Since a clean install of Leopard did not solve the problem and the dealer had lots of Macbooks in good working order I began to suspect it must be a typical hardware problem. I am afraid my Macbook need repair or I just press the casing each time I startup. Its a bit random though, I just had to press the casing again and now I can typ again. The Macbook Pro might just have been a bit too thin for the best of things.

These are the things that have been possible causes for my laptop to develop these problems:
1.Leopard ?
2.using the power adapter on a plug that has no earth connection, maybe this does damage the laptop somehow. I could feel a strong current vibrating when touching the casing in some cases.
3.faulty battery that expands and pushes up the inside above the battery, I did not send back the faulty battery and used it as a spare.....sorry
4.anything else, since the problem is so random and suddenly appears and can be solved by pushing the casing it is hardware related. Typical for the Macbooks thin design and maybe caused by a design fault in the area above the trackpad. It should be easy to repair once Apple comes up with a proper way to repair it and sends instructions to the repair centres.

Good luck, its the most annoying defect I ever had with a Apple computer and leaves you with a useless machine.
Francois

frv wrote:
As I posted here I had exactly these kind of problems, tab, space, delete keys not working. It seemed to be Leopard but something else also hapend during the last 2 months. My battery expanded some 3 mm and must have pushed something up inside my laptop. Now when I push the areas just above my trackpad quit hard the keyboard becomes fully operational again. It is described by others here too to the same effect.

Sorry if this sounds rude, but someone just has to say this.

YOUR #1 REASON IS THIS: YOU BROKE YOUR MACBOOK BY NOT FOLLOWING APPLE'S ADVICE TO REPLACE THE FAULTY BATTERY.

It is not a software problem, it is not a leopard issue, it is the battery that expanded and somehow messed up the connecton between the keyboard and motherboard.

If your MBP is under warranty, send it in and they will fix it. If it is not, complain hard to Apple and try to get them to fix it.

Your issue is completely different from what most people are reporting in this thread.

S.

Spurred by other comments and my own deliberations on the strange behavior of caps lock in my Parallels Win XP VM, I wondered whether only suspending a VM might be a contributing factor. I have now exited Win XP in Parallels and made sure the VM has stopped. So far no more problems with my left caps key! Could anyone else confirm this as an issue/solution?
Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac, build 5582. Win XP SP2 with all current updates.