Dot & Comma Keys not working

For some reason the Dot & Comma keys on my MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2011) running on High Sierra (10.13.6 (17G11023)) stopped working

Would be great if support would get involved

MacBook Air 13", macOS 10.13

Posted on Apr 22, 2020 5:17 AM

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5 replies

Apr 22, 2020 6:36 AM in response to poptional

Hello there

That's an interesting occurrence, there is possibly one explanation but I might be clutching at straws , Do you use FCPX at all? Because in Final Cut Pro the dot and comma keys are often used as key shortcuts for a precision tool to move a highlighted clip forwards or back in the timeline, for perhaps say, bringing in a visual bang on the first note of a piece of music , that sort of thing. I am not aware of any other App that uses these two keys which is why its intrigued me.

My thinking is ,that they somehow have got caught in a sort of trap between commands , of being still in Final Cut ...OR the shift key is stuck ...OR the keys have been assigned somewhere else as a shortcut possibly for a gaming App.

Sorry to be so vague but I think its something to do with the keys possibly having a dual role .

Let me know if my little stab in the dark sheds any light,

All the best,


Sam

Apr 22, 2020 6:36 AM in response to poptional

Hello!


Click Show Keyboard Viewer:




Do you see gray keys Dot & Comma when you press that keys on the real keyboard?


If don't – this is keyboard hardware problem.


If you see – start Text Edit.app and try to click that keys on the virtual keyboard. Do you see symbols Dot & Comma in the Text Edit window? If you see – this is application problem in which you try to input this symbols.


If you don't see this symbols in Text Edit window – I'm very impressed and don't know what is it…

Apr 22, 2020 6:44 AM in response to Community User

Hello AirGraph,

Thanks for the quick response.

I in fact do not see the keys turning grey. However, I have no idea how this could be a hardware failure. The Laptop was on my desk and didn't move an inch since I used it last time (in fact it didn't move in a very long time), so it certainly can't be any external factor.

And both keys stopping to work at the same time also seems a bit odd to me.

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Dot & Comma Keys not working

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