Macbook Air M1 Keyboard going crazy

This is 100% not a physical hardware issue. It is a software issue. I have the same thing on a brand spanking new device which I purchased after my Macbook Pro 2019 bricked.

The problem

• Random characters will suddenly produce while typing
• Random keys will be functional when they shouldn't be (e.g shift, function, etc)
• Characters will be awfully delayed making the keyboard unusable
• Sometime key will not produce any character at all and then suddenly produce many
• Keys all across the keyboard suffer this issue, not just 1 or 2, and they do so randomly
• Sometimes a key will produce the wrong character altogether

How to know it's software based?

1. If you have a key which isn't producing a character, close the laptop lid and re-open. Every single time you will find the keyk suddenly producing many characters in rapid succession.
   1. E.g. if 'd' isn't working and I press it 10 times, close the lid and reopen it, those 10 'd's will produce like crazy (more than the number of times I pressed the key, I believe). This happens consistently, indicating a software not a hardware malfunction as closing the lid can only reset something in the software, it cannot fix a hardware issue.
2. To further support this, if you force quit the keyboard server (by going to Activity Monitor > searching Keyboard > quitting) you are also able to temporarily make a key work akin to point 1. This works consistently, every single time.
3. The fact it happens to many keys at random (although some much more than others) further indicates a software issue a hardware keyboard faults are often limited to 1 or 2 keys.
4. It also seems to occur on the mouse which will linger, feel delayed and dysfunctional. e.g. will randomly highlight something, or fail to unhighlight even when commanded.

Writing this answer was a real effort.

When a key fails to wowrk, I sneed to copy and pate an instance where it disd dand use command p, provided those keys wor. Ankd whden typing freekly I will often find many characters andomely failing or appearing mid senetcek. I have not edited this senstence to shosw the problem. This is actually tame compared to how it can sometimeds be.

I am yet another user with the same or related problem. I got my MacBook Pro M1 on Monday and it worked fine for two days. Yesterday, I couldn't log in because every character I typed was treated as CAP, even though the Caps Lock key wasn't lit and I wasn't pressing the shift key. I researched the problem (using my reliable, 2015 Dell laptop), found out about resetting the PRAM, and was able, after multiple tries, to execute that workaround using an external keyboard. After that I experimented with the internal keyboard and found that it randomly changes from Cap to lower case when I'm typing. Also, holding the Shift key doesn't seem to work at all - I cannot intentionally capitalize a letter.

I'm using an external keyboard now because the internal one is so unreliable.

I have an appointment at an Apple Store for tomorrow afternoon. This has really shaken my faith in Apple. I wonder if I should cut my losses and return it before I invest any more time in it? Anyone who has gotten a keyboard replacement from Apple - did it work reliably after that? For how long?

ErnestoGM wrote:

if I use an external keyboard (as I'm doing right now)...it doesn't happen.

That is actually a good indication that it IS a physical problem with the keys (regardless of how new your device is).

TheDissapointed wrote: This is 100% not a physical hardware issue. It is a software issue. I have the same thing on a brand spanking new device which I purchased after my Macbook Pro 2019 bricked.........

Do you have the same problems when using an external keyboard?

I haven't tried as I don't have an external keyboard. Although I see where you'r going. Thing is, it could surely still be a software issue even if it did work with an external keyboard. The issue could be specifically how the software interact with the built in keyboard and not an external one.

How or why else would quitting keyboard server consistently have ad poitive (albdeidt dhortlived effect)?

Thanks for your reply but I'm still suspicious that it is 100% hardware. If it was then how or why else would quitting keyboard server consistently have a positive (albeit short-lived effect)? That can only indicate something being refreshed in the software. So basically, I suspect it's something in how the computer registers the built in keyboard as opposed to external ones. It could be an equally hardware and software issue, double jeopardy type thing.

Though, you seem pretty accepting for having bought a faulty device for premium prices. I'd seek a refund or confirmation that you can get one (if you're in a lockdown region) if I were you. I will be and I'll be fixing an old 2013 model which worked equally well (in many cases better) than the 2019 MacBook Pro I bought for $2.6k which happened to also have this issue (but due to the butterfly keyboard) and then bricked out of nowhere a week or so out of warranty 😅

I don't think throwing more money at Apple is wise for me.

TheDissapointed wrote:

I haven't tried as I don't have an external keyboard.

You might want to try that. Doesn't have to be an Apple keyboard or an expensive one to test the basic issues. If an external keyboard does behave the same, you have probably proved it's a software issue.

In my experience helping in these forums over a number years, it's really hard to find a software issue that does not affect both internal and external keyboards.

I have a very similar issue. I’m using a new M1 Mac which I’ve had since launch. I also have the most recent Apple BT keyboard and trackpad (which I bought a couple of months prior to the M1). All has been working well up until now. This morning the keyboard started doing really random things, press backspace once and the cursor would keep going deleting everything in its path (I lost some good emails today). Or I’d start typing and it would randomly double or triple what I pressed or offer me international variants of a letter. I’ve checked for stuck keys, battery, usual fault finding. Only thing that works is turn the keyboard off (using the rear toggle switch) and then after a few moments turn it on. It’ll be fine for 20-30 minutes and then bug out again. Seeing as there’s been a lot of talk about BT issues with the M1 Mac, could it not be that?

And I’ve tried an external USB keyboard and it’s fine but I’ve not tried a different BT keyboard.

My keyboard stops entirely out of nowhere. So far, it's mostly happened in browser (Chrome), when I've opened a new tab. I go to type and I get the beep error noise per key stroke and no letters show. When I go to a different program, sometimes it'll work, sometimes it won't. I wait a few minutes then it's back on again. No rhyme or reason. There's no way this is a hardware issue.

Same thing happened to my 3 week old MacBook Air M1. I have restarted, used terminal, re-installed Big Sur, tried everything. Works perfectly with external keyboard. Must be a bad batch, as my wife has exactly the same computer, bought on the same day(just different colour) and all is working fine. Gave it in for resolve at the iStore and will wait patiently for it to be fixed

Agreed and thank you. We (my wife and me) had a similar problem with keyboard(s) on the new M1 Mac Mini.

In technical jargon, I believe it is called Sleeping Dragon(S): some obscure system coding did NOT handle the multitude hardware correctly.

We had the M1 Mac Mini since Dec 2020 (4 months now): last week it gave us a heart attack when the keyboard(s) will not let us enter the password for login!

We tried 4 different keyboards: 2006 Apple Bluetooth (no wire), 2015 Apple Magic Keyboard (USB wire or Bluetooth), MacAlly keyboard and $4 Inland Mini-Keyboard.

We tried the keyboards plugged in the 2 USB-3 on the M1 Mac Mini, a USB-3-hub, a Zetta-Guard hub and a USB-3 to USB-C adapter.

And also tried the Google Remote Desktop, which worked many times before, when the monitor cannot wake-up: bloody screen saver came up.

After rebooting a dozen times (keyboards still not working) and finally Pray to God: the $4 Inland Mini-keyboard worked !!!

Thus, we copied all our data (MOV, MP4, MP3, JPG, HEIC, etc...) to external SSD and HDD.

Make a bootable Big Sur on external SSD Samsung X5 (not sure it will solve the problems with the keyboards LOL; but, it might help with the swapping problems of the Apple internal SSD)

And planning to trade-in the M1 Mac Mini for the M1 MacBook Air: that how we found this thread: same problems with keyboards!!!

Myway to say: do not count on the M1 as your Primary computer and always have a second backup system to work with (like having a good spare tire for your car)

We have a MacBook Pro 2017 16GB RAM 512GB SSD, still running Catalina and never had such problems with keyboards.

(Beware: we cannot boot the external SSD Big Sur with the MBP 2017 Catalina: it said INCOMPATIBLE)

Van Ho (retired)

I have the very same issue but just with one key, Is dot symbol (the key just before ? key)

I am going to Apple service in one week, could anybody tell the end of your story? What the conclusion form Apple? And for how long you have been waiting to get your Mac back?