escape key randomly stops working

Question

escape key randomly stops working

The escape key on my 16" MBP stops working randomly, and I haven't been able to identify it's cause. It can happen as often as a couple times a day, or go for a couple weeks between it reoccurring. I believe it started shortly after upgrading to Big Sur.

It will be temporarily resolved by rebooting, but I haven't been able to narrow the cause down at all.

I've got nothing assigned in keyboard accessibility for the escape key. "Escape" input doesn't work using the virtual on-screen keyboard either, so it appears to be software related, not hardware.

How can I identify what's causing this? I use (an up to date) iTerm2 and often with vi(m) and ssh as a part of my job responsibilities, and this is quite disruptive.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 11.2

Posted on Apr 8, 2021 10:25 AM

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Answer 1

Leanne_68

Community Specialist

Apr 9, 2021 1:52 PM in response to therealbhodgens

Hey therealbhodgens,

We see that you're having issues with the Escape key, and we'd like to help!

Are you experiencing this issue with specific apps or all apps? Have you tested an external keyboard connected to your Mac by any chance? If yes, what were the results?

Let's try using the Esc key while you're in another user mode and safe mode. Please check out the articles below:

How to set up new user: Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac

How to use safe mode on your Mac

Let us know how it goes!

Best regards.

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Answer 2

Apr 23, 2021 1:45 PM in response to therealbhodgens

A slight correction on the above - it appears that logging out completely, and back in again, remedies the problem momentarily.

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Answer 3

Apr 22, 2021 10:43 AM in response to Leanne_68

1) The problem is system wide, but it only seems to manifest/I have only noticed it when using iTerm2 w/ vim (which is the only time I use the Esc key). Terminating the application, logging out, etc. have no effect; a reboot is required to return function.

2) I have tested with the virtual/on screen keyboard. The on-screen keyboard also fails to send the Esc signal.

3) A different user also experiences the problem. Safe mode is not a practical diagnostic step as the behavior is sporadic.

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Answer 4

zoom4Air

Level 1

8 points

Jun 1, 2021 10:44 AM in response to therealbhodgens

I've experience this using FileMaker Pro Advance 18. I use the ESC key to navigate. Using script to determine if the user has selected ESC key. Works fine for the most part but then it for unknown reason it requires the user to key the ESC key a second time to get the action required.

Tested on external keyboard as well as internal keyboard using a MBP 16 2020 model running Big Sur 11.2.3.

Has there been any other findings regarding this issue?

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escape key randomly stops working

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