Hey R K Pappas 12!
✣ First off, turn off your MacBook and try cleaning your keyboard keys (do NOT use water). Use a microfiber cloth, or the tube from your vacuum cleaner if you do not have a microfiber cloth. Make sure none of the keys have a sticky feeling. Sometimes a keyboard can even stick more to your keyboard if you frequently use it in a warm or humid outdoor climate. Then turn on your MacBook and type in TextEdit, to see if the same problem occurs.
✣ The next step that usually fixes any Mac is what I call the "Triple Loop Fixeroo".
First Loop : First Aid:
✣✣. Switch off your wi-fi and / or disconnect your Ethernet wire, and restart your Mac - AND upon hearing the jingle IMMEDIATELY press " cmd + r " (Command and R together and hold for 3 seconds). The Apple logo will appear with loading bar. Select your language first and press Next. Then select your drive and enter your password if it prompts you to do so. This section is called "Recovery".
✣✣ Choose Disk Utility. Now, be carefull and you're doing great, on the left vertical area of the Disk Utility window you will either see " Macintosh HD " or the name of your computer. Underneath it you will see something like "com.apple.os.update...", and underneath that you will see " Macintosh HD - Data" or the name of your drive.
✣✣ Click on the OS which is "com.apple.os.update..." - and the next step requires precision - click on "First Aid" in the top middle row of buttons on the right side. It has the Stethoscope above it. Then click "Run" and let the scan do its thing.
✣✣ Then apply these same "First Aid" steps to the "Macintosh HD - Data" or "Your Drive - Data" link below, by clicking on it and then choosing First Aid - and "Run".
Second Loop : Safety on, check
✣✣ After you run First Aid in Recovery, restart the computer by clicking on the Apple menu to restart your Mac. At the very second your startup jingle plays, press and hold the Shift key (either one) and wait until the Apple logo appears to let go.
✣✣ Login like you would normally - but wait there is now a longer loading time. You will need to login a second time (make sure your know your name in your login, too). The computer is preparing to startup in "Safe Mode". This is Apple's way of sending someone to vacuum and Clorox wipe your computer so that the bugs are dead when you go back to the normal startup (which I will mention in a bit).
✣✣ You Mac will flash, have streaks across the screen. I have seen purple and orange, blue and white lines on different Safe Boots, too. Sometimes during safe boots, the screen might even flash a few times, turn black, and then go into normal boot. Yes, things are a little slower when you boot up, but that is fine. After your Desktop is shown, you will want to Restart your Mac again. Click on the Apple menu and choose Restart.
Third Loop : Bambalam clean that RAM (or VRAM or PRAM)!
✣✣ Now, when you hear that jingle, get ready to do some intense button pressing:
With your left hand (at the same time as your right) : Press and hold: R
And with your right hand (same time):
Thumb on "cmd"
Index on "option"
Middle on "P"
The entire keys to be pushed and held, immediately are : P + R + cmd + option
✣✣ If pressed and held together correctly, the Mac will restart again - and this time the jingle will be on full volume. This means the RAM/VRAM/PRAM has been cleaned. You might want to close your windows if your are using an iMac as the jingle confirmation can be loud.
Now in this fourth startup, test your keyboard problem. If it still doesn't work, try the following:
Further Actions:
✣✣✣ Additionally, I would install either FIPLAB's Disk Aid or MacPaw's Clean My Mac X, to check for Malware or other simple "over-the-counter" bugs. Do some scans on each to discover and uncover.
✣✣✣ I would also recommend downloading Malwarebytes and Intego (do a full scan, too).
Don't worry you're doing great. I, too a long time ago was a college student, too. Take a deep breath, you can do this. Please write back if you need anything else, now go get that degree and accomplish your dreams!
