Keyboard went haywire typing randomly

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Level 1

12 points

Keyboard went haywire typing randomly

Hi,

My keyboard on my M1 Mac just went haywire and started typing randomly and opening applications on its own (I'm assuming through keyboard shortcuts?). The Music app opened, and then it started switching between apps that were open... anything it opened, random letters were being typed, e.g., "=-0tiyxuhjkl" and "io;0 oi8.,09n8 j8k."

I wasn't able to stop it. Things kept popping up, and it was just typing into whatever application was on the screen. The mute button on my touchbar kept going on and off, too. I just forced a shut down of the laptop, then restarted. It hasn't happened again, and I ran Malwarebytes, and it came up clean.

Just a glitch? Or something else?

It may have been related to switching my input language with the key combination that I have that does that (pressing Caps Lock). I often accidentally hit that, and it typed the first few letters in that second language, then switched to English. It wasn't just one letter, so a key isn't stuck. Never had this happen before. It was super weird.

Help?

Posted on Jan 5, 2022 11:45 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

HWTech

Level 9

60,308 points

Jan 5, 2022 5:37 PM in response to daisi145

I've seen that type of behavior when the Trackpad is bad or when a battery is swollen and pressing on the Trackpad. Try running the Apple Diagnostics to see if any hardware issue is detected. Keep in mind that the only useful diagnostic result is when it detects a problem. You may want to have Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider to examine the laptop especially if it is still under warranty (make sure it is documented by Apple so if it occurs outside of warranty, then it may be considered a pre-existing condition).

I have seen bad Trackpads do this intermittently at first, then happen more & more often. Also take a close look at the laptop to see if you notice whether the Trackpad is being pushed up a bit by the battery swelling. Make sure the laptop is able to sit firmly on a flat tabletop. If the laptop wobbles, it indicates the battery may be swelling.

Make sure to have frequent and regular backups. I've seen a bad trackpad rename files and if a document is opened, then it is possible the document could be corrupted or destroyed by the random actions.

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