Keyboard not working on MacBook Air (M2) 2022

Today is Feb. 23, 2023 for reference. I also think the Voice Control is the issue. I had my new Macbook Air M2 delivered 3 days ago. I did not do a transfer of data from my 2015 MA because it was too cluttered. I wanted it to start clean. I only installed Chrome on my M2 as far as Apps & used it to look up Google's voice search & how to add it to my search bar. But it took me down another rabbit hole which led me to Apple's "Voice Control". I have tennis elbow so I thought it would be very cool & useful. I went in to the Accessibility settings & turned it on. The little command window popped up & it said "sleep". I spoke sleep & it did nothing. I repeated a few times & it changed to "wake up". I repeatedly said wake up & nothing happened. I went in to the settings to turn on the "play a tone when command recognized" or something like that. Nothing was being recognized or responding so I went back in to the settings & turned the Voice Control off as well as the play a tone setting. After this, the right side of my keyboard stopped responding. Really it was about 6 or 7 alphabet keys. WHAT?? Also, when I tried random computer commands, it was still playing the Voice Control "command recognized" sound? So it somehow is still activated partially even though I turned it all off completely. I tried Apple's 3 recommendations to no avail. Now what?? Rebooting didn't do a thing either but I could log in & all keys worked from the login screen. Not with the fingerprint, but with my password using the keyboard. Then, the SAME issue once logged in. Ok so hard reboot right? EVERY HARD RESET REQUIRES A PASSWORD that if you can't type, you can't do it. I scoured the internet on my old 2015 MA & found a way to put a virtual keyboard on my M2 screen. Go to System Settings, Choose Keyboard, Input Sources, Select Show Input menu in the menu toolbar, Click the Input menu bar Icon and choose Show Keyboard Viewer. Now you have a functioning keyboard on your screen. Praise the lawd! Go to General in Settings & try to update your software & ONLY use the virtual keyboard to input anything. Mine updated to the current 13.2.1, but with the same keyboard issue (Apple may resolve this between now & when you read this), so I decided to hard reset (in General Settings). If you are doing this DO NOT use your regular keyboard for anything, including enter, & also watch for the hard shift sign when you input. If it's showing up even though you didn't press it, you can turn it off with the regular shift key. Now you can enter your PW & get back to a factory reset. My first attempt failed (error said failed but try again later after about 2 minutes of resetting). Don't know why but I think it takes time for your WIFI to establish a new connection & maybe I didn't wait long enough? I tried again using the same method & it worked as you can see because I am typing this to help others. You also need to use your ORIGINAL PW if you had change it to a new one on set up. So no matter what, if your keyboard is partially not responding & you need to input your PW (assuming you can get past the login screen), you have this option. If nothing on your keyboard is working, I don't think you can even get to Settings except maybe with an external keyboard. Also, STAY AWAY from Voice Control for now. This Apple purchase is THE MOST upsetting & disappointing I have ever experienced in 20 years & seeing how Apple is responding so poorly to this issue is equally as disgusting. NO ONE should be required to have Apple Care when Apple releases Software that tanks their laptop. NO ONE. EVER. On top of that, their "geniuses" apparently aren't even smart enough to guide people to a resolution like I just described above. I hope that this helps a LOT of people & also that I am not in store for a bunch of heartbreak with my brand new purchase :(((((( Hey Apple, ARE YOU LISTENING?????? DO BETTER!!!

...

Update. The issue was resolved.

Ventura 13.2.1

I narrowed it down. I connected a BT keyboard. When it connected Mac asked to set it up by identifying the keys to the right and left of the Shift keys. Right after the Mac keyboard keys, some of them, stopped working. My Mac has multilingual keyboard. This is the keyboard actually has two languages on it from the factory. The second language was pre-installed at the factory. The solution was to switch from English to the other language and back in Settings. This restored the Mac keyboard functionality. Hope this helps some one in the same predicament. @Apple this is a bug!

Today is Feb. 23, 2023 for reference. I think the Voice Control is the issue. I had my new Macbook Air M2 delivered 3 days ago. I did not do a transfer of data from my 2015 MA because it was too cluttered. I wanted a clean start. I only installed Google Chrome on my M2 as far as Apps & used it to look up Google's voice search & how to add it to my search bar. It took me down a rabbit hole which led me to Apple's "Voice Control". I have tennis elbow so I thought it would be very cool & useful. I went in to the Accessibility settings & turned it on. The little command window popped up & it said "sleep". I spoke sleep & it did nothing. I repeated a few times & it changed to "wake up". I repeatedly said wake up & nothing happened. I went in to the settings to turn on the "play a tone when command recognized" or something like that. Nothing was being recognized or responding so I went back in to the settings & turned the Voice Control off as well as the play a tone setting. After this, the right side of my keyboard stopped responding. It was about 6 or 7 alphabet keys. WHAT?? Also, when I tried random unassociated computer commands, it was sounding the Voice Control "command recognized" sound? So it seems it's still activated partially, even though I turned it all off completely, which is perhaps affecting the keyboard. I tried Apple's 3 recommendations to no avail. Now what?? Rebooting didn't do a thing either but somehow I could log in & all keys worked from the login screen. Not with my set up fingerprint (no option), but with my password using the keyboard. Then, the SAME issue once logged in. Ok so hard reboot right? EVERY HARD RESET REQUIRES A PASSWORD but if you can't type, you can't do it. I scoured the internet on my old 2015 MA & found a way to put a virtual keyboard on my M2 screen. Go to System Settings, Choose Keyboard, Input Sources, Select Show Input menu in the menu toolbar, Click the Input menu bar Icon and choose Show Keyboard Viewer. Now you have a functioning keyboard on your screen. Go to General in Settings & try to update your software & ONLY use the virtual keyboard to input anything. Mine updated to the current 13.2.1, but with the same keyboard issue, so I decided to hard reset (in General Settings). If you are doing this DO NOT use your regular keyboard for anything, including enter, & also watch for the hard shift sign when you input. If it's showing up even though you didn't press it, you can turn it off with the regular shift key. Now you can enter your PW & get back to a factory reset. My first attempt failed & the error said failed but try again later? I tried again & it went through setup options but gave me a WIFI error after entering WIFI password. Tried again & it was successful. Don't know why but I think it takes time for your WIFI to establish a new connection. You also need to use your ORIGINAL PW if you had changed it to a new one on set up. So no matter what, if your keyboard is partially not responding & you need to input your PW (assuming you can get past the login screen), you have this option. If nothing on your keyboard is working, I don't think you can even get to Settings except maybe with an external keyboard. Also, STAY AWAY from Voice Control for now. This Apple purchase is THE MOST upsetting & disappointing I have ever experienced in 20 years & seeing how Apple is responding so poorly to this issue is equally as disgusting. NO ONE should be required to have Apple Care or charged $$$ when Apple releases Software that tanks their laptop. NO ONE. EVER. On top of that, their "geniuses" apparently aren't even smart enough to guide people to a resolution like I just described above. People are reporting that Apple has NO IDEA & have never heard of the problem. That's infuriating because Apple HAS read the complaints, responded with nonsense fixes, & IS AWARE. I hope that this helps a LOT of people & also that I am not in store for a bunch of heartbreak with my brand new purchase :(((((( Hey Apple, ARE YOU LISTENING?????? DO BETTER!!! This thing is going back if you don't get it together & you'll be facing a class action if you ignore this very prevalent and documented issue. ~~signed, heartbroken Apple loyal & fanatic customer & stock owner since the 90's.

I reinstalled the system software and the keyboard started working again. For about a week, then it stopped again. Then there was a system software update that got it working again. It's been working about a month now. 🤞🏻

But I still keep an external keyboard and mouse in my office, just in case.

so I just wiped out my Mac and boom it worked, so I think if you mess with the voice controls at all it might glitch it b/c mine kept turning on with voice activation, but I'm using it now- nobody could figure it out and I was going to send it to a repair apple person but fed ex messed up and put the wrong label and it just sat there and then came back to me still sealed with my seals lol, so I called and we decided to erase and start fresh just to see- b/c I couldn't input any passwords etc. also I got this one on amazon prime and have a return of jan 2023, where as apple is 14 days- So fingers crossed it truly was with the voice dictation program- if I mess with that part and it happens this baby is off to amazon prime - to $$ to deal with little glitches

so wipe out and redo, seriously mine was like abcdef... GHIJKLMNOP and numbers all worked. the senior apple helper guy-super nice

I just scrolled up and read the top post! lol

Have you tried booting into Safe Mode to see if the keyboard works? Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

If that doesn't help, then I'd highly recommend making an appointment at the Genius Bar.

f your MacBook Air (M2) keyboard stopped working, but the power button and external keyboards still work, try these steps:

1. Restart Your Mac: Sometimes a simple restart can resolve the issue.
2. Reset SMC: Shut down your Mac, then press and hold the power button for 10 seconds. Release the button and wait a few seconds, then press the power button again to turn it on.
3. Reset NVRAM/PRAM: Restart your Mac and hold down Option + Command + P + R for about 20 seconds. Release the keys and let your Mac restart.
4. Check for Updates: Ensure macOS is up-to-date.
5. Test Your Keyboard: Use keyboardkeytest.com to check if any keys are responsive.

If these steps don’t work, it might be a hardware issue. Unfortunately, you may need to visit the Genius Bar for further assistance

New M2 MacBook Air. My keyboard worked fine initially then I transferred all the data from my old M1 MacBook Air with the migration assistant after which keys on the right side stopped working when I was logged into the computer. If I logged out those keys would work on the password screen before logging in. I had to activate on screen keyboard functionality in accessibility settings to allow me to wipe all my data and settings from the computer. Once I did that and restarted the computer the keyboard works fine. Never had issues with new Apple products or even old ones until now. OS on new iPhone 13 is also a bit buggy. They're trying to maintain their prices and margins in the setting of high inflation and quality is suffering. Unfortunately there is no better option upmarket from Apple.

We gifted a M2 MBA 13" to our grandson for college in July 2022. By August 2023 he could no longer use the keyboard. Apparently the keyboard issue had been intermittent for the prior six months but he never said anything while it was under warranty. We bought him a M2 MBA 15" as a result and I took over the 13". After leaving the MBA powered off for a few days, I was able to power it up to do a factory reset in recovery mode. Since that time the keyboard has worked flawlessly but the keyboard backlight does not. Considering that there are no further issues with MBA and the method that was used to restore the keyboard that Apple may have a firmware issue.

Hello thespigels,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities!

If we understand your post correctly, the keyboard on your MacBook Air M2 isn't working. We'd like to help!

Let's try the steps below:

"You may have accidentally set an option that changes how your keyboard operates.

• Choose Apple menu  > System Settings, click Accessibility  in the sidebar, then click Keyboard on the right. (You may need to scroll down.) Make sure Slow Keys is turned off. If Slow Keys is on, you must press and hold a key longer than usual before it’s recognized.
• Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, then click Pointer Control on the right. (You may need to scroll down.) Make sure Mouse Keys is off.
• Choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Keyboard  in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.) Click Edit next to Input Sources on the right, then turn on “Show Input menu in menu bar.” Open the Input menu, then make sure the correct keyboard layout is selected."

If your Mac doesn’t respond to key presses

If the keyboard is not responding after following the steps above then we recommend contacting Apple Support directly.

Get Support

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

Take care!

That also happened to me. I took it to Apple and I was told that it was a malfunction and that I could either return it and purchase a new one or they could send it out to be fixed but I would have to leave it and it would be mailed back to me. Mine was about a month old. It was covered so I didn’t pay for the repair. It works great now. They replaced the key board. They need to let people know that this could happen as it is definitely a defect with the computer. Hope this helps.

So I have an update! I tried to re-install my OS from reset screen, quit the installation midway, laptop restarted itself and voila my keyboard started working. Not sure how long it will last but give it a try.

so I am sure it’s not a hardware issue now, it’s totally software glitch

Hey there,

I just had a similar thing happen to me with my new macbook but I fixed it! Even when I plugged in an external keyboard, I couldn't type in my password, so I tried starting it up in safe mode (holding down the power button while starting up). From there I reinstalled the macOS (for some reason I could type my password here with the external keyboard). This then allowed the external keyboard to type in the password bar on the main login screen. After checking all the additional keyboard/mic settings everything was as it should be. I figured now I was logged in I could at least do a back-up, then a full factory reset of the Macbook. The factory reset seems to have fixed it!

Turn off “Mouse Keys” in Pointer Control settings which is in the Accessibility Tab in System Settings.