My Mac is acting like a key is stuck

I solved the problem on mine. I have a MacBook Pro I bought new in August, 2013. I am running Mavericks 10.9.4.

I must have pressed some key combinations that acted like a shortcut command. Suddenly the character "y" kept repeating. Then the Enter key wouldn't work when I was trying to search in various browsers. I tried to uninstall some software to diagnose the problem, but every time I tried to type my password, it kept repeating ..................

So in System Preferences > Keyboard, under Key Repeat, it was on Fast (not sure how it got there. I turned it off, and now everything works OK.

I am having the same issues with my 6 year old mac. While i haven't tried the reset options as described above, i did find something else on another forum that seems to have (for now) solved my problem. The poster suggested that there may be another wireless keyboard within in range of the mac that is causing the problem. This was true in my case, i have a small wireless keyboard i use with my ipad sometimes and removed the batteries...as i was also getting the low battery warning ( which i thought was odd, because i use a corded one with the mac). hopefully, that other keyboard was the cause.

will update if the problem persists!

Try doing a SMC reset and PRAM reset, you may need to do each 2x. If the problem persists you may have a keyboard with a stuck key, in that case it's covered by warranty. If you have AppleCare give them a call and they can also help you troubleshoot the problem and if necessary arrange a replacement keyboard.

SMC RESET

• Shut down the computer.
• Unplug the computer's power cord and all peripherals.
• Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
• Release the power button.
• Attach the computers power cable.
• Press the power button to turn on the computer.

PRAM RESET

• Shut down the computer.
• Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
• Turn on the computer.
• Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
• Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
• Release the keys.

BTW you also may want to restart in Safe Mode, it's possible you may have a corrupt cache file. This will clear some of the caches.

This is the information I received from Wacom:

First, disconnect the tablet from the computer and remove the driver using the Wacom Utility. After removing the driver with the utility, you can manually check to see if anything is left behind in the following folders. So while in our desktop we want to click on ‘Go’ (upper left corner), then on ‘Computer’. Once inside, please access your main hard drive (by default should be named Macintosh HD). Once we’re here anything that’s related to Wacom, would need to be removed from the folders. The same will have to be checked in any respective User’s folder on the system. On OS X 10.7 Lion or later, the User Library folder has been hidden. To access it, you must select 'Go' from the top of Finder and select 'Go to folder...’. Here, enter ' ~/Library ' to access the current user's Library folder. Please check for Wacom related files and remove them from inside the next folders:

• Applications/Wacom Tablet
• Library/Application Support/Tablet
• Library/Frameworks/WacomMultiTouch.framework
• Library/Internet Plugins/WacomTabletPlugin.plugin
• Library/Launch Agents/com.wacom.wacomtablet.plist
• Library/LaunchDaemons/com.wacom.displayhelper.plist
• Library/LaunchDaemons/com.wacom.RemoveTabletHelpter.plist
• Library/LaunchDaemons/com.wacom.TabletHelper.plist
• Library/PreferencePanes/WacomTablet.prefpane
• Library/Preferences/Tablet
• Library/PriveledgedHelperTools/com.wacom.RemoveTabletHelper
• Library/PriveledgedHelperTools/com.wacom.TabletHelper
• Users//Library/Preferences/com.wacom.ProfessionalTablet.plist
• Users//Library/Preferences/com.wacom.wacomtablet.prefs
• Users//Library/Preferences/com.wacom.wacomtouch.prefs

After this is complete then there should not be any leftover files of a previous Wacom driver file. A restart and a repair of your disk permissions would be important steps before installing a driver. Again, make sure that the tablet is plugged directly into the computer, not into a USB hub or keyboard/monitor.Next, please proceed with the driver installation:A restart will be required after installing the driver, please make sure to close and save all your work before following these instructions.

• Disconnect the tablet from the computer
• Download and install the driver from:
• http://cdn.wacom.com/u/productsupport/drivers/mac/professional/WacomTablet_6.3.1 5-3.dmg

As always, make sure your tablet is connected directly to your computer. Avoid using USB hubs, keyboard/monitor ports, or docking stations with the tablets, as they can cause inconsistent behavior.

I'd like to share my particular solution. Symptom: a four year old MBA A1369 with backslash key repeating/stuck right after booting up. Any open app will show repeating '\' until any other key is pressed. After that all seems okay. Annoying because this was going on for over a year now. After some testing i made the decision (since nothing else could fix it) to replace the rather worn keyboard (180 euro) but to my surprise this did not solve the problem. Went to Genius Bar. They concluded that it also didn't respond to an external keyboard. For instance PRAM zapping wasn't possible at all. At this point there wasn't a lot he could do for me since i had tried to repair the machine myself. Those are the rules. Luckily the (very friendly) genius guy finally suggested i also replace the trackpad cable since the keyboard is connected through the trackpad to the motherboard. This trackpad cable apparently had proven to be unreliable over the years, repair guys told him. Went home, ordered the cable (25 euro) and -phew- PROBLEM SOLVED.

Having the same problem with a brand new iMac. Every half hour, when I don't use it, it's gonna beep. I've checked with the keyboard viewer and the F5 key seems stuck, but rebooting without touching the keyboard removes the issue (for another half hour) so I'm not that sure it's a keyboard hardware issue. No other wireless keyboard around.

I'm having the same problem. All I did was turn off Bluetooth and the problem apparently went away. Since I'm not using Bluetooth now, I'm calling the problem solved for now. I know this isn't a true solution but it might point someone the right way. It sure seems like it has to do with Bluetooth at least

I am having the same issue. This happened to me last year right in the middle of my manic study period, so of course it has begun again when i am manically writing essays. Last year when i took my computer to the apple store the guy looked at me like i was lying about this. He made the keyboard thing visable on my computer so next time it happened i could check which button was stuck...of course the noise then stopped. It started again tonight and i checked the keyboard which indicated no buttons were stuck down.

I have no idea how to re-install iOS and am very stressed out. Did anything else fix rhis problem??

I am having this similar issue with my 2011 27" iMac with Mavericks. I am using a wired keyboard and a magic mouse. I have tried multiple different keyboards. I have tried doing the SMC Reset, PRAM Reset, and Safe Mode; nothing has changed. Only certain keys are locked up. It started with I wasn't able to copy and paste using shortcut keys but now the letter p, 9, 0, 3, e, o, ], are not working.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Today I experienced this abnormal behavior. I have a new Maverick software updated MacBook 13 250ssd 8gRam and while going about my business the number 5 was constantly phantomly pressed. No matter what I would do it would not stop. The computer began to also produce a repeated alarm noise. After attempting to press random keys it stopped but it came back. I have a apple usb wired keyboard and thought that was the problem but it wasn't. After disconnecting the keyboard I opened the lid on mac since I use an external monitor and had to do the same as before to stop it. I rebooted the Mac and I am now freaking out since its like a ticking time bomb. I don't know when it will happen again. Very annoying considering that the reason why I choose the Mac was because of the much highly over publized assurance that it is more reliable, dependable and worry free portable laptop in the world. I did download Sophos virus protection afterwards and ran a full scan and the machine is clean. Programitically I would imagine that there is some code that is being tripped and the is the buggy result. Things like this just should happen. Job would be very dissapointed.

My macbook Air 2013 yosemity just started this. Keys are gone periodically from Q through O.

I have cleaned the keys, but without luck.

Just did the opposite of the previous poster and turned Key repeat to "fast" and Delay Until Repeat to "short" - this seems to have bettered the issue.

But just to be clear: A reinstall of the OS fixes this..?

Otherwise my next step would be to nuke chrome, as the problem is often when the computer uses most of its RAM.

I really don't feel like paying for a serviced replacement of the keyboard - I might do it myself, but it just doesn't seem like a hardware glitch... :/

I just recently updated a Mid 2012 Mac Pro from Mountain Lion (10.8.5) to El Capitan (10.11.5)

The keyboard is wired and was recently replaced with a new one. (The previous one had coffee spilled in it)

Ever since updating the OS, I've had keys sticking and some missed keystrokes. Just a little while ago I had the Command key sticking. Clicking a new link would open in a new tab in Safari. Where it's really been frustrating is in Photoshop. I did try different USB ports to make sure the previous coffee incident didn't damage a USB port or bus. I've also made sure none of the accessibility functions like Sticky Key were enabled.

I found this thread tonight and I've done the SMC and PR resets. I know i'd done a PR reset recently, but not SMC. So the result? So far so good. I'll know more next week when I'm back here at work.

I've been suffering with this problem on my 13-inch 2015 macbook pro for 6 months for now, i just found a possible solution to this, i changed my keyboard layout and it worked for me. i am leaving the virtual keyboard active for a time to see if it back to acting weird, just to check, but i think i solved it.