Help! My MacBook Pro's keyboard is not working properly!

HI and many thanks for the help with this problem. I had never heard of mouse keys or the 5 x alt toggle to turn it on and off. I kept enabling this feature accidentally because I was switching windows with alt-tab as a hotkey. Turns out you can turn off the 5 x alt shortcut by going into System Preferences - Accessibility - Mouse and Trackpad - Options next to Enable Mouse Keys.

Kind regards,

James

Welp, this fixed my problem! Apparently I had a feature called "Mouse Keys" on. If you press the ALT key five times, it turns this feature on and off. 5x for on and 5x for off.

Thank you for writing this. I was desperate for any fix. This one did it.

The light level symptom suggests a hardware issue, which should be fixed by Apple, because your machine is still under warranty. Nevertheless, you may follow the troubleshooting steps outlined here

One or more keys on the keyboard do not respond

<http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1381>

to make sure.

Mine problem is also same. Will apple fix it for free if my machine under warranty.

I broke the lock of two of my scissor mechanisms(but the keys bounce back fine) when plucking the keys off but I have never opened my MacBook pro. Will this void my warranty or not?

Just had the problem of my keyboard not working when trying to type.

I have found out that holding my finger down on the trackpad (like making a right click) then double clicking alt makes it work fine again, some times takes one or two goes, and the mac makes a clicking noise each time this function is actioned.

Read key problems. My p, 0, return, ?, :, keys would work and then not work. Tried rebooting and every software adjustment mentioned on the support website. Then I read that one person had a problem with the case and had to have it replaced. I figured.....why not. Just use the hammer approach. I dropped my 5 year old MacBook Pro onto the kitchen table. All keys are working as you can see by this message. Weird.

CoalCreek Marty

Update from my last input,

Just had the same issue again and the alt button needs 5 clicks till the noise happens

DJT,

My keys which fail are on the right hand side of the laptop. I found that I don't have to drop the laptop, but just hit the lower RIGHT corner firmly. Your ALT key is on the left side. Maybe hit your left corner.

Humidity definitely makes the condition worse. Usually no problems here in Colorado, which is dry. Problem initiated in Michigan (humid) and a few weeks ago as soon as I landed in Houston (humid).

CCMarty

Thank you!! After weeks of having my keyboard simply stop working, with the trackpad still fine, shutting down my computer and rebooting simply to get my keyboard back, you've finally given me a working alternative. I don't know why and what goes on when you hold down the trackpad and double click on the "alt/option" key until I hear the click sound, but it works.

Thank you. I wish more would have reported on this function.

This worked for me!!!:) thanks!

my key board not working properly

I had a similar problem. It was caused by me pressing the right Alt key five times unknowingly. This results in mouse keys on

- and everything went wrong. If you press the alt key five times again all goes back to normal.

thanks, that sorted my problem. Much appreciated