TS1578: Keyboard Caps Lock modified to reduce accidental activation

Learn about Keyboard Caps Lock modified to reduce accidental activation
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Q: How do I disable this first class annoyance feature? How How How?!?!?!

TS1578: Keyboard Caps Lock modified to reduce accidental activation

 

Here's my 2 cents:

 

In System Preferences > Keyboard > Modifyer Keys, select "No Action" for the Caps Lock key. Hit OK. Go back, Restore Defaults, OK.

That will only work until the first, sometimes second sleep! You'll have to reboot your iMac again and again and again then to get it work again!

 

I have changed 3 aluminum keyboards (two of the wireless), since Apple Support did not know how to help me.

 

I own 9 (!!!!) iDevices (excluding the keyboards) and this is THE ONLY ANNOYANCE that will eventually drive me totally OUT of the Apple world.

 

Apple: wake up! This worthless feature makes Apple look quite scatterbrained, since it's rather harmful and annoying than helpful.

iMac 27", Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on May 14, 2012 2:01 PM

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Q: How do I disable this first class annoyance feature? How How How?!?!?!

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  • Helpful answers

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt May 14, 2012 2:18 PM in response to wtf-
    Level 9 (50,265 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 14, 2012 2:18 PM in response to ***-

    It appears to work for me, through several sleep / wake cycles, so it may be premature to conclude it is a bug. It could be a corrupted preference file.

     

    Drag the file ~/Library/com.apple.systempreferences.plist to the Desktop and reboot. Observe the effects of the file's deletion. You will have to recreate your system preferences.

     

    If this does not result in any improvement you can always drag the file back to its original location.

     

    Your profile indicates Mac OS X 10.6.2 so to state the obvious please make sure you have actually updated to OS X 10.6.8.

  • by wtf-,

    ***- ***- May 14, 2012 2:32 PM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 14, 2012 2:32 PM in response to John Galt

    Hi John,

     

    Thanks for your quick response! My problem is rather disabling the infamous Caps Lock Accidental Activation feature. I doubt that rebuilding system settings would help since this is a well documented feature and not a bug.

     

    Any ideas on how actually to disable this infamous Caps Lock Accidental Activation feature are mostly welcome!

     

    Thanks in advance!

    A very annoyed Apple loyalist.

     

    P.S. I am running OS X 10.7.3. build 11D50b.

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt May 14, 2012 3:22 PM in response to wtf-
    Level 9 (50,265 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 14, 2012 3:22 PM in response to ***-

    I am under the impression that the "feature" means that the Caps Lock key must be depressed for a minimum amount of time for it to be recognized. Can you confirm this is what you are asking?

     

    With my two keyboards, a very quick tap does not turn on Caps Lock. However, all it takes is about a tenth of a second for it to work, perhaps two tenths of a second. I can't measure the time but it is certainly less than a half second. If yours is taking considerably longer than mine, given that you have tried numerous keyboards, I reiterate that it may be a System Preference that is at fault.

  • by wtf-,

    ***- ***- May 14, 2012 3:36 PM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 14, 2012 3:36 PM in response to John Galt

    Correct. That is exactly what I mean. It is indeed less than 1/2 a second. Nevertheless, for a fast-typer it is a nightmare. I am using Caps Lock for capitals, rather than the Shift key.

     

    They say it's built in the hardware. That would be true if my trick (see first post) wasn't working.

  • by RRFS,

    RRFS RRFS May 14, 2012 3:50 PM in response to wtf-
    Level 5 (4,490 points)
    May 14, 2012 3:50 PM in response to ***-

    Not knowing how old your machine there have been a few keyboard firmware updates.

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/index?page=search&src=support_site.kbase.search&loca le=en_US&q=keyboard%20firmware

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt May 14, 2012 4:06 PM in response to wtf-
    Level 9 (50,265 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 14, 2012 4:06 PM in response to ***-

    If you already applied this firmware update, you might be out of luck. As far as I know there is no way to undo a firmware update.

     

    Certain websites maintain an archive of standalone firmware updates. I believe the most recent keyboard firmware is version 0x50 and that is what mine are running. If you can find an earlier one you could attempt to load it.

     

    Given the general nature of firmware, downgrading is not advisable though. Anything is possible including permanently disabling the keyboard.

  • by wtf-,

    ***- ***- May 15, 2012 11:28 AM in response to RRFS
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 15, 2012 11:28 AM in response to RRFS

    Firmware is up to date: v0.69. Any attempt to install any recent firmware says that a newer version is already installed on this machine.

  • by scotthunterfromoakland,

    scotthunterfromoakland scotthunterfromoakland Jan 19, 2015 11:10 AM in response to wtf-
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 19, 2015 11:10 AM in response to ***-

    Here's a refinement of the solution noted in post.

     

    I had been having this problem on my new iMac -- not being able to disable the Caps Lock Key -- but a closer look at the Keyboard preference pane solved it. Here's what I found and did:

     

    Open the Keyboard preference pane, then click on "Modifier Keys". Now, here's the key: In the "Select Keyboard" field, you must select the correct keyboard that applies to your setup. I found "Apple Wireless Keyboard", which is what I now have. Then, I selected "No Action" from the popup submenu, then "OK". That did the trick -- FINALLY!

     

    Hope this helps at least SOME of the frustrated folks out there!

  • by scotthunterfromoakland,

    scotthunterfromoakland scotthunterfromoakland Jan 19, 2015 11:12 AM in response to wtf-
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 19, 2015 11:12 AM in response to ***-

    You are probably no longer wondering about this, but just in case...

     

    I had been having this problem on my new iMac, but a closer look at the Keyboard preference pane solved it. Here's what I found and did:

     

    Open the Keyboard preference pane, then click on "Modifier Keys". Now, here's the key: In the "Select Keyboard" field, you must select the correct keyboard that applies to your setup. I found "Apple Wireless Keyboard", which is what I now have. Then, I selected "No Action" from the popup submenu, then "OK". That did the trick -- FINALLY!