Upgrade to Mountain Lion, right half of space bar stops working

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Level 1

20 points

Upgrade to Mountain Lion, right half of space bar stops working

The strangest thing just happened. I have a 2011 MacBook Air. Immediately after installing Mountain Lion, the space bar started behaving strangely. If I press on the left side, it works fine. If I press on the right side, it doesn't register, unless I press hard enough that I end up pressing down on the left side anyway. Examining this keyboard, I get the impression that there must be two sensors, one under each end of the space bar, and it registers a space if either one is triggered. That's just a guess, but if it's true, then for some reason, it's stopped paying attention to the right sensor. Anyone know if I'm right about this?

I called AppleCare, and they think it's a hardware problem. But what are the chances that this happened at exactly the same time as installing Mountain Lion?

That being said, I also have no idea how installing Mountain Lion could cause this, because the internal keyboard is actually a USB device, and all translation from sensors to keypresses is handled in the keyboard's firmware, unless there are actually two space bar keycodes, and Mountain Lion doesn't process one of them.

Ideas? Suggestions?

BTW, I'm in Binghamton, NY, so the nearest Apple Store is 75 miles away in Syracuse. So neither mail-in repair nor taking it to the Apple Store is a preferred option.

Posted on Dec 8, 2012 1:40 PM

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Answer 1

dwb

Level 7

32,920 points

Dec 8, 2012 4:22 PM in response to theosib

I agree with the AppleCare rep. I can't think of a single reason why the OS would cause this. The word coincidence exists because it happens.

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Answer 2

Shootist007

Level 6

16,703 points

Dec 8, 2012 4:52 PM in response to theosib

Chance are what they are. It is a hardware problem. There is nothing in any OS that would cause one half of a Space Bar to stop functioning. It is a Mechanical problem. There are 2 switches under the space bar, one right one left. One of your has failed.

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Answer 3

Dec 8, 2012 11:48 PM in response to theosib

I agree with others, this doesn't sound like a ML problem. It is either a H/W problem, or..., it is possible that something got into the keyboard. For example, if you were eating around it, perhaps some type of crumb got under the key. That would do it too.

You can try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh88cn_rtLo

This can be a pain if you haven't done it before. But worth a try if you'd have to otherwise pay for a new keyboard (and if it is a crumb versus a bad switch/button).

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