Caps lock button works in reverse!

Question

Level 1

7 points

Caps lock button works in reverse!

Dear All,

this is my problem: the caps lock button (with green LED) on my MacBook Pro 13 "mid-2009, works in reverse! When the LED is on (green light) I type lowercase fonts, when the LED is off I type uppercase fonts!

I tried everything: booting from an external disk with different operating system from mine (I use MacOSX 10.7.5), reset PRAM, reset SMC, removed the internal battery, made test hardware, Disk Warriors, etc.. I brought the laptop at an Apple-authorized center where they tried all they know, but nothing was found.

I called Apple support and the guy suggests me to format the disk (I don't make it, and sincerely it's not seems the solution for me.

However, someone tells me something to do?

Thanks in advance for all your answers.

Ennio Busato (from Italy)

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Jan 8, 2013 6:19 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

MarshaB9

Level 1

24 points

May 17, 2016 7:52 PM in response to enniofromtv

So my caps was working in reverse but I discovered that I must have clicked 'option and caps lock' instead of 'command and tab' to switch between screens. When I clicked on 'option and caps lock' again it all went back to normal. Hope this helps for other people. (Macbook Pro Mid 2014 Retina)

Reply

Answer 2

iwack

Level 1

0 points

Jun 12, 2014 4:01 PM in response to enniofromtv

Same problem on MacBook Pro 13" mid-2009 (french keyboard) and OSX 10.9.3:

Note: this happens only after a sleep time (not necessary long)

Holding down CTRL+Shift+Cap Locks did not works for me

Reply

Answer 3

Apr 8, 2017 10:29 AM in response to MarshaB9

You saved me, option + caps worked for me

Reply

Answer 4

sig

Level 8

35,862 points

Jan 8, 2013 6:59 AM in response to enniofromtv

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

Reply

Answer 5

enniofromtv Author

Level 1

7 points

Jan 8, 2013 8:27 AM in response to sig

Hi,

I just followed the steps “Before resetting the SMC” and afterwards the steps to set up the SMC, BUT THE PROBLEM STAYS AGAIN.

Now, I want try to remove the internal hard disk and start with an external hard disk (or with a CD); in this mode I want to see if the problem is related to the HD/System or to the motherboard.

Thanks.

Reply

Answer 6

Badunit

Level 7

26,266 points

Jan 8, 2013 8:54 AM in response to enniofromtv

I haven't found much on the web about this. I did run across one post of the same problem and that person said she could fix hers by hitting Caps Lock, then Shift, then Caps Lock again.

Do you have any keyboard-related apps that might be causing this problem?

I don't know if it will do anything but what happens if you open Keyboard Viewer (on right side of the menu bar) and click on the Caps Lock button in the viewer? You might first have to go to System Preferences/Keyboard to turn on "Show Keyboard Viewer in Menu Bar".

Reply

Answer 7

enniofromtv Author

Level 1

7 points

Jan 9, 2013 6:15 AM in response to Badunit

... The keyboard viewer works fine! Clicking the caps lock button (throught the keyboard viewer) I type in uppercase, disactivating the caps lock I type in lowercase; but the green led on the caps lock button does not change (the led light stays on or off, it depend how I leave it).

Reply

Answer 8

Badunit

Level 7

26,266 points

Jan 9, 2013 7:51 AM in response to enniofromtv

Interesting. When I use the Keyboard Viewer, the light on my caps lock key turns on/off accordingly.

So, what happens if you have the caps lock LED lit up then go to Keyboard Viewer set caps lock to be on? Does the caps lock key and its LED work correctly after that?

Reply

Answer 9

enniofromtv Author

Level 1

7 points

Jan 9, 2013 8:55 AM in response to Badunit

Does the caps lock key and its LED work correctly after that?

... Absolutely NO! With the LED ON the KeyViewer shows the caps-lock in OFF, with the LED OFF the KeyViewer shows the caps-lock in ON....

Reply

Answer 10

Ashlyn-i

Level 1

0 points

Jan 4, 2014 5:50 PM in response to enniofromtv

I think in an earlier post you meant that someone fixed thier problem by holding down CTRL+Shift+Cap Locks.

I recently had the same problem and solved mine by typing tHANKS into Microsoft Word. It automatically corrected the typo and synced my keyboard in one go. Give those a try.

Reply