option key stuck (not physically)

This started this morning for me on a macbook pro in the middle of working on the computer. I searched and tried several things, coming close to losing my mind in the process. I know this is an old thread, but its the first one that comes up on google and I finally got it fixed and wanted to share what worked for me in case anyone else is hunting for a solution...

My symptoms -

Keystrokes and trackpad were all of the sudden being modified as if the option key was being pressed.

Keyboard viewer did not show that the option key was being pressed.

Tried disabling option key in modifier key controls

Tried rebooting - no change

Bluetooth keyboard worked normally

Sticky keys was turned off

My fix-

Open system preferences

Select accessibility

Select keyboard

Enable sticky keys

Press option twice quickly to enable sticky and once more to turn it off (option key must be enabled if you previously disabled it in modifier key controls)

Problem solved!

Turned sticky keys back off afterwards

Somehow the laptop had a sticky option input (even though sticky keys was off and it was not displayed in the top right corner) and activating/deactivating the sticky option key cleared it.

So a few days ago I got home from work and my keys were acting like the option key was being held down. I ended up getting locked out of my computer because I reset my computer then wasn't able to log back into my Macbook Pro because the keys were still all goofed up. I put my computer in recovery mode and was able to somehow reset my password and get logged back in. I tried to disable the option key button but this didn't help. I went to bed defeated.

Then today at work I was complaining to my coworker about the situation. He had mentioned that he had once spilled an entire beer on his computer keyboard and had ended up taking all of the keys off of the keyboard and wiping down the spaces below the key covers with Isopropyl alcohol. When I got home my laptop was dead and I did exactly what he had told me and wiped off the underneath all of the key covers. I plugged my laptop back in and started typing....and it ******* worked. I have no clue how but it worked.

Hope this will at least help someone else!

Hi I realise this is an old thread but I figured what caused Alt to get stuck on my 2011 macbook pro.

It was the Wacom Intuos Pro I use - I had 'touch mode' active and I think it just confused my poor Mac OS. Anyhow after an hour of forums and sweating I saw a thread where someone reinstalled their Wacom driver. I was about to do it and thought I'd just look at the Wacom settings first. I turned off the alt key assigned to the Wacom speed button on the side and bingo the problem disappeared.

So my MBP is back to former glory and I'm back to work 🙂

Thanks a lot! I hade the exact same issue on my 12" macbook.

Your answer might have saved me almost $400 for changing the keyboard on my macbook, which was the recommendation from a support person at an Apple premium reseller nearby.

Hi,

Yes for me it fixed it permanently. Having said that it has happened twice but it seems to happen when I've got the Wacom Intuos Pro plugged in with 'Touch' on (I only use the Wacom when sculpting on Zbrush). It hasn't happened since I turned the Alt off from the quick keys on the side of the Wacom so maybe I'll be lucky going forward.

It's unbelievably frustrating when it happens because the Mac becomes borderline useless instantly, and the fear factor of restarting and not being able to type the password properly is really worrying. I'm not sure what I can suggest if it keeps happening, although the first time it happened, the solution I found was more based around using the circular scroll feature and randomly pressing the different quick keys. Not scientific but it did fix it and you could try it if you haven't already!

The only other suggestion is to unplug the Wacom when you're not using it. At least to find out if it can help after a restart/wake.

Good luck!

Greg

First, try resetting the PRAM and the SMC and see if it worked. Those resets will restore some settings to factory status

Try starting OS X into safe mode, holding the Shift key while your Mac is starting. Can you type now correctly? Also, could you start into safe mode?

In that case, it's a hardware problem. Take the Mac to an Apple Store or reseller to see what happens to your keyboard. Did you spill liquid in the computer in the past?

Sorry for not being able to fix your problem, but the fact that you couldn't start into safe mode indicates a hardware problem

To connect a Bluetooth keyboard, first you have to start up into OS X and set up the Bluetooth keyboard with your computer here.

Then, to use your Bluetooth keyboard during startup to start into OS X Recovery, hold Command and R keys after hearing the startup sound