MacBook stuck with shift key enabled and numbers not working - even the keyboard app in languages wont type lowercase nor numbers?! Anyone know whats up? no spillage...cant understand why the keyboard app wont do anything.

Two additional things to try if you don't have access to an external keyboard:

No external keyboard available, and you don't have a firmware password enabled:

1. Boot in recovery mode (hold command + r) while booting.

2. Select your language

3. Go to utilities (on the top menu bar), then select Terminal.

4. In terminal, type RESETPASSWORD and click enter

5. Select your hard drive/user name, then change your password to something all caps.

6. Follow steps 1-6 in the original reply, except you won't need to use an external keyboard (just use your new password when logging in).

No external keyboard available, firmware password is enabled:

*This may not work if your guest account boots into Safari only mode

1. Hold the Option button down on boot to bypass the Safe Mode ensure a normal boot

2. Take note of what your main login name is.

3. Log into the guest account, which shouldn't require a password.

4. Use safari to google "mac change password from terminal"

5. Go to the option reading "Terminal 101: Changing your Password with Passed"

6. Highlight one of the two lines of text beginning with "launchctl" (depending on your operating system). Then click Edit > Copy in the top menu bar.

7. Launch terminal (Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal)

8. Click Edit > Paste to paste the "launchctl" code, then click enter.

9. Go back to safari, and highlight "dscl . passwd /Users/", then click Edit > Paste (leave off username).

10. Type the first letter of your Username, then click the tab button. This should auto-complete your user name. Delete the final / after your user name, then click enter. NOTE: if the first letter of your user name is lowercase, you'll have to copy and paste it into terminal like the previous code (just find a lowercase letter on the web and copy and paste it in before hitting tab).

11. Enter a new password (in all capitals of course). As you type, you won't see anything appear on the screen, so keep it short so you know for sure what you are typing.

12. You will now be asked to type your old password. Go back to safari, and google "online qwerty keyboard"

13. Use an online clickable keyboard to type out your old password. Then highlight it, and click Edit > Copy.

14. Go back to terminal, and click Edit > Paste. Nothing will appear, but that's ok. Then click enter.

15. Your password should now be updated. Now following steps 1-6 in the original reply above, except using your new password instead of an internal keyboard.

Thanks a ton, worked perfectly for me. The only real solution I managed to find, props to you for sharing!

P.S. Before doing that I unscrewed everything, cleaned and dried keyboard sheets and it didn't help, was about to say goodbye to keyboard but found this and it helped without any need to dig inside MBP.

Hi,

In my case , there was no spillage or physical damage to the Keyboard. The shift key was enabled by default and the F1 ,F2 ,F4,F5 keys were not functioning all of a sudden. I installed Karbiner and reloaded the xml and the keys started working fine. There is no problem with hardware as the shift keys are working fine,all the keys for that matter. But when i reboot the machine the shift key gets enabled and the system starts to boot in safe mode. Any idea on what I am going through ? Any help/suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I don't know why I did not find this post in 2013 because I have been having this shift key problem for the past 3 years. I am so so happy that your solution has worked for me. I was so used to the KeyRemap4Macbook shift disable that I had stopped using the right shift key on my work keyboard too. :-/

Don't know how you managed to find that out. You're a genius. Thanks a ton. 🙂

I have remapped my keyboard so that the fn key acts as the left shift key because I don't use the fn key for anything else. Then I glued on an L shaped piece of thin sheet metal that covers both keys so that when I press the left shift, it also activates the fn key.

ATLapple33 wrote:

Is it possible to connect one laptop to another to use the keyboard of the working one?

I don't think so. But you should be able to connect a separate usb keyboard.

I think the best way to see if it is just the keyboard which is broken would be to borrow usb or wireless keyboard. If that also does not work, it is something more than the built in keyboard.

Mine was doing the same today.. I read a post which talked about disconnecting & reconnecting the keyboard cable.Did that to mine after giving it a thorough blow out.. Seems to be working..

Vinay,

Three days of research. It worked! You are now my friend.

It's worked. Recommend to everyone to give it a try before replacing the new keyboard.

Thank you so much @mrhurep!

Your solution worked so well 🙂

Back to work now!

Awesome! that helped me alot ! thanks so much 😎

Just to let you know that i had the same problem and just installed the new OS "Sierra" and it started to work again.

Try turning off Bluetooth. Worked for me.