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.

I am also having the same problem. My laptop shift key is stuck but it isn't and my macbook is starting in safe boot

I have changed the built-in keyboard but still it is not fixed having the same problem.

ATLapple33 wrote:

why in the world would I not be able to type the numbers on the language keyboard app on the operating system?

Are you talking about the Keyboard Viewer? If so, I think how that operates is determined by the physical keyboard. If the latter is damaged and the shift key stuck down, that is also how Keyboard Viewer behaves.

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.

Check if your battery is swelling. Keyboard and track pad issues can be caused by the battery swelling and pushing up. Easy to check for swelling if your battery is removable. Just take it out and sit it on a flat surface. But even if your battery is not removable you can detect swelling by looking at the bottom of the Macbook to check if it is flat.

The left shift key on my mid 2010 15" Macbook Pro got stuck ONE MONTH out of warranty, Apple wouldn't do a goodwill fix (I've been with Apple since 1994). Needless to say, it would start up in safe mode, demanding a log in. I couldn't log in, everything was in caps. I was able to get in by holding the "c" key while booting up. I then disabled the left shift key, and assigned the shift function to the "~"(tilde) key. All worked well, until tonight. It's now wanting me to log in, and of course, everything is in caps. Key reassignment, I believe, only kicks in after start up. I plugged in a USB keyboard and was able to log in. Now I need to find out why it started asking for a log in.

When I searched the forums back when this first happened, I sensed that this was not a rare occurence, and perhaps Apple should have done a recall. I'm quite ****** off with Apple, unfortunately there isn't an alternative.

If you can afford it, I would recommend replacing the topcase and keyboard as Apple suggests. If like me, you can't afford it or are open to a hack fix, then read on.

The problem

Yesterday, a little water spilt on my 13" MBP keyboard. I turned it around immediately, drained out the water and used tissue to suck it all up but the keyboard was still acting funny. I turned it off and left it out in the sun for a couple of hours and turned it on again but problems remained. Like Rickdubya, my warranty had run out just a month ago and I knew Apple would not cover this under warranty. I tried to clean the shift keys and left it overnight with some rice on them with hopes that the moisture might get sucked out. Nothing worked. (The rice bit is an urban legend that seems to work with some electronics). Went to the Apple Store this morning and was told that they wouldn't even take out the key and clean it, and that the entire top case would have to be replaced. A total bill of 156 Euros which I cannot afford. I had a USB keyboard that would let me use the Mac for the moment so I decided to try to work out a fix.

Symptoms

- Boots in safe mode everytime (which I later found out was because the shift key is pressed)

- Cannot login because password is in lower case or has numbers

- Cannot boot in super user mode and try to disable keys or override password as some commands won't work in uppercase (I wouldn't recommend this anyway because its super user mode)

- All text is in caps and numbers are symbols as though shift key is always pressed

- Audio doesn't work

- Keyboard viewer would not always show the shift key pressed. The key seemed to get pressed at random

Fix

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

2. At the login screen, plug in a USB keyboard and enter your password to login

3. Change your password to one that uses all caps and no numbers

4. Download and install KeyRemap4MacBook .

5. Use a combination of the functionalities of the Keyboard Viewer and KeyRemap4MacBook to figure out which shift key is the problem. In my case, I found out that it was only my left shift key.

6. Disable the left/right shift key on KeyRemap4MacBook and click on the 'Reload XML' button to make that take effect.

If only one shift key was the problem, then you are done. If both shift keys were shorted, then its likely other keys are too. In which case you should probably just replace the entire thing. If you think other keys are not affected, then you can use KeyRemap4MacBook itself to remap the shift functionality to a lesser used key like the Left Option key.

7. Under System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items , add KeyRemap4MacBook as an application that should start on login. This will ensure that your disable/remap of the shift key is active everytime you login.

Usage change/Things to remember

1. Remember to hold down the Option key everytime the computer boots or reboots to bypass safe mode. The fix above is at the software level. The key is physically still shorted at the hardware level and will affect boot.

2. Remember that at the login screen, the disable/remap is not active. So your password now has to be all caps and only letters.

As soon as I can save some money, I will get my topcase and keyboard replaced but until then this solution works great with minimal change. Hope this helps!

Did you find a solution for your shift key issue? My 2009 Macbook has the same issue. I have been to the Apple Store twice. They replaced my topcase, screen, keyboard, and a cable under the keyboard and I still have the issue. In the past 6 months the fan and bottom casing has been replaced. Everytime I pick it up the computer from Apple, it works. When the computer dies and I have to reboot the computer, the problem starts up again.

Many thanks!

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..

I've come across the same issue on a 2009 13" MBP. I replaced the entire Keyboard with a brand new one, and the Shift key remains stuck down. Only other source I can see for this issue is the Logic Board.

Could anyone confirm if the Logicboard could cause the Shift key to be "stuck"?

After removing all 80+ screws and replacing them all back in to find the issue remained I'm a little frustrated... What else could cause the stuck shift syndrome?

Cheers,
Chris

It looks like I have found the 0$ real hardware solution to that problem, read my story below.

I had the "stuck left shift" issue after spilling some water on the keyboard. I have been using KeyRemap4MacBook based solution since then (in my case just starting that app was disabling stuck left shift key totally), but I got sick of not being able to use my left shift key. I have found quite usable remap rule by remapping my "fn" button to act like left shift (that key is right below left shift, so you can use your pinky finger to press it just like left shift) and remapped right shift to work as "fn" button, since nobody uses right shift anyways.

But broken keyboard was still bugging me and I decided to take out the key caps (one more time, did that three times after the spillage) and investigate the issue a bit more hardware-wise. From what I have seen, the core of the problem is somewhere inside of those plastic layers with wiring, which you can see if you remove black key caps and then white scissor mechanism. Plastic layers are just below rubber nipples, which are glued to the top layer. It looks like there are at least 3 plastic film sheets, 2 bottom of which are glued together (and might look like they are one single layer), and the top one is just aligned with them and has those rubber nipples. The bottommost plastic film sheet has holes right under the nipples, being covered with the middle layer (which is glued to it) with wiring and round wiring pads aligned with holes in the bottom layer.

I was trying to separate those film sheets under the "nipple" if the left shift key with a knife, monitoring the shift key status with OS X Keyboard Viewer (had to stop KeyRemap4MacBook and also had to press "Cmd" button on the physical keyboard to make shift key actually appear pressed in the keyboard viewer).

I figured out that sliding a small knife between glued bottom and middle sheets (it's quite tricky to separate those film sheets, but a sharp knife helps) and then carefully twisting the blade (I mean rotating the blade around longest axis) to separate the film sheets even more started to affect the shift key status in the keyboard viewer! The key started to "unstuck" for the first time since the spillage. It was changing pressed status back and forth when I moved the knife, so I had to find the "sweet spot" and then pull out the knife.

After couple of minutes of trying, I have finally managed to fix the key. However, 10 minutes later the key started to "stuck" again. I repeated the whole procedure 2 more times, and now it looks like it works permanently and I'm actually typing this text with my fixed keyboard, using my working left shift 🙂 The whole procudere cost me 0$ and 1 hour of time.

P.S. If you decide to repeat my steps, be extremely careful! It's very easy to cut the rubber "nipple" or to cut the plastic film, or to break the wiring! Be gentle 🙂

P.P.S. I don't know why Apple doesn't make that wiring part (those plastic sheets) completely waterproof. Those sheets do have some water insulation (that glue that holds 2 bottom layers together), but it looks like it's not enough. Probably, they don't want to lose the clients to their repair centre, and that way people also would be buying new macs more often, I don't know.

I had the same problem, except it was with the Fn key and I couldn't use any of the regular functions like changing the volume or the brightness, because the Fn key was always pressed, and I couldn't use the backspace either for the same reason, anyway, it was really annoying. So after I tried absolutely everything and was ready to give up on the keyboard I did what mrhurep suggested and... it works again! Thanks a lot!