Random Keys Working Sporadically

Have exactly the same issue with the battery indicator and the keys. Did you replace the battery? Did it help?

Yes please, I am here for it.

I don't want to spend another $300 for a 4 year old machine.

Same problem with MBA 13" mid 2011. Keys Q through O not responding now and then. Tried to reseat keyboard ribbon cable but didn't help.

Sometimes pressure on the upper case brings the keys back to life. No water spilling. Pretty annoying to write ...

I have a 2013 MBA. I had noticed that the bottom of the case was not installed properly. It made a creaking noise sometimes. This didn't apparently bother me all that much.... Then a year later a few of the keys would intermittently not work. This went on for a while. I then noticed that it had something to do with if I was using it on a flat surface or in my lap.

I have now come to the conclusion that something inside the computer is being torqued or bent somehow and it affects the keyboards functionality.

I should have returned it when I noticed the initial problem. Now, I guess, its up to me to buy a pentelobe screwdriver and "reseat" the back cover.

....that's my 2 cents!

I had a problem with my "M" key not working and at random moments, my dash key would type on its own.

It turns out I forgot I had my bluetooth keyboard packed up in a box somewhere and never turned it off. So when I disconnected bluetooth, my keyboard began working properly again.

I'd say if you're having keyboard problems, and you have a bluetooth keyboard nearby, turn off the bluetooth on your computer to see if the problem persists.

Precisely the same thing here, with my MBP 2011. The keys from r to p stopped working properly after the last upgrade to El Capitan several weeks ago. It's not that the keys don't work, they just don't respond time and again. If I "activate" them with something like typing quickly ioiuoiuoiuoiuouoiuoiuoiuoiuoiuou or uyyuuyuytutuytuytuytuytuu, or pioipopioipoipoipoipoipoipoipipoipiop - they start working again. I've also noticed that it appeared together with the alternate (diacritic) character displays. Before this last upgrade I, for some reason, couldn't easily type an ü or an é - had to copy such characters from somewhere when they weren't prompted by the spellcheck. Now there appears the bubble with diacritics if I hold down a vowel - and most characters in this row are vowels (although the "a" key below works just fine). At the same time all the characters from r to p started lagging terribly behind or intermittently don't respond at all (but not at all times as I type this message right now just fine). These characters just freeze and unfreeze at random. I tried to switch these alternate character displays off but it didn't help. Nothing did, in fact. Maybe it is a coincidence (right now, to type this I had to "wake up" the keys in the upper row with all the ytrytrytrrs and oiuoiuoiuoiuouius), but El Capitan also deleted a ton of my e-mail messages and messed up with my calculator, which started typing zeroes instead of nines and did it for a while. After some effort it stopped but nothing appears to address the problem with the keyboard.

MBP, 13", early 2011.

Same problem. Keys ASDFG go out at random and come back on at random. Sometimes I can get them working again by pressing two keys in rapid succession, like S-D when just hitting D alone does nothing. Sometimes I have been able to get them working again (like right now) by pressing hard on the case in the upper left of the top case. Sometimes plugging the computer in helps. Not very scientific I'm afraid and would love to find a long-term solution. Sounds like replacing the keyboard may be the only answer?

Hi mathiascraig,

Is this the same machine you had the similar problem with last year?

This is a view of the keyboard contact array from the back looking at the front array. The back array is arranged mostly vertically.

I think my labeling is correct.

So as you can see the contacts here are all arranged and wired horizontally. Any crack in the trace will cause the downstream keys to stop working. (Not sure which way is downstream.)

"Sometimes I have been able to get them working again (like right now) by pressing hard on the case in the upper left of the top case."

That probably causes the fault/crack to mend itself temporarily.

"Sounds like replacing the keyboard may be the only answer?"

This has always worked for me. It's a bit of a pain because there are around 50 tiny screws that hold the keyboard to the front case. I always use a new keyboard off eBay. I've done 5 so far, twice on this machine (The first time I used a used keyboard which developed a repeating "ssss" problem after a month or so, which is why I use only new parts now.) which is exactly the one your have: 13", Early 2011, Core i5, still running Mavericks 10.9.5. I bumped the RAM to 8 GB and installed a 120 GB SSD from OWC. Like a new machine, very fast. I'll never go back to a conventional HD after putting a SSD in here. Put one in my Wife's Mini 2012 and even my shop iMac, 20" late 2006. This MBP was also cheap since I bought it 3 years ago with a water spill problem for $200.

I had turned off Google as my primary search engine in Safari preferences (changed it to Bing) and my keyboard - miraculously - started working again without a hitch.

I think you're on to something here, but changing my search engine had no effect. I believe it's background operations.

Unless there is permanent failure due to a mechanical issue, these conditions seem to be software/firmware/operations related.

My "floating key blackouts" can be traced primarily (lost them again, took 7 key presses to get back) to browser use. I'm still working on isolating the root cause(s), but I have had some pretty good success by reducing as many "influencer's" as possible. I've taken the following steps:

• Look for and remove as many preferences left behind by old, deleted, or outdated programs. As an example, I had a startup item left from Virtual Machine and there were dozens of pref's left from trial programs.
• Turn off as many system preference "extras" as possible. These were mostly in the accessibility, trackpad, keyboard and mouse sections, but I turned off as many "options" as possible.
• Re-installed OSX

At the moment, I continue to lose the T,Y,U,I and O keys repeatedly, but for shorter periods of time than before. Quitting the browser has helped, as has repeated pressing one of the disabled keys (vs. holding down) until it begins working again. It's taken any where from a few key presses to over 20, but rarely fails (lost the i for a moment, took 12 key presses to get it back) When I do that they all work for extended periods of time.

Things that had no effect:

• Restarting
• Reset PRAM
• Reset PMU
• Running Disk Utility
• Running Disk Utility from OS Recovery
• Changing keyboard (US to British, deleting US, restart, re-enable US. Did have some success at first but never lasted)
• Banging head against wall

OnyX app results have been significant. There are features to reset all types of background caches and processes and reset file associations (i.e. override ïnfo"settings to associate a file with a certain program).

My gut tells me the issue is rooted in background ops (caching, kernels, etc.). Taking a SWAG at it, I'd say related to spotlight indexing and the feature which automatically saves versions of documents. I'm experiencing numerous "key dropouts" while writing this and it incorporates auto-saves. I'm going to look back through the posts to see if I can determine a match between the rise of issues and new OSX versions/features. If I recall correctly, at some point these background operations were "reclassified" from being done during times of idle (sleep) to "always on". As this lost key issue seems to be restricted to pre 2013 MBP's and the 2011 and 2012's highly susceptible, it may be related to some type of hierarchical sequencing that only affects older models. Is it/ it is possible newer multi-core processors might reserve a core to process these background operations without affecting operations in the forefront. Again, I must note it's a SWAG, but as it keeps occurring and disappearing it's probable.

If I find more, I'll add more, but I hope Apple can find some way to address.

I forgot to mention, Apple Hardware Test reported no issues, nor were any mechanical issues uncovered during tests and when Apple replace my 2011 motherboard (extended repair program) three days ago.

I found another anomaly. Changing system preferences from on to off doesn't always work. I remain unsure how "deep" the issue goes, but I caught track pad settings which were supposedly off with no check box checked were actually on. This condition has been noted with regard to "mouse keys". Thes supposedly "off" keys had to be "checked to turn on" then turned ff to really be off.

Again any site that auto-saves, such as this one brings on the "sporadic key" issue in full force. Everything had been fine for days. Once here, I've had to go through the "solution" of repetitive key presses to "clear" the delay in key press recgnn. (See wha I mean?)

Hi guys,

I have the same problems with my 2011 macbook air 13". Sporadically not working keys between the q and the o. It's very annoying when i'm typing long reports and stuff...

But nobody has a solution 😟

Well read my post above. I had this problem on my MBP 2011. I've also repaired 3 other MBPs with the same problem.

Conditions are worse IMMEDIATELY after updating to 10.11.3, which would again seem to reflect a software issue vs. hardware failure.