Some keys not working intermittently r t y u i o

I have had the same problem for about 9-12 months (r t y u i o keys not working when pressed). I'm using a 13" Mid-2012 Macbook Pro (10.13). I seem to have found a solution.

To solve:

- Open System Preferences

- Open Keyboard

1. On 'keyboard' tab, uncheck all boxes (e.g. adjust keyboard brightness in low light).
2. On 'text' tab, remove any 'replace' / 'with' phrases (e.g. mine had 'omw' with 'on my way!')
3. On 'shortcuts' tab, unselect as much as possible (I unchecked every box except for show spotlight search, the 4 check boxes under 'screen shots', and turn dock hiding on and off).
4. On 'input sources' tab, remove alternate keyboards (on the left, I removed American and kept Canadian English).
5. On 'dication' tab, select a language (not automatically detect).

I will edit this post if the keys start to fail again. Hope this works 🙂

On my mid-2010 MBPro 15", problem keys were e,s,d,r. I ordered a new keyboard, but don't need it at present. The problem sometimes went away but came back. Didn't seem software-related. Blew out keys using canned air - no noticeable change. Finally removed those key caps (See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh88cn_rtLo for a really good presentation), and found a little dust and bits under keys. Pressing lightly on the rubber-covered center indicated that the actual contact was fine. Carefully blew out those keys and reinstalled the keycaps. Problem has disappeared.

Apparently, a very thin piece under the keys can keep them from going down far enough to produce the contact. The skin from a shelled peanut was enough to create a problem!

I have the same problem on my late 2011 15" model. I also observe that the area around the affected row of keys RTYUIO is particular hotter than lower rows. I have shown it to apple service center and they propose replacing the keyboard (i.e. half the body of the computer).

Hi I have the same problem too. It just happened to me too. I have a Macbook Late 2009. The keyboard with r,t,y,u,i,o keys start acting weird and not working now. The rest of the keys works just fine. I've tried to off the mouse keys and other solutions. But it still wont work. Do you still have this problem? Please help! Thanks

Thank you for this. I had the same problem and this fixed it. I'll add one additional tip. If you can't log in normally, click log in as a different user and enter your username and password there. For whatever reason all the keys will work properly on that screen. Then follow the steps out lined in the above post.

This worked for me! My e r t y u i o key didn't work at all. I removed the top cap of the key following the video instruction, clean it all, used some compressed air as well, put all back on and boom! They are all working again.

How To: Replace or Clean your MacBook, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air Keyboard Keys - YouTube

Let's see how long it last and if it's not a hardware issue as @spudynuty suggested.

In Brazil the quote me $600 to replace the topcase :/

For anyone having the TYUIO key issue: I'd been having this issue intermittently for a few weeks - insanely frustrating. Read all the forums I could find and tried many of the suggestions - blow out dust from keys, reset PRAM, SMC, Accessibility Mouse Keys, British Keyboard source, etc all with limited success that I was chalking up to coincidence and placebo. Mashing the keys was the only reliable temporary fix.

Eventually I took off the back casing and noticed the center fan had more dust collected on it than the other fan, suggesting it may not be running as frequently as the other fan which is definitely a problem. Powered on the laptop with the case removed and confirmed that fan wasn't spinning, and furthermore the metal of the vent was getting way hotter than the other fan which was running. I removed the non-operational fan, cleaned out the dust from vents, and reseated it and made sure the connector was secure to the logic board. Powered the computer back on this time with the center fan working properly and surprise, the keys work without issue!

The center fan is seated directly under the TYUIO keys. My hunch is that when that fan isn't working, that area heats up to an abnormally hot temperature and affects the key performance. This would also explain why the key reliability is so intermittent, as their reliability changes as the temperature of the logic board increases and decreases with regular use. Could be coincidence, but seems like a rational explanation and a reasonably easy fix. If you have to replace a broken fan, or just reseat the connector like in my case, way cheaper and easer than replacing an entire keyboard or logic board or upper case assembly.

My Computer is a Macbook Pro 2012 NON-Retina with a 1tb Hard Drive and 16 Gigs of ram.

I have followed many of the suggestions above. I did check the fans and removed them and cleaned the ducts and fins. They were not bad at for a 6 year old machine. I also cleaned the underside of the keypad and pushed with a plastic computer tool. Put it all together and no fix. I have tried the Option 5 times, I have cleaned the whole row with high end rubbing alcohol until no residue was visible. Still no luck. The option 5 times is an odd deal, it works sometimes and then fails.

My story started when my "e" would not register. it was the Only issue I had and progressed to th rtyuio. I will continue to try and figure this out and hope anyone finding this thread will add their suggestions.

the options below work for sporadic times. The longest success was zapping the pram. Now that doesn't hold up. Option 5 times worked briefly

shift-capslock-"letter" worked briefly

pushing the shift key 5 times worked briefly

I have tried installing the OS sierra from Restore and that didn't work.

I have tried other user accounts and they as well are all affected.

I have cleaned the whole row of all dirt and grime.

I have cleaned the fans and underneath the fans inside the machine.

Why does it work sometimes and then fail?

I have a MacBook Pro 13-inch mid-2012. Purchased in May 2014 (it's not even 4 years old!)

Your solution worked perfectly! Thank you! Nothing else worked, or sounded way too complicated (I'm not a tekkie). The other day I spent an agonising hour and a quarter at the Apple store while they ran all sorts of tests, cleaned my keyboard, and finally told me that my rtyuio keys had probably worn out because I used them more than the other keys and that either I needed to buy a new Mac ($$$$), get a new keyboard installed ($$$) or buy an external USB keyboard ($$) and try to get by with that until I can afford to buy a new computer.

I just resolved this same intermittent keys not working issue after having it go on for the past few weeks.

The computer is a MacBook Pro mid-2012.

With a Bluetooth keyboard it worked normally, even if the built in keyboard didn't.

I noticed I could sometimes fix the issue (for a short time) when I was resting my right palm on the case next to the trackpad or simply holding down keys that didn't work and pressing down in this area in places until they started working again, so I assumed then it had something to do with clearances. It didn't.

Since the problem was intermittent, and started shortly after I installed a new hard drive, at first I thought I'd done something with the hard drive installation, so I took it out and reinstalled (even though I've installed a few in the past and never had issues). The problem returned anyway, so even though pressing on the case over the new hard drive could sometimes get the keys working again (for a short time) this was all probably a coincidence and had nothing to do with changing the drive.

I read a lot of comments online about people removing key caps and scissor mechanisms and that the E key, even if it worked fine, was the culprit, causing issues with the other keys that followed it.

I'm not sure if that's the case, but I started prying the keycaps off for the E key and all the affected keys as I moved to the right: R, T, Y, U, I, O.

I blew everything out with compressed air as best I could, and also used tweezers to pull out any dust or fine dog hair I could see (I babysit a corgi, so there's often fine hair about).

I only had to fully remove the key cap and white plastic scissor mechanism under the E key to fix the problem, but I blew out/cleaned out the other keys while I was at it anyway.

If the problem returns, I'll try removing their scissor mechanisms and cleaning as best I can too.

That was the fix in my case after trying many things. Start with the E key and do a cleaning as best you can with the scissor mechanism fully removed, and see if it helps you.

You may have a different mechanism than the one I have in this video, but the idea is the same. It's debris trapped under the key cap that isn't blown out with compressed air that's causing the problem, and it's not necessarily the keys with the issue that cause it, but the ones "wired" in just before the issue starts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh88cn_rtLo

Good luck.

i solved this easily - removed the cover, on the left side (under letter "P") you can see black rubber on the "moving" part (same as on the opposite side, between battery and motherboard, but the left side seemed you can push it little bit into case) - i put a coin there and a tape (on the rubber) and it works. It looks that this part is moving and when there is no space between case and this part, it stops moving and works. Thats also why sometimes keys worked when bending the case.

My opinion is that problem occured thaks to late replacement of battery, which bended the case little bit and made some space which causes the problem.

Here's the problem and the solution (on my 2012 MacBook Pro)

I had this issue and found that pressing down hard on the E key before the problem keys or the lower case to the right of the trackpad got it working again for a bit sometimes. It also worked fine using a USB keyboard.

took it to a repair place and they got it working for a couple weeks but then the problem returned.

What the real issue turned out to be was the battery was swollen after two years.

If you have this problem, remove the battery and run the computer from the power cord only and see if the problem goes away. In my case it did, so I ordered a new battery and installed it, and with a new (unswollen) battery, the problem didn't return and the computer works just fine.

I didn't change the keyboard or the top case, just the battery.

No more issue.

I have been having the same problem. I have found a short-term fix by rebooting in Safe Mode, then resetting the PRAM, and then it works for about a day. But if I keep it in Safe Mode it seems to work fine.

So my follow-up question is: should I try to run it in Single User mode and do an FSCK reboot thingy?