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Some keys not working intermittently r t y u i o

Occasionally, the following keys do not work at all: r t y u i o. I could go weeks with no problems, then one day, it will happen for 10 seconds every few minutes. I don't remember if it started before or after I installed Mavericks last October. It started happening more often (almost every day, many times per day) for the last week.


Has anyone seen this before? Any suggestions on fixing it? This is a MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010) running 10.9.3.

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010), OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Jun 14, 2014 9:40 PM

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48 replies

Feb 27, 2018 3:10 AM in response to Alias7

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.

Mar 30, 2018 12:07 PM in response to Alias7

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 🙂

Apr 29, 2018 10:20 PM in response to Alias7

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.

Some keys not working intermittently r t y u i o

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