Macbook air keyboard problems

Question

Macbook air keyboard problems

Well I recently bought a macbook air from a friend, mid 2011 model, but the thing is that some keys on the built in keyboard isn't working.

I really want to know if this is a hardware or software problem.

He's telling me that the problem occurred when he updated to os x mavericks and there is no visible damage to the computer.

The keys that's not working at all is: W,E,R,T,Y,U,i,O, A,S,H,J,K,L, left SHIFT and CTRL.

Something weird i've seen while using the 'Keyboard viewer' is that both SHIFT buttons and CTRL are always "pushed down" but they

only get stuck if i first press some of the "action" buttons like, right SHIFT (can only use right SHIFT once before it gets stuck) , cmd, capslock or the option keys on the built in keyboard.

they stay "pushed down" until i plug in USB keyboard and type with it or press them with the mouse in 'Keyboard viewer'.

The trackpad works just fine.

What i have tried so far:

turn off all options in the OS like "Mouse keys" and "slow keys"

try starting in diagnostics mode with both built in and USB keyboard, isn't working, i think it's because of the keys being "stuck"

try starting in safe mode, same problem, can't get there because of the keys.

tried "kextstat -kl | awk ' !/apple/ { print $6 }" but the only thing showing was 'karbiner' but i had the problem before i installed that.

I have tried to reset SMC and PRAM but same problem here, cant get it to work with the built in keyboard or USB keyboard.

I even fully formatted the ssd with USB boot, no luck.

Is there anything else I could try? or is the keyboard simply broken?

MacBook Air, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Sep 24, 2014 10:51 AM

Reply

Answer 1

M@cL

Level 1

4 points

May 14, 2017 9:29 AM in response to fredrik-inaco

I have tried all of them, hardly working (MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2011), OS Sierra 10.12.4) most keys do not work in most apps, some work in some apps, other not. r,a,w,z,o (upper row) most problematic.

Reply

Answer 2

joremo

Level 1

9 points

Aug 27, 2017 12:50 PM in response to fredrik-inaco

I had the same problem as you with my keyboard, I then found a thread where they simply suggested to add another language to your keyboard. Since then I've had no problems with the keyboard.

Reply

Answer 3

pedro d

Community Specialist

Sep 27, 2014 9:51 AM in response to fredrik-inaco

Hello there, fredrik-inaco.

Great job on troubleshooting your issue so far. The following Knowledge Base article provides some great, in-depth steps for troubleshooting keyboard performance on your Macbook:

One or more keys on the keyboard do not respond

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1381

Particularly useful will be the following section:

Some keys don't work as expected

From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.

From the View menu, choose Speech.

Click the Text to Speech tab.

If "Speak selected text when the key is pressed" is enabled, the key or key combination set to speak text cannot be used for other purposes or used to type text--click Set Key and change it to a less-commonly used key combination (try to use modifier keys such as Shift, Command, Option, and Control). Or, disable the "Speak selected text when the key is pressed" option.

Click the Accessibilty or Universal Access pane in System Preferences, then click the Keyboard tab.

Make sure that Slow Keys is turned off. With Slow Keys on, you need to press a key for a longer period of time for it to be recognized.

In the Accessibilty or Universal Access pane, click the Mouse tab, and make sure Mouse Keys is turned off. With Mouse Keys enabled, you cannot use the Numeric Keypad to enter numbers--instead the keypad moves the pointer (cursor). (There is an option to enable Mouse Keys with five presses of the Option key; you may want to turn that option off to avoid accidentally enabling it.) If Mouse Keys is enabled and you are using a keyboard with no numeric keypad or Num Lock function, see Unable to type while Mouse Keys is enabled in Mac OS X.

If the function keys on the top row of the keyboard are not working as expected, see Mac OS X: How to change the behavior of function keys.

If the issue persists, use Keyboard Viewer to help isolate the issue:

Click the Language & Text pane (Mac OS X v10.6) or International pane (Mac OS X v10.5.8 or earlier) in System Preferences.

Click the Input Sources tab (or Input Menu tab in Mac OS X 10.5.8 or earlier).

Click the Keyboard & Character Viewer "On" checkbox to select it (click the Keyboard Viewer "On" checkbox in Mac OS X 10.5.8 or earlier).

From the Input (flag) menu, choose Show Keyboard Viewer.

If the keyboard is connected and detected by OS X, the keys you type will highlight in the Keyboard Viewer window. Open TextEdit (or any text application), and try to type something using the keys that were previously not responding to see if they highlight in Keyboard Viewer.

Start from the Mac OS X Install Disc, choose Terminal from the Utilities menu and test the keys which were previously not working. If the keys work while started from the Install disc, then the keyboard itself is working correctly. Use How to troubleshoot a software issue to isolate the software issue that may be causing the keys to not respond.