MacBook Pro 15 late 2008 - Bottom row on the internal keyboard - "z" to "." not working?

Question

MacBook Pro 15 late 2008 - Bottom row on the internal keyboard - "z" to "." not working?

Hello everyone. Recently i got this MacBook Pro from ebay and it said that the internal keyboard in not working properly. There wasn t spill or physical damage to the notebook. Everything else on the notebook is working. The keyboard row from "z" to "." wasn t working. I made all kind of resets - smc reset, pram reset. Changer the ram. Fixed the hard disk permissions. Formatted the HD and installed a new OS. No change. I purchased a new keyboard, installed it and the problem still persists. Like nothing changed. The logic board keyboard slot doesn t show signs of problems, and the keyboard i installed is new, but the problem stays. The model is Late 2008 Macbook Pro A1286 2.4 core 2 duo. It is the UK layout. Strange thing happens when i press 3 keys together. On the uk internal keyboard - it s the 3 keys right to the left shift - the "`", the "z" and the "x" - the volume goes up - as if i press the volume up key (F12). Any ideas ...

I don t know what to do next.

MacBook Pro

Posted on May 24, 2015 4:24 PM

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Answer 1

KiltedTim

Level 10

195,189 points

May 24, 2015 4:25 PM in response to moviemanstefan

It's a hardware problem. There is no magic that will fix it. You need to have it serviced. It may need a new keyboard.

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Answer 2

spudnuty

Level 5

7,116 points

May 24, 2015 10:50 PM in response to moviemanstefan

Hook a USB keyboard to your MBP. If that works properly then the keyboard needs to be replaced:

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Unibody+Late+2008+and+Early+200 9+Upper+Case+Replacement/838

The normal way is to replace the entire top case and will be expensive.

The keyboard itself can be replaced at a much reduced cost but that's difficult and time consuming to do.

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Answer 3

May 25, 2015 1:23 AM in response to spudnuty

Hey, are you really reading what i did post? I've already changed the keyboard with a new one and the problem still persists. Everything's fine with the external keyboard.

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Answer 4

KiltedTim

Level 10

195,189 points

May 25, 2015 5:25 AM in response to moviemanstefan

That detail got lost in amongst the rest. If you've already tried replacing the keyboard and the problem persists... I don't know if the ribbon cable for the keyboard detaches from the keyboard or not. The only real possibilities are that cable is bad, or the connector on the main logic board is bad.

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Answer 5

spudnuty

Level 5

7,116 points

May 25, 2015 10:57 AM in response to moviemanstefan

Hey, just trying to help you out.

Like Kilted Tom says check the keyboard connector. That is easily damaged:

Looking at the clamp end make sure all those fingers are properly aligned and not damaged. I would particularly look for crap between the clamp pins and that the clamping action works properly.

Then here's the solder array on that connector. You'll probably need magnification of at least 30X to examine these carefully. Press down on the connector body and see if there are any micro fractures in the solder points or look for debris in either place.

If the z - . line is missing then:

The area we're talking about is to the left of the left arrow key and up at 45º. The first dot is the period key. You can see that all the keys to the left are linked together in this view of the front array.

You could actually trace out the connection that's giving you the problem following the trace through the connector ribbon.

You could actually trace out the connection that was giving you the problem by following the traces to the ribbon. Simpler would be to try blowing out the clamp area w/ compressed air.

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