Spacebar keystroke won't stop.

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Level 1

26 points

Spacebar keystroke won't stop.

My iMac recently started having a problem where the system is receiving a spacebar keystroke that won't stop. I think this is what's happening based on spaces added to onscreen text in different apps, and from the KeyBoard Viewer that shows the space bar constantly depressed.

This is NOT a keyboard peripheral issue. I've tried multiple keyboards. I've also tried disconnecting everything connected to the mac and rebooting. The issue persists. I've had it stop after many reboots (which seems coincidental). I also reset the PRAM and that seemed to have fixed it, but now it's returned (after about 24hrs).

I don't know what else to try. I haven't installed any new hardware in the computer since I bought it (upgraded ram). It's worked fine for 1.5yrs.

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.5)

Posted on Jun 7, 2016 2:05 PM

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Answer 1

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tbrianjones Author

Level 1

26 points

Jun 9, 2016 7:02 PM in response to tbrianjones

This is really dumb, so I'll admit it in the hopes it helps someone else.

There were two bluetooth keyboards in my closet from a recent move that had turned on and were periodically pairing with my iMac. They were sending depressed keystroke signals because all the keys were smashed in the box they were in. I removed their batteries and haven't had problems since.

: (

but also

: )

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Answer 2

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,488 points

Jun 7, 2016 2:23 PM in response to tbrianjones

Try resetting the SMC per iMac SMC and PRAM reset, this may take several resets to work.

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