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Bizarre Keyboard Problem - Please Help!

W

windowstomac

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 23, 2011
274
66
Hi there,

I have a major problem.

A whole bunch of keys on my MacBook Pro have gone dead - they are random and not in top left to bottom right lines like I have seen in the past when a keyboard has shorted or has water damage.

More bizarrely still the exact same keys don't work on an external USB keyboard.

I have full disk encryption on. I can't type in my password.

I've seen stuff online about this being related to "mousekeys" but I can't get into OS X. I have reset PRAM and SMC, or at least I think I have, as I can't be sure whether the option and control keys work.

I can't boot to CD as the C key doesn't work.

Please help - I have deadlines!

B
 
duervo

duervo

macrumors 68020
Feb 5, 2011
2,466
1,232
windowstomac said:
Hi there,

I have a major problem.

A whole bunch of keys on my MacBook Pro have gone dead - they are random and not in top left to bottom right lines like I have seen in the past when a keyboard has shorted or has water damage.

More bizarrely still the exact same keys don't work on an external USB keyboard.

I have full disk encryption on. I can't type in my password.

I've seen stuff online about this being related to "mousekeys" but I can't get into OS X. I have reset PRAM and SMC, or at least I think I have, as I can't be sure whether the option and control keys work.

I can't boot to CD as the C key doesn't work.

Please help - I have deadlines!

B
Click to expand...

Boot the system in safe mode, then remove your third-party software that has anything to do with the keyboard or mouse. (Hopefully the keys needed to boot into safe mode still work.)

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455
 
W

windowstomac

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 23, 2011
274
66
Just thought I'd update on this. After replacing the keyboard (NOT an easy job), the problem remained. None of the startup shortcut keys worked either. Eventually, after hours of frustration I managed to get in and wipe the hard drive, then reinstalled Snow Leopard and hey-presto, it was back and working!

Moral of the story: Macs can have some STRANGE software / firmware problems. I've worked in the IT industry for many years and I was utterly convinced it was a hardware issue.
 
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