Bizarre Keyboard Problem - Please Help!

[windowstomac]

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

[yusukeaoki]

Well did you do water damage or anything you can think of to the computer?

[duervo]

Originally Posted by windowstomac

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

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