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13 inch MacBook Pro with TouchBar - keyboard up arrow key broken.

OCDMacGeek

OCDMacGeek

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 19, 2007
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I love this machine, but the up arrow key will only function when pressed way too hard. I took the key off and you can't really see anything wrong, and when replaced it acts the same. (The key itself is just an upside down version of the down arrow part.)

Apple says I have to send it in. No Apple Store near me. But anyone have other tips?
 
How did you take the key off?
if tinkered with doesn't that invalidate the warrantee, perhaps they wont tell.
 
There are quite a few people with this issue, including myself.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7769526

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ing-without-triggering.2016429/#post-23955173

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macbook-pro-13-tb-keyboard-question.2016457/#post-23953459

You could get it exchanged, but there isn't really any guarantee that the replacement will work any better. I think it's probably a slightly flawed design on the up/down arrow keys personally. I've checked the ones in the store and they are all the same.

People who hammer away on the keyboards will likely never notice this or care, but I can definitely tell on my MBP that the up/down arrows aren't as accurate as all the other keys.
 
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So I've been to my local Best Buy three or four times now as I wait for mine to arrive in the mail and I've noticed that the most recent time I went the keyboard felt worse. The first time I typed on it all the keys all felt the same with equal clickyness, however, some keys like "shift" are now spongy. I wonder about the durability/longevity of this new keyboard. Of course there must have been dumb kids there pounding unnecessarily hard on the keyboard, but still it makes me paranoid... Has anyone else noticed this?
 
p8blr said:
So I've been to my local Best Buy three or four times now as I wait for mine to arrive in the mail and I've noticed that the most recent time I went the keyboard felt worse. The first time I typed on it all the keys all felt the same with equal clickyness, however, some keys like "shift" are now spongy. I wonder about the durability/longevity of this new keyboard. Of course there must have been dumb kids there pounding unnecessarily hard on the keyboard, but still it makes me paranoid... Has anyone else noticed this?
Click to expand...
Yep, my shift key is really spongy and slows down my typing. Problem is the unit is perfect in every other way; if I exchange it no doubt I will get one defective in some other way. I'm hoping compressed air might fix it.
 
Yep, same issue here: brand-new late-2016 13" MB Pro w/touchbar. Up/Down arrow keys are inconsistent. I think they have a major issue here... Hope Apple is listening...
 
Correct -- I noticed that too in my local store.
It seems that not everyone is getting a proper response from Apple in stores... but so far, is everyone getting relief from Apple when they call MyApple? If not, then my guess is, someone will soon notify the Press... and "KeyGate" will proceed...
 
I've been posting in a thread regarding the same topic over on the Apple support forums, but I wanted to add my experience over here too:

I brought my 13" non-tb model back to the local apple store because the down arrow had stopped registering. They took my machine for repair, and the service center received it on the 8th. Today is 11 days under repair for a friggin keyboard problem, and I just contacted phone support to find out what's taking so long.

It turns out that a keyboard repair involves replacing the top case & battery assembly, and that's a problem because according to her, there is a "nationwide backorder" of that part. So this is a big problem that apple was entirely unprepared for.

Also, it means that you really, really shouldn't send your machine in for keyboard replacement. It will sit in repair limbo for weeks.
 
Had the exactly same problem. I sent the macbook pro TB for repair and Apple said that the butterfly is physically damaged can not be repaired under warranty. So, getting it back without any repair. So, now, apple is not fixing the issue. Did some one had this kind of problem?
 
moondarkx said:
Had the exactly same problem. I sent the macbook pro TB for repair and Apple said that the butterfly is physically damaged can not be repaired under warranty. So, getting it back without any repair. So, now, apple is not fixing the issue. Did some one had this kind of problem?
Click to expand...
Same. What did you end up doing? Anyone else have this issue?
 
I'm having this same issue; my up arrow needs a hell of a lot of force to register. I'm scared, I've had my 15" for a year and a week, and I'm not 100% they'll give us an extended warranty to fix it because it just started happening in the last two weeks. All the other keys are great, its' just the up arrow. I'm also having unresponsive USB-C ports: It takes a lot of jiggling to get my TB3 to HDMI cable to detect my monitor, and when it does detect, it is super sensitive: a slight bump will cause the monitor to disconnect - even though the cable is seated in the port. For some odd reason plugging the power cable in is fine. Anybody else having this problem?
 
OP wrote:
"Apple says I have to send it in. No Apple Store near me. But anyone have other tips?"

Best tip you're going to get:
SEND IT IN FOR REPAIR.

If you wait until it's out-of-warranty, this repair is going to run you about $700 or so.
I am not kidding. They can't just "replace a single key" -- they have to replace the entire case!
 
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My advice: send it in for repair then sell it and wait for a proper keyboard. Until that time buy a chrome book or a dell xps.
 
While I'm over defending Apple on the silly battery-gate threads, I can't defend the new keyboards. A design that needs to go back to the drawing board, in my opinion. My wife and I have both had spacebar issues on our MB 2016 machines, and I've also got an issue with my up arrow. Out-of-warranty=$700+ to repair. I've replaced my space bar myself but since doing it one's self isn't officially supported, there's very little in the way of documentation on it and the space bar in particular is tricksy to replace without breaking the little plastic hinges.

I've also got a 2017 MBP, only time will tell on that one.
 
r.harris1 said:
While I'm over defending Apple on the silly battery-gate threads, I can't defend the new keyboards. A design that needs to go back to the drawing board, in my opinion. My wife and I have both had spacebar issues on our MB 2016 machines, and I've also got an issue with my up arrow. Out-of-warranty=$700+ to repair. I've replaced my space bar myself but since doing it one's self isn't officially supported, there's very little in the way of documentation on it and the space bar in particular is tricksy to replace without breaking the little plastic hinges.

I've also got a 2017 MBP, only time will tell on that one.
Click to expand...

It looks like the 2017s are alot better. They've made slight modifications in the key caps that improved reliability.
 
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I went through a top case replacement and a replacement computer only to have this problem every time (both the 2016 and 2017 model).

Has anybody been able to reproduce this on the 2018 Macbook Pros?
 
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