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I think the shift key is stuck on my MacBook pro

R

Revlefty

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 18, 2006
176
1
Anyone have this happen before. I'm not sure what happened, I Couldnt wake my mbp from it's screensaver Because it kept saying the password is wrong, so I restarted it and it's now starting up in safe mode and I can't log in because everything is in capital letters.

Anyone hear of anything like this, or have any ideas on how to fix it.
 
You could possibly try to pry the shift key off and make sure there's nothing underneath of it that's causing the button to stick. Might be an obvious question, but, you didn't happen to spill anything sticky on it, did you?

I've seen other posts where keys randomly seem to stick with machines running under Leopard -- not physically stick, rather, there's a software issue. Not sure what the cause is, however. If physical removal doesn't solve the problem (or if you don't want to do it), you could try resetting the NVRAM/PRAM on your Mac. May not solve the problem but is worth a shot.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379?viewlocale=en_US

Good luck.
 
I should have a little more clear, the key itself is not actually stuck down, it is just acting like it is. But I did pry the keys off and look to make sure there is nothing under there.
 
I tried resetting the pram but it doesn't seem to be working because shift is also being pressed. I can't even get it to boot from the cd.
 
If you put on caps lock, the shift button being stuck should then mean you type in lower case letters. This obviously won't solve your problem, but might enable you to access the computer in the meantime.
 
Spandexman said:
If you put on caps lock, the shift button being stuck should then mean you type in lower case letters. This obviously won't solve your problem, but might enable you to access the computer in the meantime.
Click to expand...

Hmm I just tried it and still nothing.
 
This happened to me. They had to replace the whole top case including the keys. No idea how it happened.
 
OMG, the same exact thing just happened to me (uMBP 13"). :confused:

This morning as I turned it on, it went straight to Safe Mode and it wouldn't accept my password. I booted to Single User Mode and that was when I realized the Shift key is somehow stuck. Pressing down "1" will show "!" instead. I did not spill ANYTHING on the keyboard, I also took the keys off and it seems fine. WTF is going on :eek:
 
auero said:
This happened to me. They had to replace the whole top case including the keys. No idea how it happened.
Click to expand...

Damn that's not what I wanted to hear. How long did that take?

Do you think they'd have a problem if I took the hard drive out before I brought it in?
 
Revlefty, any luck fixing it? I have a Genius appointment in 2 hours so I'll let you know what he says/does, as your issue sounds VERY similar to mine.
 
Pharos said:
Revlefty, any luck fixing it? I have a Genius appointment in 2 hours so I'll let you know what he says/does, as your issue sounds VERY similar to mine.
Click to expand...

Nope nothing, I did google the problem though and found someone else who had it and said when he hooked up a usb keyboard to it, not only was he able to get onto the computer but it actually corrected the problem. I'd try it but I have no keyboard.
 
Revlefty said:
Damn that's not what I wanted to hear. How long did that take?

Do you think they'd have a problem if I took the hard drive out before I brought it in?
Click to expand...

When I've have problems with my Mac in the past, the Apple Store has removed the hard drive for me free of charge before working on the unit. They may do the same for you if you ask.
 
CBAviator said:
When I've have problems with my Mac in the past, the Apple Store has removed the hard drive for me free of charge before working on the unit. They may do the same for you if you ask.
Click to expand...

Well the only reason I asked is because the hd is my old macbook at the moment so I at least have a working computer.
 
So I just got back from the apple store (typing this from my iPhone). Basically after 5 minutes of basic inspection, the Genius found it "strange", apologized and exchanged it on the spot with a brand new MBP :-D . Thankfully I put back the original RAM and HD prior to going there! Although I did not expect them to replace it. The Genius rocked and I'm now officially an Apple Fanboy :p :apple:
 
Pharos said:
So I just got back from the apple store (typing this from my iPhone). Basically after 5 minutes of basic inspection, the Genius found it "strange", apologized and exchanged it on the spot with a brand new MBP :-D . Thankfully I put back the original RAM and HD prior to going there! Although I did not expect them to replace it. The Genius rocked and I'm now officially an Apple Fanboy :p :apple:
Click to expand...

Now that's what I like to hear. Glad everything worked out. My Macbook Pro is only about 3-4 weeks old, I hope they do the same for me.
 
I have the same problem on a desktop Mac

I've been having the same problem on a desktop MacPro, OS 10.5.8, for at least the last two months.

Periodically the Shift key becomes soft stuck across the board, in all apps. Besides the obvious upper-casing, selections are all extensions, transforms are all constrained to uniform, the dock minimize effect is in super slo-mo, etc.

I know it is in software because swapping in a different keyboard has no effect, but rebooting fixes it temporarily, until it happens again, which is at least three times per week. Sometimes two or three days go by fine, but some days it will happen more than once. (I am a programmer, so I use my Mac all day.)

It is not Universal Access, at least, not in any way that is visible through the System Prefs. All the prefs related to that are off, including the one that pressing the shift key 5 times toggles Sticky Keys.

Is there any way to fix this besides rebooting? Resetting the PRAM does not seem to have prevented it from recurring. (Since resetting the PRAM requires rebooting, it gets fixed temporarily simply due to that. But it still happens again at some later random time.)
 
a little late but..

open the back and just unplugged the keyboard and plugged it back in and now i can do a regular boot and type lower case letter again.
 
sh

Hi,

Colour is a big part of Ease of Use on the iPhone.

Wondering why the blue colour shift lock key on the pop up keyboard has been replaced with grey colour changes when in other apps like, Maps, Mail, Phone, Calculator, Clock, Photos, Camera, ....(almost all native apps) use colour to highlight certain functions?

The removal of the blue colour when activating upper case typing has now slowed my overall typing down, both in landscape & portrait modes, making me less efficient at work & at home.

The reason for this is that I use both thumbs for typing in landscape & I use both right & left thumbs for typing in portrait. While typing, my left hand is usually hovering over that area of the keyboard in both modes where the shift key is located.

In previous iOS I could easily & quickly identify with my peripheral vision if the shift button was on, (be it locked or not) without consciously looking at it because my brain made a subconscious note of the colour blue in the bottom left hand corner.

Now I have to pause, move my hand/thumb aside and concentrate (albeit for a split second) to check that the shift button is on. This is happening almost every Paragraph & most sentences that I type.

I also type an upper case letter or two and have to continuously backtrack to correct it on most occasions. This simple omission/change has slowed me right down, waisting my precious time & to a lesser extent, energy.

Like all upgrades, I give myself several weeks to see if I'll acclimatise to the new changes, and 99% of the time I do. This time however my brain can not adjust & I'm not getting any faster with out the colour shift key.

If Johnny Ives & the Apple Engineers could bring themselves to surreptitiously put back the colour into the shift key function, I would have no thoughts about considering Samsung & would be a satisfied Apple Fan again.

I would be very surprised if I'm the only customer who has noticed this change.

A suggestion for consideration for the Apple Design Engineers, if not change the keyboard to upper case as suggested by others in this thread, then at the very least put the colour back into the shift key and maybe a small shift key (color) icon on the high side of the iPhone & iPad screen so we don't have to make a conscious note when we're typing. Our eyes would be able to clearly see that the shift key is on & adjust subconsciously with out slowing us down.

Yours sincerely,

Apple Customer :(:confused:
 
Pharos said:
So I just got back from the apple store (typing this from my iPhone). Basically after 5 minutes of basic inspection, the Genius found it "strange", apologized and exchanged it on the spot with a brand new MBP :-D . Thankfully I put back the original RAM and HD prior to going there! Although I did not expect them to replace it. The Genius rocked and I'm now officially an Apple Fanboy :p :apple:
Click to expand...
Please reply, but do u need warranty
 
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