Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

SR MacBook Keyboard Unresponsive

i had a problem with the down arrow key and i just took it straight to the genius bar, and they replaced it after a few minutes of testing. Now i'm having a problem that the period button(.) isn't sensitive enough.

I think its the keyboards problem because with the same pressure as other buttons, the period button doesn't work. I have to press it twice most of the time. But so far its working for this post haha. I was thinking of taking back to the genius bar and have them take a look at it. heres a example test i wanted them to do,hit the key a lot and then hit another key. heres a sample:

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
........

same pressure and frequency. Is this good grounds for an exchange? i just got it two days ago my macbook that is, but i won't be able to get to the apple store untill the 21st. its still within the time period i hope.
 
I have had my MB (recent update with SR) for about a week now and I am having the same keyboard freezing issue. It seems to happen in a random pattern and with any application but almost everyday. It looks and feel like a bug in Leopard.

So far I got it to happen while typing on the search field for the Address Book help, and even filling the rebate form for my free printer on the Apple web site using Safari.

I have a wireless Logitech USB mouse but it doesn't seem to be the problem since it has also happened when I am not using it. One thing I noticed is that I started getting this issue after enabling Time Machine.

Is somebody else using Time Machine ? I think I will disable it for a couple of days and see what happens.:confused:
 
Same problem, old macbook

I installed leop on my black macbook that i bought in sept. All of a sudden i am having this issue where the keyboard turns off temporarly and then turns back on a little while late. It is just as you all describe, the only reason i post is because the fact that i am not running a SR macbook, and it only started ater leop10.5 install, it may be more clearly a os issue.
Also, i have noticed the issue happens more often after the computer has been left in sleep, or forced to turn off by itself due to battery issues

take it easy:(

edit: i do not use time machine
 
I think i may have found a way to recreate.

I am in the middle of writing a paper. Last night i allowed my computer to run out of battery while it was sleeping. This morning i pluged it in and opened the screen to that fuzzy, you have no power, thing. Once it came to life i navigated to the internet with my mouse and read some news. When i tried to comment the keyboard didnt work. A few seconds of letting it be made it work (after i hit a key to notice it didnt work) note: if i press a key repeatedly it does not speed it up. and may slow it down. Now i type for a second. i resume mouse control for a min or two, and try to type an email. Same problem.
Without the fluff, i repeated the basic process of switching between keyboard and mouse in that order.
My best guess, a very uninformed one, is that the OS has some power management protocols that allow the keyboard to be disabled, or something that manages the switch between mouse pad and keyboard so that only one can work...
tell me if you can recreate the bug this way
 
I just started having this issue on my SR Macbook today :/

Pretty similar to what other people were saying, it's intermittent. The first time it happened, I restarted and it was fine. Then it happened again... and I was too lazy to restart but then it worked again a few minutes later. It's happened about 5 times in the past few hours or so..
 
Well, I installed the Leopard 10.5.1 upgrade yesterday. Then I worked on my MB for a good couple of hours editing contacts in my Address Book, no issues at all.

Today I have been working most of the morning on it, mainly typing code. Not at problem. So, is this it ? Did Apple got this fix ?

One thing I also did was to set the sleep time to 20 minutes and the screen sleep time to 15. I think the defaults were too agressive. I also disable the screen saver. I am planning to set these settings back to default values today and see what happens.

Anybody seeing the issue after upgrading to 10.5.1 ?
 
The update didn't help... I'm still having the issue. I have found closing the lid and then reawaking the macbook fixes it, at least temporarily.
 
Leopard keyboard

bonecandy said:
I bought a SR MBP about 5 months ago and never experienced any real keyboard issues (aside from having to press a button twice in order for it register every once in a while). But, a couple of days after I upgraded to Leopard, my keyboard started to cut out intermittently for several hours. I reinstalled Leopard and it hasn't cut out ever since (knock on wood).
Click to expand...

Okay, this is definitely a bug in Leopard somehow!

When I ran Tiger, my keyboard worked fine. Then I upgraded to Leopard, and I've noticed A LOT of tiny but VERY annoying bugs such as this keyboard issue.

Often I have to press a key TWICE for it to register. This is VERY annoying when chatting with people on Adium for example, as it often cuts the first letter :(

On top of that, I've even installed the latest update.

Though I haven't had my keyboard not responding for hours at a time... fortunately.

PLEASE APPLE! FIX THIS! (and all the other issues!)


---


Running SR MBP OS version 10.5.1
 
My problem just started happening TODAY. I use my SRMBP all of the time and I've never had this issue. I got it in late September. I upgraded to Leopard 2 weekends ago and still didn't have the problem. I upgraded to 10.5.1 the day it was released, and still no problem. I used it all day yesterday ... still no problem. But all of a sudden, this morning when I awoke it from sleep I noticed the problem with the unresponsive keyboard issue you guys are describing. I haven't rebooted yet, but I'm going to try it and see what it does. I may just reinstall 10.5 and see what that does. Regardless this is beyond annoying and there are no apple stores around me, besides CompUSA.

The nearest apple store is like 3 hours away in Atlanta, GA. So going there is definitely NOT an option...
 
this is weird. My keyboard only has delayed reactions when i'm playing the game Redline. But everything else is fine.
 
Ok, just talked to apple care - this seems to be a new problem to the guy I talked to.

Basically he told me to repair disk permissions and then had me pop out the battery, unplug the machine and hold down the power button for at least 10 seconds (resets PMU?). Then start the computer while holding down option, CMD, 'r' and 'p' until you hear the start-up tone twice. This resets something as well - not sure what though.

So I did this and everything seems to be ok right now, plus the computer is a bit more snappier too!

Give it a try, I let you know if I have the issue again.

His final idea was to wipe the HD, install Leopard and recover all my data from time machine - a last resort.

EDIT - He also said to open up activity monitor if it happens again and see if something is hogging the processor.
 
Well, my replaced MacBook just became unresponsive for the 1st time. GRR!!!!
 
I had zero issues with my new MacBook (purchased the day of the latest revision release) until about 3 days ago. My keyboard randomly stopped working. I was able to quickly fix it by simply closing the lid to make the system sleep, then opening the lid to wake it. The next day, I had the same thing happen again. It hasn't happened since.

It definitely appears to be a software issue. I have installed no other software other than what came with the system and I haven't tinkered with any system files or settings.
 
My keyboard became unresponsive again. So 10.5.1 didn't fix the problem :mad:

I called Apple Support and they asked me to call them back ASAP when I had 30 to 40 minutes available for troubleshooting (?). They provided an incident number to escalate the issue to a Leopard specialist.

I am not sure why Apple doesn't seem to be aware of this issue. The web is full of forums reporting the same problem. Even their own forums.

I am now also having difficulties attempting to shutdown, my MB just doesn't want to. I have to do a hard shutdown. So I guess I'll be logging into a different forum for this one.:(
 
Got my SR MB on Thursday, and I just starting experiencing this issue today.

I've realized that it ONLY happens when I'm not using the keyboard for a while.

It happened twice, and to get it working again, I had to close the lid and reopen it.
 
koshper said:
Excellent news but from what everyone else is saying this is not gonna cure it. I'm hoping this is a software problem and the new update will cure it.

Anybody here had a new sr macbook for longer than a week and not had this problem?
Click to expand...

Got mine last Friday, used it for some time now and it's fine. Sometimes I'm typing and and it sort of gets dyslexic or seems to miss keys but it's probably just my inability to type on this weird keyboard (I can type over 125 WPM though it's only able to be done on a Keytronic keyboard).

But as I use this one, it gets better & better -- currently hitting about 70WPM bursts. These keys are weird but I'm not minding too much. My folks' iMac (white) bluetooth keyboard is hard to type on fast too. Apple *needs* to contract with Keytronic, there is no other keyboard I have found that can handle fast typing without causing wrist pain. The key (pardon) is to be able to press keys with the pinky and the key slides down on well engineered posts so one doesn't have to wiggle their pinky even the slightest. Any resistance and a third muscle is used to "force" the key down and along comes Mr. Carpal Tunnel! Amazes me all the time how people are willing to sacrifice their wrist motility to a pretty, but lousy keyboard. Try it yourself on a regular keyboard; press the 'P' key with your pinky, do you have to adjust slightly to make it drop or does it just fall in? I'll certainly not use this SR macbook for serious documents, it would be painful.
 
Again

It happened again. I had the MacBook connected to AC power, used it for an hour, stepped away for about 30 seconds, came back and keyboard was not working. I tried pushing a variety of keys and waiting for about 5 minutes. Nothing. I shut the lid, went out for a few hours, came back, opened the lid, and it still wasn't working. I had to reboot.

This is so goddamn annoying. Even if sleeping/waking the computer is a temporary "fix", I don't want to have to do that every day as it shuts down my internet connection.
 
jokkesvin said:
Often I have to press a key TWICE for it to register. This is VERY annoying when chatting with people on Adium for example, as it often cuts the first letter
Click to expand...
I am also experiencing this problem as of the past week or so. It definitely did not occur under Tiger, and sleeping the MBP does fix it.

The other, easier fix is to hold down a single key for 15 seconds or so in a text box...it will eventually realize that someone is trying to use the keyboard and start responding again, without having to kill your Internet connection.
 
For the people who are experiencing this, is your Leopard install an "upgrade", "archive and install", "erase and install", or a machine that came with Leopard pre-installed?

I am wondering if upgrading from Tiger is causing some sort of problem here. People experiencing wake-from-sleep issues with MB/MBP often find it to be upgrade related.

EDIT: apparently this is related to waking the keyboard from hibernate? a post on apple discussions tracked down the specific power state (mode 3) when unresponsive
 
I was running tiger and did an update to leopard. That was when the problem started. I have since downloaded the 10.5.1 update and the problem so far seems to have gone away.
 
My MacBook is brand new with Leopard pre-installed.

I fail to see how this has anything to do with hibernating since it sometimes happens during active use. I will literally have the MacBook in my lap, mousing around, then I go to type and nothing comes out.
 
Well it's definitely not an upgrade issue (Erase and Install for me) or a hibernate issue (this MBP has not entered hibernate mode for over a month). A PRAM reset does seem to fix it, at least so far.

I'll remain skeptical for a few days, but it's on 29 hours now with no recurrence. EDIT: Nope, the problem is back.
 
Same issue here...

New MBP, pre-installed w/ Tiger... Erase & Install to Leopard. Constant keyboard freezes... pre 10.5.1 and post.

Very disappointing, would like a fix from Apple ASAP.

Cliff.
 
Same issue on my 2.4 15" MBP - worked great with Tiger, then did a clean install on Leopard on release and since then random keyboard freezes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back