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General discussion

WEIRD KEYBOARD PROBLEM. HELP!

Feb 4, 2011 8:25AM PST

OK EXCUSE FOR WRITING IN CAPS BUT YOU SEE THIS IS THE PROBLEM. 'T' AND 'G' WON'T WORK IN LOWER CASE,

well They will BUT TYPES LIKE random leTTers and symbols (IE: ??adfgs)AND 'B' TYPES 'bc' in lower case. All oTher keys are fine. i am sure i had no spillaGe whaT could be The issue??

Thanks for readinG and any help would be GreaT.

I AM RUNNING SNOW LEOPARD ON 13in YEAR OLD MACBOOK

Discussion is locked

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Most of the time
Feb 4, 2011 9:42AM PST

Most of the time this is a sign of a defective keyboard. Less likely possibilities would be the USB port is bad or some kind of configuration issue.

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Do you have another USB keyboard around the place?
Feb 4, 2011 11:53PM PST

or could you borrow one?

If yes, then plug it into the usb port of your MacBook and see if the same problem occurs.

If it doesn't, then the problem is almost certainly hardware. If you have a warranty on the machine, get Apple to replace the keyboard.

If the problem exists, then something else is messing with you.

P

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Here is something that you could try.
Feb 5, 2011 2:54AM PST

I just got this from someone who knows more about these things than most of us put together.

1. In a reply to this post, type a to z.
Then hit the Caps lock and type A to Z

Don't try to fix anything.
What you should see is two rows of type that "should" be missing the same letters.

2. Use another USB keyboard. If that works the prognosis is the laptop keyboard has an issue (or the logic board)


if the external does the same, we suspect the OS or some driver or other add on.

If test 1 shows the missing letters and test 2 works ok then we are
looking at a possible motherboard issue. In laptops the keyboard
matrix is decoded on the motherboard so we can't rule that it's just a
keyboard.


Credits to Bob P for this


P

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Here is something that you could try
Feb 5, 2011 11:05PM PST

THANKS FOR THE HELP MR MAC ( AND TO BOB P) HERE IS WHAT THE KEYS TYPE ON LOWER AND CAPS:

a bcvxz c d e f adfgs h i j k l m n o p q r s eqrtw u v w x y z

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.

AS YOU CAN SEE THE 'B' 'G' AND 'T' IN LOWER CASE COME OUT AS ANY RANDOM LETTERS SOMETIMES SYMBOLS OR EVEN SOME IN CAPS AND SOME TIMES TAKE A FEW PRESSES TO GET THEM TO TYPE ANYTHING.

I DON'T HAVE A USB KEYBOARD AT HAND RIGHT NOW BUT WILL TRY THAT WHEN I CAN.

THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR HELP.

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"SOME TIMES TAKE A FEW PRESSES TO GET THEM TO TYPE ANYTHING.
Feb 6, 2011 12:07AM PST

"SOME TIMES TAKE A FEW PRESSES TO GET THEM TO TYPE ANYTHING."

That's almost always a sign the keyboard needs replacing. The USB keyboard is a test we use to be sure.
Bob

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I've only run into this issue
Feb 6, 2011 1:27AM PST

I've only run into this issue on Toshiba laptops, never an Apple one, but it definitely would seem as if the keyboard is defective. Might be high time to see if the system is still under warranty, because otherwise you're looking at a new top case. Should probably be about $200 with labor when it's all said and done, but since it requires removing the logic board and display assembly, when you get the thing back, make sure to check EVERYTHING, and take it back if you find something doesn't work.

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I've only run into this issue
Feb 7, 2011 11:40AM PST

I CAN GET THE 'G' 'B' AND 'T' TO WORK IN LOWER CASE BY PRESSING T AND Y IN QUICK SUCCESSION, COMES OUT LIKE ty and same with G (gh)