MacBook Air key is stuck?

the 'seven' key on my new MacBook Air is not operating: the key moves up and down on its spring, but no image results onscreen. any suggestions before i haul it off to the Apple Store? - i purchased this computer in June 2013. thanks in advance for your help!

I have a suggestion ...
Before you go to the store, click the "make a reservation" button in the upper right here:
http://www.apple.com/retail/storelist/
It will save you time once you arrive.

Similar Messages

Macbook Air Mid 2011 - Stuck in Grub Prompt

Hi Archers,
I am trying to install Arch on an Mid 2011 Macbook Air. So far it looks ok, I am following the Wiki and this guide. The bootloader stuff is confusing me a little. I do not want to replace the bootloader from OSx, so I do not use rEFInd, right? I want to use the "Press alt while booting"-method, so does the above guide.
First problem:
While generating the standalone "boot.efi" file the "-C" option is not recognized.
grub-mkstandalone -o boot.efi -d usr/lib/grub/x86_64-efi -O x86_64-efi -C xz boot/grub/grub.cfg
It complains that -C is not a valid parameter, so I just skipped it.
After deleting the boot partition in OSx and creating the directories and files and copying the boot.efi file I am able to boot from this partition. Problem #2: After booting the partition I am stuck in a Grub prompt. It recognizes HD0 and 1 and after fiddling around with
ls (hd0)
ls (hd1)
ls (hd0,4)
It always complains about an unrecognized partition type.
Any help appreciated. Will I get it working in this state?
Booting from USB and installing the base system worked like a charm, I have a feeling I nearly got it but the bootloader stuff is just plain confusing.
Thanks in advance.
Last edited by Urfaust (2014-01-29 18:55:29)

Ok, I cannot find another guide which uses the OSx Bootloader. I installed rEFInd, reformated /boot with mkfs.ext2, chrooted to the base system and:
# pacman -S grub-efi-x86_64
# mkdir -p /boot/efi
# mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /boot/efi
# modprobe dm-mod
# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=arch_grub --recheck --debug
# mkdir -p /boot/grub/locale
# cp /usr/share/locale/en\@quot/LC_MESSAGES/grub.mo /boot/grub/locale/en.mo
The boot partition is recognized in rEFind, if I choose to boot from it Grub is firing up, I can see 2 menu entries (normal and fallback) after choosing the first I get:
error: no such device: someUID
Loading Linux core repo kernel ...
error: no such partition
Loading initial ramdiks ...
unaligned pointer 0x22
Aborted. Press any key to exit
Why won't Grub find the partition?
Last edited by Urfaust (2014-01-30 16:14:39)

Macbook air keys not working and now unable to boot up

Really frustrated today. So this is basically what happened. My macbook air 2012 was fine this morning but after i had lunch and came back to it alot of keys were unable to work. There have been no water spills or anything like that. I tried every possible solution and then i realised my software was out of date and decided to update to latest software. However while installing the new updates a message popped up saying an error had occured and i was left with a blank grey screen and a pointer. I waited a few minutes but still nothing had happened. Then i decided to shut down my computer and after i rebooted i was gretted with this
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xffffff8002c59241): "unable to find driver for this platform... etc etc
and the screen just stood there with a screen full of words. I searched for a solution to this and realised i could reinstall OSX by pressing cmd R and reboot but jus to my luck the key R was one of the keys that wasnt working. So now im kinda screwed not knowing what to do. Im probably gonna take it to Apple and see if they can do anything but for now does anyone have any suggestions??

Since any diagnostics at this point are utterly deadlocked, no; however see SMC reset below for last chance option before appt. with Apple
re-verify still the same.
Make an appt. with your local Apple store for full diagnostics and possible reinstall of your OS.
I hope you had a backup your vital data on your machine, a complete restore may be required, though that is indeterminate.
Peace.
See if you can perform a SMC reset to get out of same:
SMC reset
Shut down the computer.
Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.
On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.
Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.
Note: The LED on the MagSafe power adapter may change states or temporarily turn off when you reset the SMC.

Macbook Air keys not working and erratic trackpad

I purchased my macbook air 13" in 2o11. About 14 months after I purchased it, the trackpad was acting erratic. I took it to the genius bar and they recommended replacing it. Since my initial warranty had expired, I decided to replace it myself. Everything was all fine and dandy until about a month ago when the trackpad started acting erratic again. I took it to the apple store and the recommended replacing the trackpad again even though initial diagnostics showed that nothing was wrong with the trackpad. I decided to replace the trackpad myself again {using brand new OEM trackpad}, and a day after I replaced it, I noticed that the zero button and the command keys stopped working, even though the trackpad issue seemingly resolved. I'm not sure what to do or what the problem is. Does anybody have any suggestions? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Since any diagnostics at this point are utterly deadlocked, no; however see SMC reset below for last chance option before appt. with Apple
re-verify still the same.
Make an appt. with your local Apple store for full diagnostics and possible reinstall of your OS.
I hope you had a backup your vital data on your machine, a complete restore may be required, though that is indeterminate.
Peace.
See if you can perform a SMC reset to get out of same:
SMC reset
Shut down the computer.
Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.
On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.
Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.
Note: The LED on the MagSafe power adapter may change states or temporarily turn off when you reset the SMC.

I have a macbook air and its stuck on the apple logo

its o osx 10.8.4 its 126gb 13 inch screen and its stuck on the apple logo

Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
Step 1
The first step in dealing with a boot failure is to secure your data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since your last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Boot into the Recovery partition, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
b. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
c. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.
Step 2
Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to boot, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can boot now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.
If you've booted from an external storage device, make sure that your internal boot volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Step 3
Boot in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you boot in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, your boot volume is damaged and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to step 5.
If you can boot and log in now, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Check that you have at least 9 GB of available space, as shown in the window. If you don't, copy as many files as necessary to another volume (not another folder on the same volume) and delete the originals. Deletion isn't complete until you empty the Trash again. Do this until the available space is more than 9 GB. Then reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the boot process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.
Step 4
Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 5
Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select your startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.
This is one of the rare situations in which you should also run Repair Permissions, ignoring the false warnings it may produce. Look for the line "Permissions repair complete" at the end of the output. Then reboot as usual.
Step 6
Reinstall the OS. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 7
Repeat step 6, but this time erase the boot volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer your data from a backup.
Step 8
A dead logic-board battery in a Mac Pro can cause a gray screen at boot. Typically the boot failure will be preceded by loss of the startup disk and system clock settings. See the user manual for replacement instructions.
Step 9
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store to have the machine tested.

Macbook Air - Keys are broken?

2 keys don't work as they should. It is very hard to type on them. How can i remove them?

Take the unit in for service, if you can't clean it with a brush and/or a little compressed air. You don't want to be removing keys without some experience, and the spare parts on hand to replace the internal parts you break during your first practice session.

Macbook Air Extremely Slow/Stuck

Dear all,
A few months ago my MBA was still logged on when the battery went empty. I charged it completely, but then it was extremely slow. Sometimes it was just stuck. I then used the power button to shut it down completely. After that my MBA never starte up again: it remained stuck at the start-up screen (spinning cogwheel and mac-logo). I asked the distributor to re-install OS X. Fortunately the distributor was willing to do so. Re-installing OS X helped.
Yesterday the same thing happened. Obviously I don't want to go through this again so I am waiting very patiently for programs to load. Sometimes this takes up to 20 minutes. (I should add that sometimes it works very smoothly). Clearly, this is not very functional. Does anyone have an idea what to do? I need my mac.
One thing I may have done wrong: I renamed the computer name into my name; Thijmen. I used the uppercase T, which I shouldn't have, according to what I've read after changing the name.
I hope someone knows what to do with this.
Kind regards,
Thijmen

I went through the same issue with changing the main user's name while not realizing what the terrible path ahead would be, but I never had startup issues personally. newer MBAs should be starting up on a dime, so obviously you have a serious problem that can't be solved easily at home.

MacBook Air (mid-2011) stuck in startup chime loop

Everything was working fine last night, but this morning all I get is a gray screen (no Apple logo) and the repeating Startup Chime. Help?
I tried booting with Shift key help down, tried Command Option P+R, etc. Nada. Only recent problem I have had is that occasionaly it seems to Shut Down when Sleeping and I am forced to hold down Power Button to get it to Boot, or I receive the Error Message that it Shut Down Unexpectedly.

You hav to take the computer to the Apple store and have it checked out.
Resetting SMC will not help in this case.
Genius Bar reservation
http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

The NEW MACBOOK AIR ***** PLZ SOMEONE HELP ME GET THIS ACROSS TO SOMEONE AT APPLE

Hi,
My Name is Essa and i live in Bahrain. I fell in love wih apple ever since i bought a macbook in 2005. The laptop (which im using now) has been with me for over 6 years. Not only i was happy with my product, i purchased more products, such as 3 iphones, all for me, a ipod nano the new one with the touch screen and the first edition of the iPad. I have never had a problem and everytime i would tell my friends if they needed a laptop to get a mac and be safe with it. I decided in august to get the new macbook air. The problem after a few months of using it, it started to act up. By act up i mean everytime i start it up the computer would freeze on the welcome screen and the arrow would be stuck in the top corner, and after several times of trying to start it up it just kept giving me that (PING) sound and would not load. I took it to the sale agent here in bahrain. They are called Apple Center. They were extremly nice, and worked on my laptop and they came back to me and said that there was an error with your logic board and it will take 4 weeks to fix it, as they had to recieve the parts form the states. I gladly gave them my laptop and waited for 4 weeks, keep in mind that i still used my old macbook in 2005 and it was stable as the day i bought it. After 4 weeks of waiting they said we have fixed the problem, and he showed me that the laptop was working fine. I closed the top keeping it on sleep mode. When i got home i realized that the same problem exisited that when the operating system loads up the cursor is stuck in the top left corner and mouse pad and keyboard were not working. After several times of shutting down the laptop and starting it up again i ended up with the same result. It kept giving me that (PING) sound and wouldnt load. I will be taking my laptop in on monday morning again and im assuming i will be waiting for another 4 weeks maybe more. Could you please explain to me what happened to Apple? What has made your company start producing laptop that were as crappy a windows based computers. The reason i switched over is because i found the stability is outstanding and nothing could go wrong. Plus the old laptop which im sending the messege from is my old macbook. It is still good, and doesnt crash. So why did i just spend over 1,500 dollars for a laptop that died after 3 months of purchase? I dont know how well apple takes care of their international customers, but to be honest i am fairly dissapointed with this product, and i wish that i didnt buy the new macbook air and just stuck with the old one. Please if anyone reads this msg and is able to help me in anyway to send it across i would greatly appreciate it. I will be posting my phone number at the bottom hopping for a call from apple.
For those who read this and help i owe you a lot, if I dont get any replies or a responce from them im sure that i am screaming into a black hole and that apple really do not care about their customers and instead of winning i would just choose a different product from now on.
Regards,
Essa Al Alawi
Hoping for someone to answer me back
< Contact Info Edited By Host >

El3ees wrote:
I will be taking my laptop in on monday morning again and im assuming i will be waiting for another 4 weeks maybe more.
Don't take your laptop back. Find out the number for Apple Care in your part of the world and call them. Tell your story to them. If the person on the phone can't help you, ask for their supervisor. Keep asking for supervisors until you get exactly what you want to get. If that mean you want to get the problem fixed without having the computer gone for four weeks, then keep asking for supervisors till you get someone who can do that for you.
Be prepared to be on the phone for a while, so arrange a speaker phone, water to hand etc. Be patient.
As for "crappy computers"--my MBA has worked flawlessly since the day I got it. As good if not better than any Apple laptop I've ever had, and I've had several.This is the thing though, there is a percentage of failure rate that occurs in electronics. It occurs whether we're talking about televison sets or toasters. If it's electric, it has that failure rate. Now sometimes a thing will be bad and in that case the word gets out and everyone knows that particular electronic has surpassed the normal failure percentage. The Airs, however, have not done that. Their reputation, so far, has been incredibly solid and good. So you can assume that you, unfortunately, got one out of that small percentage of electronics that have an issue.
Laptops, let us remember, are doing a lot in a very small area. A lot can go wrong, and it's pretty amazing how many don't, especially given how many are made and sold. Sometimes we get the bad apple in the barrel, it doesn' t mean that the company making it has gone down hill. We hope the manager of the store, or the company, or someone will do right by us. If they don't, then we need to make sure they do. Keep asking for upper management till you get what you want.

MacBook air won't install Mavericks, can't use utility to restore

I Tried to update the operating system on my 2013 MacBook air, it gets stuck about 12 minutes in then won't install. I have tried to use the disc utility to restore previous os but it says the disc needs repair but the repair function is not availabl. Any ideas how I can fix?
thanks

It was is lion or 10.7, now when I start up it goes straight to the maverick installation prompt. It goes through this for a few minutes then comes up installation failed. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance. So for some reason it's not allowing the installation of new so to be completed but I think it may have gone to far to restore old OS.

MACBOOK air appears as though alt key is stuck

My on screen keyboard is showing the cahracters as though the alt key is pressed.
When I type it only brings up symbols. The alt key however is not stuck and the keyboard is new.
How do I fix this problem?

Hi rballiram,
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
It seems like your MacBook Air is recognizing that the option key is being pressed when it isn't; and you've confirmed by checking the Keyboard Viewer (onscreen keyboard) in OS X.
This was a good isolating step, and if the behavior isn't caused by the keyboard itself, try booting into Safe mode next:
Follow these steps to start up into Safe Mode.
Be sure your Mac is shut down.
Press the power button.
Immediately after you hear the startup sound, press and hold the Shift key. The Shift key should be pressed as soon as possible after startup, but not before the startup sound.
Release the Shift key when you see the Apple logo appear on the screen.
After the Apple logo appears, it may take longer than usual to reach the login screen. This is because your computer is performing a directory check as part of Safe Mode.
To leave Safe Mode, restart your computer without pressing any keys during startup.
From:
OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode? - Apple Support
If your Mac behaves normally in Safe mode, try resetting the NVRAM (also called PRAM) and the System Management Controller using the steps at these links:
How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support
Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) - Apple Support
Best Regards,
Jeremy

MacBook Air stuck on start-up screen - cannot login

Macbook Air - 3 months old. It was shut down ok but now when trying to login the username and password fields remain blank when typing in. After hitting a few keys it acts like one key is stuck (it isn't) and random characters get input into the field until it reaches the field limit. This after touching a key, any key, once.
The result is that obviously it is impossible to login. I have checked with an external keyboard and the same behaviour is present. Any ideas as to what could be causing this? Not really possible to troubleshoot or fix it if login is impossible.

Reinstalling OS X Without Erasing the Drive
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Reinstalling OS X Without Erasing the Drive
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility and press the Continue button. After Disk Utility loads select the Macintosh HD entry from the the left side list. Click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If Disk Utility reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit Disk Utility and return to the main menu.
Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
Alternatively, see:
Reinstall OS X Without Erasing the Drive
Choose the version you have installed now:
OS X Yosemite- Reinstall OS X
OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Reinstall Mac OS X
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet
if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

My macbook air is stuck on apple logo and circle with cross flickering

Hi Please help
My macbook air was giving error of memory full and then it switched off and now it won't boot and is stuck on apple logo and a circle with a line flickering
Ive tried:-
holding Cmd+r
holding Opt
Holding Cmd+Opt+R+P
Nothing works. When I held Opt key it only shows Mac HDD and a wifi option underneath it, dont knw why thats there.
Please help me I have a project to finish and don't know what to do with it. I also don't know what version of OS i had.

Start with these instructions:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2570
Ciao.

MacBook Air, purchased 2011. Stuck on grey apple screen. Help!

MacBook Air purchased in 2011, never had any trouble previously. Grey Screen stuck in thinking mode, will not accept any commands. Have let battery drain and re charged but no difference. Any thoughts? Thanks.

Being stuck at the grey screen generally means there's something wrong involving reading something from or writing something to the hard drive. Letting the battery die may be something that is sometimes useful for a phone or iPod, but never for a computer.
Step 1: try restarting in Safe Mode. Reboot and when you hear the chime and/or the LCD backlight comes on press and hold the shift key until you see the Apple icon. The bootup will take longer than normal because the hard drive is being examined and repaired. If this works you'll get to the desktop but Safe Mode only loads a minimal number of drivers so some things won't work. Reboot normally and see if you can get to the desktop now. If Step 1 failed or if after rebooting you returned to the gray screen try step 2.
Step 2: try restarting in Recovery Mode. Reboot and when you hear the chime and/or the LCD backlight comes on press and hold the command and R keys. You should boot into a utility mode where you can a) check the hard drive directory and repair it if need be and b) download and reinstall the operating system and that's what you should try doing.
If step 2 fails reboot holding option, command and R. This is Internet Recovery mode which is similar to Recovery mode except the drive will probably need to be formatted or partitioned before the OS can be reinstalled. This will erase all your data.
And if this fails call AppleCare or make an appointment at the Apple store.

My MacBook Air is stuck on the login screen, each

My MacBook Air is stuck on the login screen, each time I enter the password it stops (but does reject an incorrect password)

Restore OS X.
If your Mac has v10.7, v10.8, or v10.9 installed, startup your Mac while holding down the Command + R keys. From there you can restore OS X using OS X Recovery
For OS X prior to v10.7, boot from your install disc while holding down the C key.

MacBook Air key is stuck?

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