Shift key appears to be stuck...

I just recently installed Snow Leopard on my MacBook Air, and I can no longer type numbers. It seems as if the Shift key is being pressed. Any advice?

Hi YogaKid & welcome to the forums.
That's a weird one, sorry
Five things you might try:
1.)
Try resetting some of the hardware involved. See this Apple KB for details, etc.:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
Can't hurt to try, and apparently this has helped others recently.
2.)
The general approach at this time is to ask if you've checked for any problematic fonts with Apple's Font Book (look in the Applications folder). Find and remove duplicates also.
Start there to be sure all fonts that are in play come out with a clean bill of health.
Also, don't hesisate to perform wholesale deletion of old and/or little used fonts - be skeptical of anything that has come from Office 2008, including those related to an Equation Editor installation.
3.)
Check system Preferences/Keyboard/Keyboard Shortcuts to see if anything has stomped on 'normal' numbers...
4.) Check System Preferences/Languages to confirm the one you expect is set accordingly.
5.) Try another keyboard via USB.

Similar Messages

Text won't stop deleting, delete key appears to get "stuck"

Sorry if this is in the wrong topic, I have never used the support forums for any of the multitude of problems I have had with my Mac, but this one is severe and odd enough that I couldn't even find anyone else discussing it (although I'm sure someone is, but I tried many search key combinations on Google and only found unrelated things), so I decided to at least get it documented.
I have had an issue that has happened at least 3 times I can remember (I am fairly certain it has happened more, closer to 7-8, those are just the times I am 100% confident about), although very spaced apart and infrequent, where my delete/backspace key seems to get "stuck". However, at least one time I can verify that I never even hit the key. Whatever text I currently have open immediately starts deleting at lightspeed, and I can do nothing to stop it. None of the other keys on my keyboard work, and though my mouse works, if I click somewhere else, it starts deleting the text there. When I force it to go to another window where there isn't an open text box, I get the general Mac error sound, and it repeats non-stop, and faster than I've ever heard it. I have to do a hard shut-down, although once it led to a kernal panic. When I have stopped whatever is happening before it panics though, when I restart, I don't receive any kind of error message, nor the message about OS X not having been shut down properly.
Every single time it has happened when I was typing something that couldn't be saved, like a message on a forum, a private message on a site or an IM chat window. Sometimes I lost a half hour's worth of work or more.
The first time it happened, I honestly thought someone had managed to hack into my computer, but another time I was using a physical modem and Airport was turned off, and when I ripped out the cord, it didn't stop.
I have a MacBook Pro from 2007, running the most recent version of Tiger. I haven't had the money to upgrade. All security updates are up-to-date, with one exception: I have not upgraded to the most recent version of iTunes.
Honestly, I currently am having and have been having a bunch of other severe issues with my Mac, so troubleshooting will be quite difficult as it's not at all impossible it's a result of one of my other problems. I also currently am dealing with some health problems that make me unable to try to find the root of the problem, specifically I have a problem with my hand and wrist that makes typing very difficult.
If someone does recognize this issue and already knows why it might be happening, I'd appreciate the help. I'd also appreciate anyone letting me know how I can prevent it OR what to do when it begins and how to stop it. But I probably will be unable to go through a typical troubleshooting rundown.
As I said, I just wanted this documented, and I also would like to know if anyone else has had this problem. I have never experienced an issue like this with any of my past computers, including Macs and PCs. I do know however that the key is NOT physically getting stuck - as in getting lodged down and continuing to be pressed. There is at least 1 time I can verify I never even hit the key (I wasn't typing anything at the time). I am fairly sure the problem is entirely unrelated to the actual delete key itself.
I'll describe the symptoms one more time:
At a random time, with no discernible warning, text contained in whatever text box I have open begins deleting itself. Several paragraphs disappear in a matter of seconds.
Pressing escape or any other key on the keyboard does nothing. If I click to another area in the text, it will immediately begin deleting wherever I have placed the cursor. If I go to another window with text that can be edited, it begins deleting there. It does not delete in more than one place simultaneously.
If I bring another window without any kind of "deletable" text to the front, one of the general Mac error sounds (I'm not sure which one it is) starts happening and repeats without stopping at a rate that could induce a seizure. To stop it all, the only thing I have found can be done is a hard shut-down. Another time it continued to end in a kernal panic. I wish I had the details of the error, but it was so long ago and I have no idea which panic is the right one in the logs.
I have no way of knowing what programs were running at the time, as obviously that's not something I'm able to pay attention to when it happens, and it has happened so randomly and infrequently it's nothing I've been able to document. Since I have to restart to make it stop, I've then lost that info and I have no time to try to write it down or something beforehand.
I have not had any similar issues that I know of (for instance, for the "g" key keeps repeating and won't stop typing "g's") and I've never experienced this on any past computer.
Thanks for anyone who can help!
If you aren't able to offer advice but have had this issue yourself, PLEASE let me know. I can't seem to find anyone who has experienced this particular problem.

"Cleaning the keyboard is the first step in troubleshooting sticky/stuck keys."
Okay, I guess I misunderstood, although I am still confused. You're saying that since the other user did an extensive clean of their keyboard and this did not solve the problem, it is "most likely" a hardware problem, correct? Wouldn't a thorough cleaning without any results show that it's probably not physically related to the keyboard?
"The "delete" key may be defective or the cover you are using somehow is making the key stick. If you have ruled out the latter and everything else, your only other alternative is to take the MBP to your local Apple Store or AASP. The staff will check out your keyboard (free) to confirm if you are having a hardware problem. If you have AppleCare or ProCare, the repairs will be free. If not.................."
Well, I had just said in my most recent post that it has now happened with other keys, and in my initial post that it happened at times when my hands were nowhere near the keyboard. It is not a defective delete key and the cover is not making the keys stick - it doesn't adhere to them and does not have any sticky substance on it of any kind. I am an experienced computer user, and I know my computer very well. While I am not a psychic that can always know what is causing a problem, I am able to discern with much accuracy what is NOT causing it.
Also, I have significant health issues so getting to an Apple store would be a huge challenge for me. And although I have AppleCare any repairs won't be free. Due to some small physical damage my laptop obtained a few years ago, I have been completely refused almost all service that I paid over $300 for, even though the damage is completely superficial. After fighting this, I was told they WOULD repair my computer, however, they would also repair the physical damage despite my insisting NOT to; I had no choice in the matter and the cost would be a minimum of $1,500 (I also would not be informed the exact price until after and my credit card would be charged without my knowledge - I had to give them my credit card number and sign away their right to make any charges and when I requested being contacted before they charged me for the repairs I didn't want done, I was told they did not do that). My family is struggling to pay for my $5 medications.
When my logic board died (that same issue that affected thousands of computer users), I had to print out Apple's report from their site, which stated that they would replace and repair them free of charge to ANY Mac owner with a computer that met certain qualifications (which mine did). When it happened, completely out of nowhere, I knew immediately that was the problem, yet still had to go through the insulting and idiotic "Is your computer plugged in?" list of things and a customer WITH AppleCare was being refused a service they'd offered to people WITHOUT AppleCare, for a known manufacturing defect that has occurred widely in nearly every brand of computer made.

Left/right Keys appear to be stuck

Here's the problem:
I'm not sure what exact keys are stuck, but it appears that my computer is receiving constant left/right input. It only appears in certain areas though. For instance, a Finder window will constantly shift left and right. This also occurs in the main iTunes window. Drop-down menus are unusable... as soon as I click on them, it immediately selects an option. But right now, as I type this, I can hit the left and right keys and it works just fine.
I've tried restarting, unplugging and plugging in my keyboard, as well as making sure my software is up to date.
Thanks for reading this.

Welcome to Discussions - that sometimes happens to me as well, to fix it I right-click on purpose, and then select one of the choice, then the right-click goes away again. You can also re-start.
Let me know what worked,
Miriam

Stuck Shift Key

I've been having a problem with my MacPro, OS 10.5.8, for at least a week.
The Shift key appears to be 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.
I have checked the shift keys and they appear to be fine. Is this a software issue.

Been out of the Leopard for a year now so details are fuzzy, but check the settings in System Preferences / Universal Access. Maybe one of the Sticky Keys overstayed its stickyness.

Sticky shift key on 13" MB

Hello,
I'm experiencing a sort of sticky shift key. Usually it just delays a second or so before poping back up after being pressed. It sort of comes and goes - some days not even noticeable.
I never spilled anything on it either.
Can these keys be pried out with a small screw driver and put back on without much risk of damaging it?
I've looked at the key carefully and it just seems like there's not enough clearance between the top key next to the aluminum top - the other shift key appears to have more clearance. I think if I can remove the key I can maybe sand off a little bit off the key edge to give it a little more clearance.
Thanks,

Hi i thought i could reboot from my recovery dvd to rectify this fault, unfortunately after rebooting windows i cannot get past the welcome to microsoft windows screen i cannot click on the next button, it highlight's when the pointer is over it and right click work's but left click dosn't.
Any ideas appreciated.

Screen stuck on gray, used shift key and my screen appears with MacBook Pro and not the recovery option. Please help

Screen stuck on gray, used shift key and my screen appears with MacBook Pro and not the recovery option. Please help!

Hi ..
Shift key boots into Safe Mode, not Recovery.
This only works on a Mac running v10.7 Lion or later.
Startup your Mac while holding down the Command + R keys. From there you should be able to access the built in utilities to repair the startup disk and restore OS X using OS X Recovery
If you can't boot into Recovery Mode, help here > Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup

It appears that my shift key is stuck, everything including numbers is capped. Can this be fixed?

It appears that my shift key is stuck, everything including numbers is capped, can this be fixed?

Yes since it is on a iMac simply replace the keyboard.

My MacBook Pro will not start up. I only get a grey screen with the spinning wheel. No blue page appears and the grey screen remains. Tried starting with the Shift key but ineffective as well.

Can't get my MacBook Pro to start up. Have shut it down several times and tried restarting but all I get is a grey screen with the spinning icon. Apple Support online suggested starting with power button followed immediately with the shift key. Same results. Also tried power button with shift key, command, and V. Black screen appeared instead with lots of data language but still no starting. This final page was suppose to result in an internal system check and restart but nothing happened and the black screen remains.Where do I go from here? Scheduled for the Genius Bar tomorrow but would like to resolve this beforehand.

You may be having a hardware problem that you cannot resolve on your own. Nevertheless...
...hold down the command and R keys whilst booting to try to get to your Recovery partition. If you can, use Disk Utility to try to Verify your boot drive (usually named "Macintosh HD" unless you've renamed it). If the verification fails, try to repair your hard drive. If everything appears to be OK, restart.
If you can't get into your Recovery partition, your problem is likely hardware related. If so, keep your appointment and see what the Apple techs have to say.
Clinton

TS2570 My Mac stays stuck on the grey screen. Doesn't boot up. I've tried everything the shift key to safe boot still doesn't boot. I've tried the option key n only has one option to go into. please help. problem Is I bought off a friend so I have no disk

My Mac stays stuck on grey screen. I've tried the option key. The shift keys. Nothing helps. The problem is I bought the computer off a friend and I don't have any disks. Any suggests would be great..

Can you see a serial number anywhere? Don't post it here, just let me know if if you have it.

Spill has caused right shift key to be stuck on

A few months ago I spilled juice on my MBP keyboard (out of warranty - purchased June 2012). I removed all the keys effected and cleaned them. The result of this was that the right shift key was stuck on and it would only start in safe mode + I couldn't log in because I could only type in caps. This is what I did:
I plugged in a usb keyboard - was able to log in
I downloaded keyremapper4mac and disabled the right shift key so I could type in NOT CAPS
Switched to automatic login so I wouldn't be prompted to enter my password anymore
Removed the usb keyboard
Again, MBP would only start in safe mode. Then I found out that the key remapper would only work when the computer wasn't in safe mode. I did some googling and found a key combination that would stop the MBP from starting in safe mode. I have left my computer on for awhile now (not shutting it down) and yesterday I shut it down. I started it up holding down the cmd/shift and my login screen came up.
My problem is that I think I may have forgotten the key combination to bypass the safe mode boot up and I don't know why my login screen came up - maybe because of the key combo I used temporarily turned off the automatic login.
Does anyone know the combination of keys to press to get past the safe boot so my computer will start up normally? I am running 10.7.5.
Thanks!!

Someone else said to try and reboot by holding down the menu and play button on the remote for several seconds and then try again. It worked for several people and seems to be working for me now.

T40's Left Shift key makes right click/context menu appear?

Hello All-
On my T40, on which I just recently got Windows 7 correctly installed, has a curious behavior:
When I press the left shift key, it functions the same as if I had pressed the right mouse button. It functions correctly otherwise, I.E., when using it to capitolize a letter in an email, the letter is capitolized, but as soon as I let go of the shift key, the right click/context menu immediately appears.
This is exceedingly irritating, as I cannot continue typing until I have navigated out of the menu.
I have checked to see if the Keyboard Customiser utility is causing this, as I currently have my left Alt key functioning as a Windows button, but it does not appear to be causing this particular issue.
Does anyone have any idea how I might go about fixing this?
Thanks in advance,
G
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Nevermind-
Had the keyboard customizer set to use the left shfit key as the application key. Duh.

Stuck Shift Key (Help!!)

I needsome help!
I've been having a LOT of problems with my MacBook Unibody late 2008 with Lion installed. The shift key is stuck. At first I thought it was a bug and restored everything from a timemachine backup. Nothing changed. The computer refuses to stay in sleep mode and everything is just weird and wonky. I tried to find similar cases but I have found nothing yet that could help me with this.
Has this happened to anyone else with lion?
And I haven’t dropped any liquids on the keyboard. I’ve also checked under both shift keys to see if there was something (dirt or whatnot) under them, I couldnot see anything. It was clean.

I did test with a spare keyboard, and it performed the same way: does not work for my user account, is fine for the test account I set up as an additional log-in.
I also did this to try and solve my issue, but still nothin':
- ran OnyX AND Cache Cleaner
- ran & configured PrefEdit
- ran AppleJack twice, once on AUTO for deep cleaning (in single-user mode, of course...)
- ran MacJanitor
- tried again to re-set my system prefs
- reset PRAM again
Sigh.
All I want is to be able to type capital letters in Mail & Safari. Seems like I'm asking for too much!
Sigh again.
Thanks for any other advice or things you think I should try.

Shift key somehow stuck on my 2-week old MBP

Did anyone have this problem before?
I turned on my 2-week old uMBP 13" and it wouldn't accept my password! After minutes of frustration, I booted into Single user mode and that was when I realized the Shift key is somehow stuck! Typing will show everything in capital letters, typing "1" will show "!", etc.
No physical damage has been done to this computer, I have not spilled any liquids on it and the keys are definitely not physically stuck (I did pry them off and check to see if there was anything under there).
Any ideas?
Thank you so much!

Welcome to Apple Discussions.
This sounds like a defect and should be handled by warranty. If you have an Apple Store nearby make and appointment and bring it in. If you did not then contact Apple on Monday using the phone number in your manual and call them. They will help you get it taken care of. You are covered by 90 days of phone support so take advantage of it!
Regards,
Roger

Shift Key Brings up scratchpad. Also search firefox at bottom of the screen appears randomly HELP Started after the latest update

Ever since Firefox automatically updated I have 2 VERY annoying problems. 1) Just touching the Shift Key Brings up scratchpad. 2) search firefox at bottom of the screen appears and defaults without me doing anything, randomly. Please help

'''[https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-using-safe-mode Start Firefox in Safe Mode]''' {web link}
While you are in safe mode;
Type '''about:preferences#advanced'''<Enter> in the address bar.
Under '''Advanced,''' Select '''General.'''
Look for and turn off '''Use Hardware Acceleration'''.
Poke around safe web sites. Are there any problems?
Then restart.

Apple Mac mini g4 with Apple Pro Keyboard shift key stuck on

Hey guys,
My mac mini g4 with Apple Pro keyboard has it's shift key stuck on and will not disable, this happened after I cleaned the keys with a "magic eraser" and is probably water damage, but when it is plugged into a PC the shift key is off and can be toggled as should be. Any help will be appericiated and if I can fix this it will save the faithful keyboard. Thanks in advance!

Thank you chorleyman! I just need a cheap platform for Logic to run, I'm not an advanced user, just to play for my soul. I'm usually using Windows based platforms, that's why I was confused about this particular model.
So if it looks good I think I will order this hardware next week.
If anyone have any more thoughts about the topic, please feel free to comment here! Thank you!

Shift key appears to be stuck...

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