Shift key prevents typing some letters

I cannot type capital t, b, g, or the percent sign (shift+5). What I notice about these keys is they are all in a vertical 'column' so I am suspicous that it is a hardware issue.
I have the full-size brushed metal / white keys wired keyboards. Switching USB ports does nothing but switching keyboards fixes the problem. This makes me almost certain that it's a hardware issue, though the problem did start right after the 10.8.2 update was installed..
It's strange because each key works individually, 5tgb, and the SHIFt KEY WORKS FINE ON bOtH SIDES but shift+t, shift+b, shift+g, and shift+5 types nothing.
If anyone knows what could cause this or has tips for cleaning the keyboard, any help would be appreciated!
Thanks!
Specs:
Intel iMac late 2008
Mac OS X 10.8.2

First try resetting the SMC, this may take several attempts for it to work. You will find instructions by clicking iMac SMC and PRAM reset. If this does not work then try another USB keyboard, if that works OK that indicates your keyboard needs to be replaced.

Similar Messages

  • [Solved] Shift key doesn't work correctly

    Hi!
    I have a strange problem for a while. If I hold down the shift key and type the computer releases it itself. Example: I press down the shift key and type some upper case chars and suddenly I am writing lower case chars without releasing the shift key! I already tested another keyboard and nothing changed. And I have the feeling that the problem only occurs with Linux, not with Windows, which is installed on the same computer. But I dont know for sure, because I don't spent mach time with windows ;-)
    Here is my xorg.conf:
    Section "Device"
    Identifier "nvidiacard"
    Driver "nvidia"
    EndSection
    Section "Screen"
    Identifier "screen0"
    Device "nvidiacard"
    EndSection
    Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "Builtin Default Layout"
    Screen "screen0"
    EndSection
    And this is my /etc/hal/fdi/policy/10-keymap.fdi:
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <!-- -*- SGML -*- -->
    <deviceinfo version="0.2">
    <device>
    <match key="info.capabilities" contains="input.keymap">
    <append key="info.callouts.add" type="strlist">hal-setup-keymap</append>
    </match>
    <match key="info.capabilities" contains="input.keys">
    <merge key="input.xkb.rules" type="string">base</merge>
    <!-- If we're using Linux, we use evdev by default (falling back to
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    <merge key="input.xkb.model" type="string">keyboard</merge>
    <match key="/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/computer:system.kernel.name"
    string="Linux">
    <merge key="input.xkb.model" type="string">evdev</merge>
    </match>
    <merge key="input.xkb.layout" type="string">de</merge>
    <merge key="input.xkb.variant" type="string">nodeadkeys</merge>
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    Before that I had a static configuration with the same problem. Any idea?
    Thanks,
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    Last edited by Murray_B (2009-12-02 20:05:45)

    Okay, the question if the problem occurs in console was good - no it doesn't!
    I played a bit and started X11 with only xterm (no windowmanager) and there
    were no problem. I had also no problem with openbox and xterm. So I moved
    away my xfce-config and started with a clean one. No problem. I add
    everything of my config again (one thing after another) - and there are no
    problems any more!?!? Don't know what happened, but I could work again,
    thank you!
    Thomas

  • Mission control is activated by my shift key even though i have it set to ctrl, up. how do i make it stop? i can't capitalize anything without using the right shift key.

    in playing with key commands to activate mission control in the system preferences i have somehow made my left shift key one of the keys to activate it even though it does not show it in system preferences. i need my left shift key for typing and having mission control come up all the time is a pain! how do i make it stop?
    I evidently didn't leave system preferences properly or something. I fixed it by going back to system preferences and changing the keyboard shortcuts to "-" then quitting system preferences by command Q. Then I went back in and reset the mission control setting to us cntrl, up and then command Q and now it all works fine.

    Check out [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1008706 bug 1008706]. It's related to safe browsing, and is a known issue.

  • Xorg - SHIFT key bugs out randomly after TV-hardware is connected

    I'm on Xfce4. When I hold down left SHIFT key and press some other keys, after a while the SHIFT key may "unregister" itself. What I mean is, it stops working as if I had released it, although I'm still pressing it down. Ie I'm suddenly writing lower-case again and stuff. This behaviour is application-independant apparently.
    I tried running 'showkey' and it correctly reported pressing+releasing of the SHIFT key (keycode 42) when I actually physically pressed and released it. It did NOT report release of the SHIFT key when it in fact stopped working. So it doesn't seem to be a keyboard hardware problem or something.
    The right SHIFT key (showkey says keycore 54 for this one) seems to work correctly though (but it's not really a comfortable work-around..).
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    I had a look at xmodmap, but that shows entirely different "keycodes" for SHIFT keys so I'm a bit stumped:
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    ..for "keycode 42" it had this line:
    42 0x0067 (g) 0x0047 (G) 0x0067 (g) 0x0047 (G) 0x03bf (eng) 0x03bd (ENG) 0x03bf (eng) 0x03bd (ENG)
    ..and for left shift key it had "50" in the "keycode" column:
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    Anyway, I tried out https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xmodmap:
    xmodmap -pke > ~/.Xmodmap
    ..then edited that file and changed the Shift_L (50) and Shift_R (62) lines, and did
    xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap
    ..and my X froze up completely, not even registering mouse clicks, might wanna correct the Wiki there^^.
    After a reboot, my xmodmap -pke showed the two lines swapped as intended though - but 'showkey' still shows keycode 42 for left and 54 for right, so swapping didn't work here.
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    [ 647.676] (**) UVC Camera (eb1a:2571): Applying InputClass "evdev keyboard catchall"
    [ 647.676] (II) Using input driver 'evdev' for 'UVC Camera (eb1a:2571)'
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    [ 647.676] (--) evdev: UVC Camera (eb1a:2571): Vendor 0xeb1a Product 0x2571
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    [ 647.677] (II) evdev: UVC Camera (eb1a:2571): Configuring as keyboard
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    [ 647.677] (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "UVC Camera (eb1a:2571)" (type: KEYBOARD, id 14)
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    [ 647.677] (**) Option "xkb_model" "evdev"
    [ 647.677] (**) Option "xkb_layout" "de"
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    [ 654.995] (II) Using input driver 'evdev' for 'Arduino LLC Arduino Leonardo'
    [ 654.995] (**) Arduino LLC Arduino Leonardo: always reports core events
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    [ 654.996] (--) evdev: Arduino LLC Arduino Leonardo: Vendor 0x2341 Product 0x8036
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    [ 654.996] (--) evdev: Arduino LLC Arduino Leonardo: Found x and y relative axes
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    [ 654.996] (II) evdev: Arduino LLC Arduino Leonardo: Configuring as keyboard
    [ 654.996] (II) evdev: Arduino LLC Arduino Leonardo: Adding scrollwheel support
    [ 654.996] (**) evdev: Arduino LLC Arduino Leonardo: YAxisMapping: buttons 4 and 5
    [ 654.996] (**) evdev: Arduino LLC Arduino Leonardo: EmulateWheelButton: 4, EmulateWheelInertia: 10, EmulateWheelTimeout: 200
    [ 654.996] (**) Option "config_info" "udev:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb1/1-5/1-5.4/1-5.4:1.2/input/input14/event14"
    [ 654.996] (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Arduino LLC Arduino Leonardo" (type: KEYBOARD, id 15)
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    [ 655.001] (**) Arduino LLC Arduino Leonardo: (accel) keeping acceleration scheme 1
    [ 655.001] (**) Arduino LLC Arduino Leonardo: (accel) acceleration profile 0
    [ 655.001] (**) Arduino LLC Arduino Leonardo: (accel) acceleration factor: 2.000
    [ 655.001] (**) Arduino LLC Arduino Leonardo: (accel) acceleration threshold: 4
    [ 655.005] (II) config/udev: Adding input device Arduino LLC Arduino Leonardo (/dev/input/mouse3)
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    I started up the webcam, so the uvc modules are now loaded, but still I'm now unable to reproduce the bug for some reason. With either SHIFT key. Well that's good sort of, but then again, not so good to track what causes it when it happens And why does X think that webcams and tv  cards are keyboards?
    Will post again when the bug surfaces again I guess.
    Ok, after plugging in a usb-tv box, the bug started happening again, except this time it's the rigth shift key that doesnt work correctly, while the left shift key seems fine.
    So it seems the xmodmap change worked, although showkey still shows 42 for left and 54 for right.
    This might do as a workaround for now, although someone should figure out why tv cards (and tv usb boxes in my case) mess up the shift key in Xorg.
    Apparently the IR-receiver part of my tv-box was recognized as "keyboard":
    [ 17549.633] (II) config/udev: Adding input device IR-receiver inside an USB DVB receiver (/dev/input/event15)
    [ 17549.633] (**) IR-receiver inside an USB DVB receiver: Applying InputClass "evdev keyboard catchall"
    [ 17549.633] (II) Using input driver 'evdev' for 'IR-receiver inside an USB DVB receiver'
    [ 17549.634] (**) IR-receiver inside an USB DVB receiver: always reports core events
    [ 17549.634] (**) evdev: IR-receiver inside an USB DVB receiver: Device: "/dev/input/event15"
    [ 17549.634] (--) evdev: IR-receiver inside an USB DVB receiver: Vendor 0xccd Product 0x38
    [ 17549.634] (--) evdev: IR-receiver inside an USB DVB receiver: Found keys
    [ 17549.634] (II) evdev: IR-receiver inside an USB DVB receiver: Configuring as keyboard
    [ 17549.634] (**) Option "config_info" "udev:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb1/1-1/input/input15/event15"
    [ 17549.634] (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "IR-receiver inside an USB DVB receiver" (type: KEYBOARD, id 16)
    [ 17549.634] (**) Option "xkb_rules" "evdev"
    [ 17549.634] (**) Option "xkb_model" "evdev"
    [ 17549.635] (**) Option "xkb_layout" "de"
    Can I somehow find out which modules were loaded when I plugged it in so I can unload those?
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    $ lsmod |grep dvb
    dvb_usb_cinergyT2 6645 2147483647
    dvb_usb 15171 1 dvb_usb_cinergyT2
    dvb_core 79241 1 dvb_usb
    rc_core 11081 1 dvb_usb
    usbcore 126764 7 uhci_hcd,uvcvideo,dvb_usb,ehci_hcd,dvb_usb_cinergyT2,usbhid,cdc_acm
    i2c_core 16944 7 drm,i915,i2c_i801,dvb_usb,drm_kms_helper,i2c_algo_bit,videodev
    $ rmmod dvb_usb_cinergyT2
    rmmod: ERROR: Module dvb_usb_cinergyT2 is in use
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    Last edited by Jindur (2013-01-06 05:08:51)

    Do you have the 3 year Applecare? If so, you could try calling Applecare and see if they can help you resolve this over the phone. If not, be sure to get this problem documented with a case number before your 1 year warranty is up. If this has just been a constant hassle, you could ask to talk to Customer Relations.
    It sounds like you may have some hardware problems with the keyboard and the trackpad, which could be causing at least some of the problems. Any chance of getting to an Apple store to have it looked at, or would you have to send it in?
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  • Shift key not working for some letters

    Hello!
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