Shift key no longer works on either keyboard

[tmx]

A while ago, my mac keyboard stopped typing a capital z. "Shift-z" didn't do anything. Then the small z wouldn't type... then the x, and the c....
so I switched out to an adesso keyboard, and it was fine for a while, but now I can't type capital z again. I already reinstalled the driver, but nothing changed. Still can't type a capital z.

There's an apple keyboard update on apple.com, but when I tried to install it, I got an error that it couldn't be installed on this machine (Mac Mini, 10.4..

What on earth is going on, and how can I fix it?

[krissel]

Which Apple keyboard is this? There are two updates, one for the early Mac Mini '06 and the other is for the wireless version.

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/app...rdupdate10.html

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/wir...wareupdate.html



When you say the shift key doesn't work, is it only the left side shift key or is the right one also not working? Often keyboards will go bad by sectors. The left hand lower 'quarter' is on one connection so the keys in that area will usually go bad at the same time. The fact that a different keyboard is doing the same thing is really strange, however.

Have you plugged, unplugged the USB (if it is wired) or changed ports?

[Gregg]

Silly question:


Does it have 2 shift keys, and neither one works?

[tmx]

It's the regular wired Mac keyboard, and the other is a wired Adesso for Mac. I'd already downloaded that Mini '06 keyboard update, but when I opened it I got an error message that it couldn't be installed on this machine.                          

It's only the left shift key that doesn't work, there are left and right shift keys on both keyboards. On the Mac keyboard, the left shift key doesn't work at all, and on the Adesso, it comes and goes. Very strange.

I've changed USB ports, and made sure that the left shift key is not a hot key for anything. I ran disk utility and there weren't any permissions listed about a keyboard.

My system has been running very slowly lately and I'm terrified that this is a sign of something really wrong. I called Apple and I'm out of warranty, they said I'm SOL and that I should check their support site and try to "troubleshoot and isolate the issue."

[Xairbusdriver]

And what did you find at the Apple Forums?

[tmx]

QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Dec 20 2006, 04:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And what did you find at the Apple Forums?

Mostly that one should check the Speech or International preferences and see if the key is assigned to anything. Mine isn't. A couple people just had hardware problems with keyboard wiring. Some of the posts about the shift key not working are just unanswered.

One poster suggested troubleshooting startup and login items, checking the console logs, and resolving disk, permission, and cache corruption. Those are what I'm working on next, but I haven't done any of those things before, so hopefully the instructions I'm about to follow will work. I'm backing up my hard drive right now.

[Paddy]

Given the progression of problems with the Apple keyboard, I'd say that keyboard has gone bad. As Kris noted, they're wired in sections. You may have spilled something there too.

The fact that the Adesso went bad in the same spot is a tad suspicious, but it's possible that it too is faulty. And if you are going to spill something, it's generally going to flow down to the lower edge of the keyboard.

Can you borrow another USB keyboard from someone for a few minutes? (a neighbor or friend perhaps?) Any USB keyboard should work for basic testing purposes. You could also try the Adesso on someone else's machine and see if the behavior is repeated.

[Gregg]

QUOTE(tmx @ Dec 20 2006, 12:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

On the Mac keyboard, the left shift key doesn't work at all, and on the Adesso, it comes and goes. Very strange.

Yeah, had problems with a Mac keyboard that came and went. Seems like it was the "A" key. Got a backup keyboard from Paddy and swapped. No problems with it. At least I don't think I swapped back.... Anyway, one of 'em is a backup if I ever need it.