We've heard scattered reports of MacBook and MacBook Pro keyboard problems dating back for centuries, and while it sounds on the surface to be a fairly inconsequential problem in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't seem to be going away. So to figure out if this is just a few squeaky wheels, or indeed worthy of a torches and pitchfork party over in Curpentino, we'd like to imploy our super-scientific polling process and put it to a vote. For the uninitiated, the problem manifests itself in many ways, and was present before Leopard but showed up in more machines after the Leopard upgrade. Symptoms can include randomly skipped letters (specifically the first letter), fully frozen keyboards, funky capslock or numlock, and mild indegestion.
MacBook keyboard problems, anyone?| Nothing to report here, I'm just living life to the fullest | 9367 (26.2%) |
|---|
| Maybe something funky happened once or twice, nothing regular | 4480 (12.5%) |
|---|
| Yes, I have a MacBook and my keyboard hates me | 5853 (16.4%) |
|---|
| Yes, I have a MacBook Pro and my keyboard hates me and my money | 4307 (12.0%) |
|---|
| No, I have a PC, and it brings me nothing but joy | 8183 (22.9%) |
|---|
| This poll was a waste of time, but I'm always up for a good riot | 3558 (10.0%) |
|---|
[Thanks to all the squeaky wheels who sent this in]
posted December 15th 2007 9:20PM
Never heard of these problems. Between my friends & my office, we have about 12 macbook pros. No problems to report here.
ANYONE EXPERIENCING THIS ISSUE...
27,000 VIEWS + 650 REPLIES ON THIS THREAD ON THE APPLE DISCUSSIONS!
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1036890&start=0&tstart=0
ALL PEOPLE WITH THE IDENTICAL PROBLEM: THE FIRST LETTER NOT REGISTERING OR A RANDOM LETTER NOT REGISTERING.
IF YOU ARE HAVING THIS PROBLEM PLEASE GO TO THE THREAD AND GIVE YOUR FEEDBACK. THERE IS ALSO A LINK THAT IS ROUTINELY BUMPED TO GIVE APPLE FEEDBACK SO THEY REALIZE MANY USERS ARE BEING "CRIPPLED".
SO FAR HERE +3500 MACBOOK AND MACBOOK PRO USERS SAY THEY HAVE TROUBLE! PLEASE SUPPORT THIS ISSUE AND ENCOURAGE APPLE TO OWN UP.
i have it on 3 out of 4 laptops we use in the office and it is not at all as minor as it seems. going back to re-input letters sometimes several hundred times a day can really mess up your joy. think of it like a reoccurring flat tire... no major repair, but if you had to do it twice every day you'd loose your will to live... well you sure as h*ll wouldn't feel like taking a drive. i've had to re-read this 5 times and re-input 8 letters.
show us love apple...
to share the limited wisdom we've gained since july (not much) with all who are connecting this with leopard...
while it can't said with certainty as you may be having a separate issue, of the few hundred who are discussing this atthe apple discussions at the link i posted above, this issue is not related to the OS... it occurs on clean installs of both tiger and leopard.
there are some who claim it back to panther, but i can't confirm it. we have the issue on 3 machines regardless of the software configuration, and that seems to be the common experience on the apple discussion.
hope to hear you guys both hear and there... thanks!
Just got done setting up my new Macbook, and straight out of the box the keyboard doesn't work at all (well, the fn keys do, but that doesn't help me type anything...).
Only happens for me in sessions where I have restored from a hibernated image. I have archived & installed twice to no avail.
Instead, I restart each time I switch batteries. Its annoying but it gets the trick done.
ENGADGET! you rock.
THANK YOU FOR GIVING THIS EXPOSURE!
Interesting how Mac polls (on various sites, not just Giz) suggest that Apple have a 60-75% share of the home computing market......
I actually talked to apple yesterday about this. I bought a new Macbook about a month ago and two weeks after purchase the keyboard would intermittently stop responding with no rhyme or reason to the occurrences. Apple stated its not a hardware failure and that they were sent an email about the issue and that a fix/patch is coming.
You guys, everytime your run a poll regarding macs, you always seem to leave out the Hackintosh community... While we may be unintended mutant offspring of first cousins (intel and apple), we are still mac users nonetheless and we perfer to be considered as such.
robert,
don't be upset, this is one poll you are fortunate to be left out of. your hackintosh wouldn't by chance be experiencing anything like this? missing letters not being inputed? slim chance (and you're lucky), it's a bitch.
Just for a change Engadget is trying to manufacture a negative Mac story, why?, well that's an easy one, because there aren't any GENUINE Mac problems so these to**ers have to make'em up. I noticed there wasn't an option to vote "if you had a Macbook keyboard and you HADN'T had ANY problems!!
This is total bollocks!
Oh and I have two Macbook pro's, a Macbook and a Mac Pro and NONE of them have ANYTHING wrong with their keyboards, shall we change the record?
Yeah, I have had the skipped letters thing happen regularly since I got it (particularly the first - didnt realize this was a thing). Can't say I've noticed it since upgrading to Leopard (but then again, maybe it's that all the other glaring bugs make me forget about the keyboard).
Had this problem with three MBPs. Two were captured by the engineers with no resolution!
I understand from the reported BUG ID that it is a known issue and has been under investigation by the engineers since the PowerBook (meaning it is probably not a hardware issue since everything was changed in putting the MBP together).
Ask your friendly Apple Genius to look up Bug ID# 4333743!
If you are lucky enough with many complaints to Apple Customer Relations maybe you will get a free wireless keyboard. Make Apple lose enough dough and face and maybe they will issue a recall.
The screen is also worse than the PB but that is for another thread!
frank
p.s. Hi t!
I didn't vote, because none of those problems apply to me. Instead, I've got an ancient eMac that, even before the overclocking, would occasionally drop a letter or add a double keypress. I overclocked it and stuck with Tiger for a bit, but it didn't change. I updated to Leopard, and I've only noticed a increase when load averages were really really high.
I have had the first letters missing, random letters missing and squeaky keys since I got my Mac Book Pro. I have a Dell laptop that cost me half what my current MBP cost and it works perfectly. It is actually faster with XP then my MBP is with Leopard.
I am very disappointed with Apple. Here is a list of the many issues I have experienced: http://www.appledefects.com/wiki/index.php?title=MacBook_Pro
The quality of the Apple products is very poor. I will never purchase Apple again.
BTW 6 missed letters as I typed this.
@ turgemanster
Dude, quit posting your speel in every single stream. We got the point, you hate Apple. Whoop-de-freakin-do.
Yeah, I'm with the guys who need a button for "have pc, want mac with or without keyboard problems."
I am also with Thecompkid, a lot of this mac vs. pc is just people's preferences. Most of you people who are freaking out over pro/anti mac posts just need to chill. As far as I know, there is no mac cult, people just like them a lot, and the same is true of pcs.
@kt
yeah, my bad, i know i over did it. i would guess anyone that's been dealing with this problem as long as i have would take every opportunity to try to get something done about it. and this is as good an opportunity as they come to expose the issue to people who can benefit from a solution.
you wouldn't want any machine with this problem, definitely not after you finally save up and shell out. but acs (
(repost)
@kt
yeah, my bad, i know i over did it. i would guess anyone that's been dealing with this problem as long as i have would take every opportunity to try to get something done about it. and this is as good an opportunity as they come to expose the issue to people who can benefit from a solution.
you wouldn't want any machine with this problem, definitely not after you finally save up and shell out. but acs (
(not sure why but 3rd time's the charm)
@kt
yeah, my bad, i know i over did it. i would guess anyone that's been dealing with this problem as long as i have would take every opportunity to try to get something done about it. and this is as good an opportunity as they come to expose the issue to people who can benefit from a solution.
you wouldn't want any machine with this problem, definitely not after you finally save up and shell out. but acs (funny, i had to leave it!) are great, we use them for everything we do. we are designers, and like a lot of people, use text heavily which is why this issue makes our work very inefficient. it's a daily frustration.
the pro/anti thing isn't going away any time soon, so it's good you know to stay out of it. i wish you luck in getting the mac you want... take care.
@ turgemanster
Wow. That was quite funny (truly, no sarcasm). I do appreciate your calm. Refreshing after the hundreds of people freaking out over nothing.
Where is the Poll Option
I have a PC and my keyboard hates me....
hmm, well I'm another one on the list of people who do have the problem :) It clearly doesn't happen for everyone, but it certainly seems to be a problem for a significant number of owners.
Count yourself lucky! :)
I had issues while using the Firefox Beta 3 - I would all of a sudden have no keyboard functionality. Removed and reinstalled Firefox 2 yesterday, haven't had any issues since...hopefully that solves it
I have this problem too where the first letter doesn't register. I also thought I was going crazy or my typing sucked but apparently I am not alone. I sent in my laptop to Applecare and when they returned it to me, the problem still exists. *sigh*
My keyboard has been doing that annoying dying thing on me for almost a year, all i had to do was put it to sleep and wake it again. THEN I UPGRADED TO LEOPARD. The shit hit the fan, keyboard and trackpad died, i thought for good. Reset the PRAM about a dozen times to no avail. Called apple care, the dude had me reset the PRAM and of course it works while I am on the phone with him. Then I hang up and again, dead. Nothing. 9 Months old, thank god for my bluetooth keyboard and mouse, but seriously, what good is a laptop without a keyboard and trackpad. And jesus apple, check your message boards, and fix this.
My new MBP has been having the same problem for about a month sometimes it fixes itself with time but other times I have to restart. I've tried reseting PRAM that didn't work. I am trying to recreate the issue while having the log open to see if I can get some sort of error code has anyone else tried this??? As you can see it is not doing a very good job recreating the issue (I am able to type right now). I'm not calling Apple until I get an error code. Any Luck??
New MacBook has decided that N is a letter I o (I mean no) longer need on a regular basis.
Hi Pam, Looks like my N is on strike too. I have had two machines captured & all together all three Ns were on strike.
N on my wireless has signed its contract after weeks on negotiations and is happy to be at work - I barely bother with my MBP keyboard.
Everyone MUST bombard Apple with complaints and demand a free wireless keyboard if this acknowledged problem can not be fixed. I find it amazing that Apple would continue to manufacture a product with known issues and continue to sell a faulty product. NO SHAME!
Known Bug ID# 4333743! Spread it around and let's get it fixed!
frank
My new MacBook has decided that N is a letter I o (I mean no) longer need on a regular basis.
Whole phrases don't show up here and there.
ENGADGET!!
thanks to your exposure and the readers responses, apple posted an update today thru software update that is supposed to deal with *some* of these issues! it apparently does NOT resolve the non-registering first character and other missing random keyboard inputs, but it's a good start for many users.
thank you, and please continue to support your readers as you have here! the main issue of the thread has not yet been resolved, and we could use your help to get either a solution from apple, or at least an explanation of what the problem is and what to expect.
THANK YOU!
You can get the update through Software Update, but here's a link also.
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macbookmacbookprosoftwareupdate11.html
tested by many users, THIS UPDATE DOES NOT SOLVE THE MISSING CHARACTER INPUT ISSUE which has been around for over a year.
see this thread which has over 28,000 views and 675 replies from users with this issue!
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1036890&tstart=0#6138900
apple has never acknowledged this issue publicly and most users are getting the cold shoulder after spending $2500 on a great laptop that can't type!
anyone with this problem please let your voice be heard on the apple discussions through that thread, and with a feedback report to apple (the details of how to do it with all the relevant #'s are in the thread above).
ENGADGET, YOU HELPED GET US THIS FAR... ANY CHANCE FOR A FOLLOW UP? have a look thru the thread... tons of people have this issue.
I have this problem with my mac pro Do you have a fix for it.
There is a petition on line to Apple about non-registering first character on MBP.
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/mbpkeyms/petition.html
How helpful is it I don't know. At least interesting to see some statistics. And I am wondering what gonna be next... Lawsuit?
Since upgrading to Leopard 10.5.1 I've had about 5 keyboard Numlock problems on startup.
The story goes like this: upon booting, the F6 (Numlock) and the Numklock key (left side of kb) are activated - and consequently the keyboard is not fully responsive (only 1 key out of 4 works, it has massive delays) and the fourth row from above (the one starting with "a") is mapped to the first row (the number row). I have to do a restart, after which the normal functioning is restored.
I've never had it on Tiger, nor on Leopard's 10.5 version.
I'm running 10.5.1 on a MacBook Pro 2GB Ram.
I have had the first typed letter missing problem since buying my macbook pro 15" 9 months ago. I have registered this in every list I can but no joy from apple.