OSX Leopard: Keyboard Problems
Sorry to say this, but it seems like Apple is doing a pretty good job at curbing the users’ joy about new and improved features by the severity of the bugs that have slipped through into the final release. (Don’t get me wrong, as I work in the software business I know and understand how hard it is to catch all bugs — but that doesn’t make the remaining ones any more fun 
)
Some people, including me, experience that their keyboards become unresponsive intermittently, mainly but not exclusively on the Macbook/Pro laptops. This has been described many times on the net, for example by the “Apple Gazette”.
For most people, the problem seems to boil down to these key points:
- It happens after waking up from safe sleep
- While the keyboard becomes unresponsive, the trackpad and its button are not influenced
- No apparent spikes in load or similar reduction of overall system performance are noticeable
- A reboot remedies the situation until the next time it is triggered (possibly by a safe sleep cycle, see above)
So far, I was unable to find a confirmed solution for the problem, but some readers suggest that the problem has not (yet) reappeared after they reset their NVRAM and PRAM as described in this Apple help document (if your Apple boot sound becomes so loud your neighbor across the street could hear it, you did it right).
Note that this issue was not fixed by the recently released OSX 10.5.1 update (though it fixed a pretty bad data loss issue, so you want to install it).
If you experience the issue too and want to share some thoughts, or if you have other household remedies at hand that may heal “spontaneous keyboard loss”, please feel free to leave a comment.
Update: The PRAM reset did not help; after waking up my laptop, I still frequently experience the loss of my keyboard. But as reported in the comments, Apple tech support frequently tells people they know about the problem and they’re working on fixing it. Let’s hope that’s true.
Update 2, 12/19/07: Apple released a software update that is supposed to fix the problem. Please read my followup post.
December 16th, 2007 at 2:20 am
Wow, they are only like a month late…
December 16th, 2007 at 7:41 am
I’m experiencing the problem. Never had the problem with Tiger. I found that if your keyboard goes unresponsive, hold down any key for ~10 seconds, and it will come back.
I’ve noticed that if I don’t use the keyboard for a while, it will be unresponsive, but if I’m continuously typing….like I am now, it never just spontaneously stops working mid-type.
I was hoping 10.5.1 would have fixed this…but no luck. Until there’s a fix, there’s no way I’ll upgrade my wife’s MacBook…
December 16th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Hey guys,
Found this thread on Google. Same problem here in Chicago, IL
10.5.1 here. Brand new Macbook Pro.
Interesting this, it didnt start happening to me until I woke up this morning (Laptop went to sleep of course) after upgrading to the new OS a few weeks ago. Must have been my update to 10.5.1?
Christian, thanks for the update, thats a nice temp fix.
December 16th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Robert,
I didn’t say that I am a vista user. My PC runs dual boot Kubuntu and MS Dos. (Just joking on the later!) Plus, I expect more out of an operating system release like Leopard for this reason: the OS has an extremely small set of hardware compatibility parameters compared to any MS or linux operating system. My point is, I have been more impressed with any of the recent linux distros than Leopard. Actually I was mostly sold on the macbook by the looks. I had no standing issues with my PC operating systems up to date. Of the hundreds of XP and vista computers that I work with in any given week, I do not have any of the “crashes” that you refer to. The fact that this Leopard keyboard issue still exists after 10.5.1 is even more pathetic. Also, your statement that “in EVERY profesional studio of whatever, there is a mac…” strikes me as a little bit naive. For example, Cubase, Ableton, Native Instruments, and Sound Forge, and the like, all run much better on PC than Mac. For this reason the Mac dominance in Pro Audio realm has waned. Further, many studios have custom built linux hard disc audio recording systems which are based off of the Musix distribution. Another example which is relevant concerns the performance of GIMP on all three platforms. Face it, X11 on Leopard was a complete afterthought. GIMP suffered as a result. GIMP actually performs best on linux, but both linux and vista run this photoshop clone much better than Leopard.
December 16th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
Deconverted: Although it was not really an afterthought as such, Apple’s stance on X11 is a shame indeed. But at least http://trac.macosforge.org/projects/xquartz will give you an incarnation of X11 that works with the GIMP. This is a giant step ahead of what they initially gave us at Leopard’s release.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:13 am
i think i have to say that you are righ on this. i just waited for a long time to buy me a mac, to do music produccion on it. i hoped it will do better than a pc. you certainlly know more about professional music produccion than i do. i guess i’ll have to investigate more on how to use a mac. it’s a little decepcioning to buy the latest apple laptop with the latest os and than find out that it has some really bothering bugs, such as fullscreen uncompatibility. if you will, i will find verry usefull some information on how to fix those bugs or how to make music on a mac/pc. thanks.
December 18th, 2007 at 6:44 am
I am having this keyboard problem – Core Duo MacBook – so far I’ve found that going back into Sleep through the menu and bringing out again seems to fix it some of the time, but I will try holding Shift next time.
December 18th, 2007 at 10:00 am
Holding Shift or any other key won’t really help the situation much, other than you noticing when it happens to work again. After a short period of time however, the keyboard will just stop working again.
December 18th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
I have recently seen some fanboys suggesting that mb/mbp users carry along a usb mouse and keyboard in order to solve this problem (thus epitomizing the very essence of portability :-). This situation is getting more and more hilarious by the day! However, I truly feel bad for those who are putting up with this problem while awaiting a fix from the apple overlords. I am really glad that I took my macbook back last month (it’s ASUS F8 replacement has been flawless). I can’t imagine having put up with it for this long. Might I suggest dual booting Ubuntu until this entire mess is resolved? Good luck to you all!
December 18th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
Apple issued a patch for this problem yesterday (17 December, 2007). Updating system software should resolve the issue (fingers crossed!)
December 19th, 2007 at 12:41 am
Thanks for the info, man! After my next class, I’ll install it and will make sure to get a followup-post on my blog. Thanks to all the other people who told me about the patch, too!
December 19th, 2007 at 2:57 am
[…] Apple released a system update that is supposed to fix the severe “keyboard unresponsive” bug in OS X […]
March 8th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
M macbook pro keyboard just went dead this last week Am using a ps 2 ( p.c) keyboard to type at u. Apple care failed to correct the problem, and a local (Sonora , Ca ) area tech said that this is not uncommon for apple since the last run of tiger to lepoard 10.5.2. Update… Just got the keypoard update patch and installed this patch. I am glad that Im not the only one who has this problem. Allan Egleston. Sonora, Ca.
March 10th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Allen, did the keyboard patch work? I have done everything, updating to 10.5.2, just put the new Keyboard update with recent firmware, and still have the intermittent keyboard non response.
May 29th, 2008 at 8:29 am
I’m running Dual 2 GHz PPC G5, 2.5 GB DDR2 SDRAM, OS X 10.5.3 and I’m experiencing keyboard problems. I experienced the problem with 10.5.1, 10.5.2 and still with 10.5.3. Like most others the problem seems to happen when waking the computer from a nap. It seems that 1/3 of the time all is fine, another 1/3 of the time the mouse becomes unresponsive, and the remaining 1/3 of the time its just the keyboard that is unresponsive. I’ve encountered all three situations repeatably now. I use a Macally iKey keyboard as I don’t care for the apple keyboards and a mighty mouse plugged into one of the 2 usb ports on the macally iKey. I am able to resolve unresponsive keyboard and unresponsive mouse by disconnecting the keyboard from the computer and plugging it back in. Once, when the keyboard became unresponsive my computer had the bluetooth lost connection wizard open. Could these issues arrise from some sort of blue tooth misconfiguration or is this apple’s way of recognizing there is a problem and trying to auto solution it. Seems like a poor move if there never has been a blue tooth keyboard or mouse paired with the system. It seems that most people encountering this issue are running notebooks so maybe these details will help. On to look for an alternative solution.
Cheers,
-Mpare
June 9th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
After I installed the new leopard my keyboard went backwards. I have to have the numlock and cap lock on in order for my keyboard to work this is crazy. Has anyone else had this problem?