MacOS – Cannot press Shift+T in OS X

bootkeyboardmacos

Since a few days, I am not being able to press T and any other key on my Wired Apple Keyboard. Nothing happens when I press Shift and T. Keyboard shortcuts like Cmd+Shift+T don't work. Cmd+T works.

To get a capital T, I need to turn on Caps Lock or copy and paste it from somewhere.

I enabled Verbose Boot by setting the kernel flags a long while ago. Maybe at the same time when the key stopped working right[1], after 20 lines of text the verbose boot kept typing in the $ character automatically until I pressed any key on the keyboard.

I can fix this by attaching a non-Apple Keyboard, setting its layout and unplugging it, after which the Apple Keyboard starts working perfectly (which means there is no hardware problem). But when I reboot the key stops working again.

Also trying to press Shift+T in verbose boot does nothing, while other keys show up fine. Shift+T doesn't even work in Safari in Recovery Mode. I also can't reset the NVRAM by pressing Command+Option+P+R, it just takes me to recovery mode.

[1]: I don't remember doing anything except setting up oh-my-zsh around this time

Best Answer

Try the following:

  1. Open the "Keyboard" preferences pane
  2. In the "Keyboard" tab, turn on the "Show Keyboard and Character Viewers in menu bar" checkbox
  3. Go to the new menu (it looks like a box with a command key clover-leaf in it) and choose "Show Keyboard Viewer"

You'll now see a window shaped like your keyboard, with every key shown, and each pressed key highlighted. Try out all the keys, especially the "t" and modifiers. Note that holding down "shift" will change the key display to capitals, and holding down "option" will change the key display to alternate characters. This should let you track down the problem, if it's in hardware.

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