MacOS – Keyboard malfunction: Mac always opens in safe mode

keyboardmacossafe-modestartup

I am using a MacBook Pro and facing the following problem:

My keyboard is not working properly. Some keys don't work and it looks like the Shift key is always pressed because the machine always opens in Safe Mode. When the machine starts up I can work using my external keyboard and disable the internal keyboard but while starting up I can't, or at least don't know of a way to, disable the internal keyboard.

Is there a way out of it or do I have to take a trip to the Apple Store?

Edit: By a way out of it I mean is there a way I can change the start-up combination for Safe mode?

Best Answer

On the basis of your current issue where you want to bypass Safe Mode, then

  • Hold the Option button down on boot to bypass the Safe Mode ensures a normal boot

However, you have mentioned that your keyboard is not working as expected. If you can afford it, I would recommend replacing the top case and keyboard. But, as an alternative

  1. Download and install KeyRemap4MacBook.
  2. Use a combination of the functionalities of the Keyboard Viewer and KeyRemap4MacBook to figure out which shift key is the problem.
  3. Disable the left/right shift key on KeyRemap4MacBook and click on the 'Reload XML' button to make that take effect.

If only one shift key was the problem, then you are done. If both shift keys were shorted, then its likely other keys are too. In which case you should probably just replace the entire thing. If you think other keys are not affected, then you can use KeyRemap4MacBook itself to remap the shift functionality to a lesser-used key like the Left Option key.

  1. Under System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items , add KeyRemap4MacBook as an application that should start on login. This will ensure that you disable/remap of the shift key is active every time you log in.

Things to remember

Remember to hold down the Option key every time the computer boots or reboots to bypass safe mode. The fix above is at the software level.

The key is physically still shorted at the hardware level and will affect boot.

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