MacOS – Number keys not working

keyboardmacbook promacos

I'm using a MacBook Air (latest OS X update) and today the number & punctuation keys on the integrated keyboard stopped working. All other keys are working correctly.

And no: there was no water damage. I didn't install any tools today.

For a few weeks I've been using a MagicKeyboard over Bluetooth. Today I connected, disconnected and powered off the keyboard after disabling Bluetooth. I never had this issue before.

For me it seems like there is a "numeric disable" activated, similar to the "num"-Key on keyboards with a numeric block. But this makes no sense…

Best Answer

The setting of Mouse Keys could have been activated while syncing from a MobileMe account that had the preference enabled, migrating a user from another computer using Migration Assistant that had the preference enabled, or by pressing the Option key five times (if that setting is enabled in System Preferences).

To check your System Preference settings, or to enable/disable Mouse Keys:

  1. Open System Preferences and click on the Universal Access preference pane.
  2. Click the Mouse & Trackpad settings tab.
  3. Click the "Off" radio button next to Mouse Keys.

Note1: You may also check/uncheck the box for "Press Option key five times to turn Mouse Keys on or off".

Note2: If you are logged on to a user where Mouse Keys is already disabled, but your keyboard is not responding properly, toggle the radio buttons for Mouse Keys "On" then "Off" to restore normal functionality.

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