User Name
Password
AppleNova Forums » Genius Bar »

Malfunctioning PowerBook keyboard


Register Members List Calendar Search FAQ Posting Guidelines
Malfunctioning PowerBook keyboard
Thread Tools
DMBand0026
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Chicago
 
2005-07-31, 19:38

My PowerBook is messed up. It’s a 12” G4 1.33ghz 768mb rev C running OS X.4.2. Yesterday I had it hooked up to a G3 iMac via FireWire and I was booting from the PowerBook to the iMac attempting to install Tiger on the iMac (yes, it was a legal copy, the iMac just didn’t have a DVD drive, so I figured I’d try and use the one in my PowerBook.)

So I had the PowerBook in Target Disk mode for a while as I booted the iMac from the PB hard drive. After a few hours of troubleshooting install problems I was having with the iMac, I finally disconnected the two and booted my PowerBook to try and find a solution to the install problems on the internet.

When I typed my question into AppleNova I noticed my keyboard was acting weird. I thought that maybe it was the Pro Keyboard I was using, so I unplugged that and I used the PowerBook keyboard, but the same problem persisted. When I type anywhere but in Microsoft Word and I hit the space bar it adds two spaces instead of one (iChat has an error every time I hit the space bar), and punctuation marks are doubled as well although I’m only striking the key once.

To try and fix it I emptied caches, repaired permissions, and reset the PRAM. I’m unsure of what to do next and I can’t think of what could be causing this. Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks

The typing looks like this:
Code:
What''s going on?? I don''t understand this!!
That's normal typing....very odd.

Come waste your time with me
  quote
Banana
is the next Chiquita
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
 
2005-07-31, 20:18

FWIW, check your keyboard preferences. Maybe it somewhat got changed with the keyboard swapping, so its more sensitive than you are used to.

Last edited by Banana : 2005-07-31 at 20:30.
  quote
DMBand0026
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Chicago
 
2005-07-31, 20:20

Checked keyboard preferences, nothing has been changed and the problem continues. Thanks for the suggestion though.
  quote
Quagmire
meh
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2005-07-31, 21:59

Sorry to be redundent. I just read your away message! Your keyboard problem might be a logic board thing. I mean you first thought it was the pbook keyboard, then the pro keyboard. Or what ever it was. I think the part of the logic board or whatever the chip that translates your actions on the keyboard is broken. Try the hardware test and see what happens if you can.

giggity
  quote
DMBand0026
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Chicago
 
2005-07-31, 22:11

Good suggestion again. Hardware tests complete, all tests passed. Problem remains. I don’t want to have to re install OS X again. I just did a backup two days ago before this problem started, but it’s such a pain. I just got everything back and working the way I had it before my hard drive failed. I guess I’ll wait till tomorrow morning and see if anyone else has some more suggestions since AN doesn’t really seem to be full of activity tonight.

Thanks for the suggestions so far guys, anything else anyone has would be really appreciated.

Come waste your time with me
  quote
Gargoyle
http://ga.rgoyle.com
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: In your dock hiding behind your finder icon!
 
2005-08-01, 03:54

You could try changing the settings for key repeat rate and delay, and then changing them back.

I doubt it is your logic board, as undertaker suggests, tho. The signals for keyboard information are converted in the keyboard, if it were a hardware issue it would happen with 1 keyboard not both.

OK, I have given up keeping this sig up to date. Lets just say I'm the guy that installs every latest version as soon as its available!
  quote
DMBand0026
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Chicago
 
2005-08-01, 10:11

Settings have been changed and changed back and the problem persists.

What really confuses me is that the problem happens in pretty much every app but MS Word. Not only that, but I’ve started to have strange things happening in other apps, like if I try to play a .mov file in Safari, it crashes. If I open MacTracker (which takes longer to open than normal) and I double click on a type of computer to get more info about it, MacTracker crashes.

I suppose I can call apple support today and see if they can help me pinpoint the problem. I’m with Gargoyle on this, I doubt very highly it’s a logic board problem. I really thought resetting the PRAM would fix it, but it hasn’t, so that leads me to believe it’s an OS X problem of some sort.

<sigh> I suppose I’ll end up re installing for the third time in a month.

Come waste your time with me
  quote
alcimedes
I shot the sherrif.
 
Join Date: May 2004
Send a message via ICQ to alcimedes  
2005-08-01, 11:00

First thing I'd try is make another user and see if it persists. If it does boot off of another machine's disk and see if it persists. If it still persists, it's a hardware issue with your machine.

If it goes away under a new user, it's a user preference file.

If it goes away while booted off another machine's drive, but not under a new user, it's a base OS problem.

Google is your frenemy.
Caveat Emptor - Latin for tough titty
I tend to interpret things in the way that's most hilarious to me
  quote
DMBand0026
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Chicago
 
2005-08-01, 11:53

We have a winner! As usual Alcimedes was right. Created another user and the problem went away. Came back to my account and moved my preference folder to the desktop. Problem gone. Replaced the important preferences, and everything was just wonderful.

Thanks for the help guys!

Come waste your time with me
  quote
Posting Rules Navigation
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Post Reply

Forum Jump
Thread Tools
Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Blue backlit keyboard for the 12" Powerbook G4 1.5 GHz Big Mac Speculation and Rumors 22 2005-11-10 15:52
PowerBook keyboard going bad jsk173 Genius Bar 17 2005-09-03 08:41
powerbook keyboard problems Linus van Pelt Genius Bar 5 2005-03-03 21:39
powerbook accident - broken keyboard and body writesimon Genius Bar 10 2004-12-22 21:00
PowerBook Cooling & Keyboard noleli2 Genius Bar 4 2004-08-19 13:13


« Previous Thread | Next Thread »

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 18:30.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004 - 2024, AppleNova