Looking closely, you can see that each key has a vertical connection with the key above/below it and a horizontal connection between the keys to the right/left.Ī keyboard works by completing the circuit between two circuits in a “grid” pattern. The plastic membrane with the rubber cups on top of the plastic membrane with the electrical traces on top of the metal back plate.Ĭutting out a section of the trace membrane we can see how the electrical connections are made. Peeling back the layers we can see how it all comes together. The rubber cup is what provides the “spring” action to return the key to its unpressed position. Taking an even closer look at the key, we can see how the mechanism attaches physically to the back plate to keep it in place. Looking at the front of the keyboard with the keys removed, we can see through the plastic membrane layers all the way to the back plate (this portion is where the stripped screw was that had to be cut out) This piece provides the stability and structure for the keyboard. Removing the back cover, we can get a better look at the backplate. The only electrical contacts that can be seen is for the backlight and the keyboard connector interface
Keys on mac keyboard not sticking pro#
Looking at the back of the keyboard (a dead donor from a 2009 MacBook Pro that had to be cut out due to a stripped screw) there is a black protective cover. The keyboard is made up of multiple layers: To understand all of this better, I "dissected" a (dead) MacBook Pro keyboard to better show how all of this comes together Keyboard Internals has excellent guides to walk you through, but if you are unsure of your tech skills it's best to get a pro to do the job. Replacement MacBook Pro keyboards are relatively inexpensive ( 13" MacBook Pro Keyboard and 15" MacBook Pro Keyboard) versus a top case assembly - $25-$30 versus $250-$400. If you are going to go this far, just replace the keyboard and save yourself the money. To replace this, you will have to remove the battery, fans, speakers, and logic board to swap the internals to the new assembly. (IMO this puts owning an Apple MacBook/Pro on par with owning a Jaguar). Basically, they'll replace it with the same (flawed) model. However, they aren't replacing the gen 1 or gen 2 keyboards with the new gen 3 design. Note: For the Early 2015 through 2017 MacBook and 2016 through 2017 MacBook Pros, Apple has acknowledged the issue and is replacing the top case assembly through a Service Program. This is the aluminum housing that holds all the internals. Replacing the KeyboardĪpple will traditionally replace your top case assembly. Contaminants and regular wear are now much more likely to contribute to premature failure resulting in either stuck or non-responsive keys. However, a thinner profile means tighter operating tolerances. The "shallower" profile allows for less space requirements resulting in a thinner profile for the laptop. The underlying electronic circuitry remains the same. The butterfly keyboard is a mechanical design change from the traditional keyboard mechanism. This applies to the 2016 through 2018 MacBook Pros and covers the gen 1, 2 and 3 keyboards. Given the amount a labor to do this (there are a TON of screws – about 60 in total), it’s much more cost effective just to replace they keyboard with a new one. In these cases, they keyboard needs to be removed and cleaned with an electrical solvent. When you press a key, you are intentionally creating this short, but a liquid like water or soda (which can conduct electrical current) can bridge the connections closing the loop.
There is a contaminant that is shorting electrical connections. With this scenario, you may be able to get around the unresponsive keys, but eventually you will have to replace it. You can remap once macOS has loaded, but not before. This means if you need to go into Safe Mode (hold ⇧Shift, run Apple Hardware Test (hold D) or any other boot time key sequences, it won't work you'll need an external USB keyboard. However, there's only so much remapping you can do and this isn't practical in the pre-boot stage (i.e.
Remapping keys can be done via 3rd party tools such as Karabiner or Karabiner Elements (Sierra and up). If a key isn’t responding it means that the electrical connection mapping the key is blocked. The second case, where the key is acting like it's pressed, the keyboard will likely have to be replaced because there is a physical connection being made and it's being sent to the logic board to be interpreted.
Keys on mac keyboard not sticking software#
The first case is potentially salvageable through the use of software to remap a key, or just changing your behavior when possible (i.e.
0 kommentar(er)
