17" iMac Keyboard Issue

posterboyposterboy
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I have a clients 17" iMac 800 in front of me and for the life of me I cant figure out why the number pad on the keyboard will not work.



The numlock, =, /, -, + and enter keys work, but not the numbers or decimal point.



I have tried resetting firmware, pram zapping, system re-install (archiveing, not clean), repairing permissions, fsck and disk utility, and updating all the latest updates. Nothing works! I tried copying the keyboard kext files from another iMac and the keyboard still does not work.



Upon further analisys though, the number pad appears to work in the OS X Log In Screen and in OS 9, just not in OS X (once you have logged in). Is there some setting that I am missing? I have been through pretty much all of the system preferences and didn't see anything.

Any ideas (besides clean install or restore)?



Also, this behaviour is in every application, not just the finder.



--PB

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    defiantdefiant Posts: 4,876member
    does it also happen if you connect the keyboard to another mac ?
  • Reply 2 of 6
    posterboyposterboy Posts: 147member
    No, the keyboard works fine on other Macs.



    A keyboard that works fine on a another Mac will exhibit the same problems when plugged into this Mac.



    Also, I created another user on the iMac and the number pad works fine there, as well as in OS 9 on the same machine so the problem is localised to the user.



    The situtaion is now easy to solve, it's just confusing. Any thoughts?



    --PB
  • Reply 3 of 6
    i-bent-my-wookiei-bent-my-wookie Posts: 326member
    I dont have an apple pro keyboard so forgive me if say something stupid or obviously wrong...





    that being said, try the numlock key... seems obvious but I know my PC saves the setting of the numlock key in the bios so it would affect any keyboard attached to the computer.



    on my PC when the numlock key is 'off' the keypad becomes the arrow-keys and the page-up, page-down group. These keys do nothing when you are in a text box so it may seem like the keys are inoperative.





    I hope I didnt insult anyones intelligence I dont know what the user level is and sometimes "is it unplugged?" is the right question to ask. All you who have ever worked support know what I mean



    cheers
  • Reply 4 of 6
    posterboyposterboy Posts: 147member
    Should have mentioned, not a numlock issue. Keypad doesn;t work regardless of whther numlock is on of off.



    Still confused,



    --PB
  • Reply 5 of 6
    kraig911kraig911 Posts: 912member
    Have you tried redoing your permissions. Go get MacJanitor, crap i can't remember where I got it, but it resets everything. Maybe dump your finder Preferences out of your library. I apologize if any advice I try to give causes even more adverse action on your computer tho heh
  • Reply 6 of 6
    ibrowseibrowse Posts: 1,749member
    Go into the System Prefs and go into Universal Access. Choose the last tab (the mouse tab). Check the first option, I'm guessing in your case that on is selected (this can happen on accident if you hit the option key five times in a row if you have the 'Allow Universal Access Shortcuts' checked). This allows those keys (2, 4, 6, 8) to be used as arrows to move the cursor in place of the mouse when the NumLock key is on. Switching that off should fix it, and I recommend turning off the 'Allow Universal Access Shortcuts' box too. Try turning on Num Lock first and using the keys to see if the mouse moves.
Sign In or Register to comment.