04-01-2012, 07:48 PM

I have a late 2009 13" unibody macbook (my son's). The top case and motherboard were replaced a year ago under warranty. About 6 months ago, the right shift key stopped working along with the battery. My son kept using it until a kernel panic (hard drive started to fail). The hard drive was replaced along with the battery. However, I would like to get the right shift key working again.
The right shift key will work on an attached logitech wireless keyboard. I have checked the keyboard functions under system preferences, and there do not seem to be any issues. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you

Robin
new mac user

04-01-2012, 09:20 PM

The right shift key will work on an attached logitech wireless keyboard. I have checked the keyboard functions under system preferences, and there do not seem to be any issues. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you

The keyboard could be defective (right shift key) or the cable from the keyboard to the logic board could be loose or bad. Hard to say....

Since the top case and keyboard were replaced before it could have occurred from them being improperly installed (cable being pinched, etc.). Why were the keyboard and top case replaced?

04-02-2012, 11:19 AM

thanks for your reply.
I know the case was a mess and some of the keys weren't working. I know the right shift key wasn't working before the top case was replaced and after because I returned the computer to them the day after they replaced top_case and told them they didn't fix one of the problems the computer had. They told me then it was probably the logic board. However, it just doesn't make sense to me (not a computer geek obviously) that one key could be bad and yet the same key work with a wireless keyboard. Guess I'm trying to make sure the original shop didn't miss something simple that wouldn't cost me $500 to fix. Any help would be great.

04-02-2012, 04:59 PM

I'm not sure I agree with the Logic board being the problem, however, it could very well be the connector which accepts the keyboard ribbon cable from the keyboard. If that were a problem, it could certainly cause one or more keys to be non-functioning. An externally connected keyboard via a USB cable would not be affected.

04-05-2012, 08:09 PM

Thank you so much for your help!!!
Is this something I could replace? or are we talking about something that needs to be soldered. I'm sure I'm up for replacing the connector cable, but I've never soldered anything. Also, now the delete key does not work along with the right shift key. However, both work on the wireless keyboard (thank heaven).

04-06-2012, 08:46 AM

Your suggestion about the loose keyboard connector cable was on the money. I took the computer apart using a repair guide from powermedics.com. When the top case was replaced a year ago, the technician did not take the time to attach the ribbon keyboard connector cable to the logic board correctly. The ribbon keyboard connector cable was attached to the board using scotch tape! I removed the tape, installed the keyboard ribbon connector cable correctly, reassembled the computer and the right shift key now works.
Thanks for all of your help

04-06-2012, 02:42 PM

Thanks for posting back. It really surprises me that a "tech" would use tape to attach the connector. I'm glad you got it working. Much less expensive than a new Logic Board!