Mac laptop is displaying the wrong symbol for keyboard

[Etrax93]

Backspace lowers the lighting. Turning the lighting up also presses tab. Turning it down deletes. Enter also creates a bracket. Space increases the keyboard back light and creates "=/" instead of a space. Pressing the mute key brings up the sound control panel. Lower volume key lowers the volume but also lowers the lighting. Skip button creates "\". Play key creates bullets. Rewind key creates ";". Etc.

I'm sure there are more but I don't want to mess with it. Anyone know what is happening? This worked fine last night???

*writing this on my iPad becauaw wtf !?!?*

 

[Laptop_Nerd]

Sorry wrong post

 

[Solandri]

He's on a Mac, not a Windows laptop.

If you have the original OS X CD or USB flash drive which came with the Macbook, try booting off that and see if you have the same problem. That should let you isolate if the problem is hardware or software. If it still has the same problem, you have a hardware problem. If the problem goes away, you have a software problem.

If it's a software problem, I'm not very familiar with the keyboard drivers Apple uses. You'll have to find some way to reinstall them. Otherwise you'll have to wipe and reinstall.

If it's a hardware problem, you'll probably need to get the keyboard replaced. If it's an Air or one of the newer Macbook Pros, well I hope it's still under warranty because those are a PITA to open up to swap parts. If it's an older model or plastic Macbook, those are easier to repair. If you're handy with tools you may even be able to fix it yourself - buy a replacement keyboard for your model Macbook off eBay, find some instructions online for opening up your Macbook, and do the keyboard swap. iFixit has pretty good guides.

https/www.ifixit.com

Edit: BTW, 95% of the time, this sort of problem is caused by someone spilling a liquid onto the keyboard. If it was just water, turn the laptop off, remove or disconnect the battery if you can, and prop it open on a desk with a fan blowing onto it (especially the keyboard). Give it a few days to dry out and hopefully the problem goes away on its own.

 

[Etrax93]

OP: no liquid was anywhere near my laptop. I hope it is not that as my warranty does not cover liquid damage. It is a metal body Mac so updating hardware could be problematic. I'll try to find the original usb to find out.

 

[Solandri]

It occurred to me another way to test is plugging in an external USB keyboard. If that works, then the laptop's keyboard hardware is at fault. If it exhibits the same problems, then you likely have a software problem.