HELP! 2011 Pro Key Problems!

[rwh63]

i have an early 2011 13" Pro. increasingly, the A-L row of keys have been non-responsive. even had to change my password to avoid that row! sometimes ok, sometimes bad. help!

 

[B S Magnet]

i have an early 2011 13" Pro. increasingly, the A-L row of keys have been non-responsive. even had to change my password to avoid that row! sometimes ok, sometimes bad. help!

Bad news:

Keyboard failures like these, even if you’ve been assiduous and careful with keeping everything dry and clean ever since day one, are fairly common with the unibody MBPs (including even the later retina MBPs, whose keyboards are fairly similar).

On my own early 2011 13-inch, the i5/2.3, it is now on its third keyboard: the first failure happened within the first year of ownership (right when I was trying to finish a graduate thesis, no less), and Apple replaced the top case; the second happened three years later and I replaced that keyboard myself.

Good news!

Your best bet, as was with mine last time, is to replace the keyboard yourself. which, if you’re comfortable with opening up things, have an electronics repair tool kit with bits for fine-tipped phillips and tri-screw heads and using step-by-step guides like iFixit, isn’t very expensive or difficult to do. It does help to pace yourself and to be patient while you do it. The link to that repair tool kit is an example, but there are many similar kits available pretty much everywhere online. (At my local computer retailer in town, i found an Aliexpress-like brand which had all the tools and bits I needed, and it probably cost me a fourth of what iFixit charges for theirs. It’s cheap af, but it’s still getting the job done some 12 years on).

Also fortunately, a replacement keyboard kit (here’s one example; there are several on there and sites like ebay) is inexpensive (always refreshing news), but it does take a couple of hours to swap out the old with the new. You’ll probably also want to get an ice cube tray or two at the dollar store to keep track of your screws — i.e., one tray hole per iFixit step or some system which makes sense to you.

What you’ll need to do is follow steps #1-39 in this iFixit guide, then switch to this guide (no idea why iFixit did it this way) and follow steps #27–29. Reassembly is all of this, in reverse.

Hopefully this doesn’t sound too intimidating (really, once you’re doing it, it’s not intimidating, but it does take paying attention and also keeping track of bits). If you have other questions, I’d be glad to help to answer them.

The kludge workaround, of course, is to connect a USB or Bluetooth keyboard, but that sort of undermines the utility of a laptop.

 

[rwh63]

Bad news:

Keyboard failures like these, even if you’ve been assiduous and careful with keeping everything dry and clean ever since day one, are fairly common with the unibody MBPs (including even the later retina MBPs, whose keyboards are fairly similar).

On my own early 2011 13-inch, the i5/2.3, it is now on its third keyboard: the first failure happened within the first year of ownership (right when I was trying to finish a graduate thesis, no less), and Apple replaced the top case; the second happened three years later and I replaced that keyboard myself.

Good news!

Your best bet, as was with mine last time, is to replace the keyboard yourself. which, if you’re comfortable with opening up things, have an electronics repair tool kit with bits for fine-tipped phillips and tri-screw heads and using step-by-step guides like iFixit, isn’t very expensive or difficult to do. It does help to pace yourself and to be patient while you do it. The link to that repair tool kit is an example, but there are many similar kits available pretty much everywhere online. (At my local computer retailer in town, i found an Aliexpress-like brand which had all the tools and bits I needed, and it probably cost me a fourth of what iFixit charges for theirs. It’s cheap af, but it’s still getting the job done some 12 years on).

Also fortunately, a replacement keyboard kit (here’s one example; there are several on there and sites like ebay) is inexpensive (always refreshing news), but it does take a couple of hours to swap out the old with the new. You’ll probably also want to get an ice cube tray or two at the dollar store to keep track of your screws — i.e., one tray hole per iFixit step or some system which makes sense to you.

What you’ll need to do is follow steps #1-39 in this iFixit guide, then switch to this guide (no idea why iFixit did it this way) and follow steps #27–29. Reassembly is all of this, in reverse.

Hopefully this doesn’t sound too intimidating (really, once you’re doing it, it’s not intimidating, but it does take paying attention and also keeping track of bits). If you have other questions, I’d be glad to help to answer them.

The kludge workaround, of course, is to connect a USB or Bluetooth keyboard, but that sort of undermines the utility of a laptop.

thx for that thorough reply, and offer to assist. i don't mind fixing my own stuff in life, but a couple hours with lots of tiny screws! wondering why sometimes (like right now), all keys responding; other times dead?

usb ports dead as well. probably bad solder joint or something. bluetooth flaky too. i replaced the wi-fi/bluetooth ribbon a few years ago.

seriously considering getting a replacement. need more storage (500-1000 gb), plus software upgrades. mine is maxed at high sierra. had to download firefox to combat old safari.

 

[rwh63]

Saved, for now, by my forgotten A1314 Bluetooth keyboard! Great fit too.

 

[B S Magnet]

Saved, for now, by my forgotten A1314 Bluetooth keyboard! Great fit too.

I know somebody who did this exact workaround for their unibody MBP back in 2013–14. I’d forgotten all about it until seeing your pic.

 

[aurora72]

Recently I removed some of the key caps from the A1314 keyboard for cleaning purposes. Though I proceeded with caution, 4 silicone caps came loose from their places.Here one of them. I've tried to glue it onto its place using an "all purpose glue" as seen in photo. The glue ingredients are: ethyl acetate and acetol. That glue simply doesn't adhere to the silicones. I don't want to use a stronger glue because it might spoil the keyboard surface.

Close up. You see the residuals of the glue around the circle (third button hole from the right) I can peel off those residuals easily.

Are there any types of glues or any substance suitable for adhering to those silicone caps?

 

[rwh63]

thx for that contribution.

 

[f54da]

>types of glues or any substance suitable for adhering to those silicone caps?

rip. You can replace the scissor mechanism no problem, but if the silicone dome is gone then it's an absolute pain to reliably replace. Originally it's not simply glued in as I understand, I think it's also sandwiched between the two layers of plastic. Given that it's an external keyboard, I honestly wouldn't bother; a replacement should be < $50?

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

@aurora72 I have used silicone adhesive to glue pieces of a waterproof silicone seal together which worked well. It not only re-adhered the separated gasket portion of the seal but dried completely flexible as the adhesive itself was made of silicone and it was very durable. AFAIK the RV roof skylight repair is still going strong. If I was looking at this sort of repair, I think I'd use something like Permatex and carefully apply with a toothpick to reattach the silicone cups. Other "will it glue silicone together" options that I've read about but not had any experience with are super glue (I dont think it would dry flexible though) and acrylic adhesives which do dry flexible like silicone adhesives.

@rwh63 the keyboard repair is not bad on one of these. Tedious with all the small connectors that need to be disconnected and yeah there are a bunch of little screws holding it in place lol but it can be done without too much name calling and fuss. I have upgraded a few of my a1278 aluminum unibody macbooks with some Chinese backlit keyboards off ebay. IIRC they were around like $15 or $20 shipped so pretty cheap. While you're in there you can take a look at the usb.

Best of luck to you both.