Help my "0" key on macbook pro 2013 doesn't work

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OnceBitten

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#221416 10-Aug-2017 09:37

This is totally bizarre..... I was typing something on an internet forum last night and my '0' key wasn't working... all other keys numerical and alphabetical were working fine.

but the weird thing was if I pressed shift 0 to get ) - that worked ok... just not the '0' itself

I tried typing an e-mail and same thing happened, but I also tried entering data onto a spreadsheet and neither the '0' or the ')' would work

Does anyone know what might have happened, and is there anything I can do in settings or something to make the '0' work again?

thanks in advance

Behodar

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#1843298 10-Aug-2017 09:41

Reboot into recovery mode (Cmd-R at the boot chime) then open up Terminal and see whether the 0 works there. That'll help to narrow down where the problem is.

OnceBitten

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#1843307 10-Aug-2017 09:51

sorry, but what is terminal? - is it something that will come up when I press Cmd-R?

wellygary

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#1843320 10-Aug-2017 10:03

Teminal gives you a "command line" interface to the underlying unix interface without the GUI

Once you have rebooted simply type terminal into spotlight

CYaBro

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#1843355 10-Aug-2017 10:30

Try an SMC and PRAM reset.

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OnceBitten

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#1843431 10-Aug-2017 11:29

CYaBro:

Try an SMC and PRAM reset.

thanks - but what does this mean in 'non geek speak'?

lxsw20

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#1843432 10-Aug-2017 11:32

If you google, you will find how to do those things. It won't do any harm to the Mac or cause any issues with your data.

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OnceBitten

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#1843437 10-Aug-2017 11:35

ok thanks - will look into it tonight

OnceBitten

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#1844962 11-Aug-2017 09:23

I googled it and wasn't sure if I should go through with it - because it said it might pay to have a back up of data...etc... just in case.... everything is on the MacBook including MYOB, photos.... and I don't have enough memory sticks to do back ups

afe66

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#1845018 11-Aug-2017 10:16

Then go and buy a portable hard drive to do you backups on as "everything is on the MacBook including MYOB, photos.."

lxsw20

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#1845038 11-Aug-2017 10:47

As above, if your data is in any way important, you need to be doing regular backups. Don't be one of those people that learns that lesson too late.

CYaBro

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#1845274 11-Aug-2017 15:36

Yea with the built in Time Machine backup on Macs there really is no excuse for anyone with a Mac ever losing any data.

Edit: Working on Macs for a number of years now and I've never seen an SMC or NVRAM reset cause any data loss issues.

Apple support happily tell customers over the phone to do them both.

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OnceBitten

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#1846005 13-Aug-2017 19:53

thanks - I do have an old 1 terrabyte external hard drive some whwew I used for my old windows computer - I'll have to find it

in the meantime I am doing a software update, so I will see if things improve

it's a real pain... wife went to transfer some money onlins and couldn't transfer $1oo.

she suggested to take it into the apple shop, but I don't know if they can do anything