Apple Keyboard and Windows 7 @ and " characters swapped over

Since putting bootcamp on Apple Macs we've always had a problem where the keys on the Keyboard in windows were never 'quite' right. Almost, but not. The most annoying one was the old @ key being swapped with " key.

Even after installing bootcamp drivers this problem persisted. It did turn quite interesting though:
I went into keyboard language setup and added "United Kingdom (Apple)", and deleted the bog standard "United Kingdom". After this, in some dialogue boxes the keyboard was behaving correctly (" and @ not swapped) and in everything else the @ and " keys were swapped around!

After trauling through google search results, I searched for Keyboard Regedit as I was sure something could be done here. After finding this article about changing keyboard regions I did the following steps:

1. Opened Regedit
2. went to  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Keyboard Layout\Preload
3. Took note of what was here
1. there were two entries:
1. 1.   a0000809
2. 1.  00000809
4. I next went to  HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Keyboard Layout\Preload
5. Took a note what was here
1. there was only one entry
1. 1.  00000809
6. I thus deduced that the Apple keyboard was a0000809 and the normal (incorrect) keyboard was 00000809
7. I deleted the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Keyboard Layout\Preload\00000809 so there was only one entry here
8. I edited the HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Keyboard Layout\Preload entry so it read:
1. 1.  a0000809
9. I rebooted and it all worked!!!!!

So, the problem was that Windows was using the Normal UK language layout for the keyboard, and when I added the Apple UK language layout it only used it at times because there was two entries for my login. But when the computer initially loads up the Apple version wasn't there. Now time for a cuppa.

MacBook Pro 15" Unibody keyboard trouble

Just had a look at a MacBook Pro with keyboard issues. Whenever you tried to type anything it'd make a "nope" noise. Restarted in single user mode "cmd + s", and whenever you tried to type it'd come up with all sorts of stuff.

I rebooted into Windows XP and could not use the ctrl + alt + del key to login. I assume it was a hardware failure at this point.

I tried to update firmware, I might have figured that there would be a keyboard firmware update but couldn't find any such thing.

I rebooted and connected an external keyboard which worked quite well, although when this was connected, occasionally it'd make a 'nope' noise.

I opened up the keyboard viewer in the top right corner and noticed that cmd + shift keys were always held down:

Looks like it thinks these keys are being constantly pressed.

Looking into replacing the keyboard, but after looking at this take-down tutorial and this video:

I think perhaps not.

Will update this when its' fixed.

Number Lock (numlock) at login screen in Windows XP

After re-imaging a MacBook Pro with Windows XP, I noticed (annoyingly) that the num lock was always switched on upon boot up at the login screen! After googling it I found this post, which describes how to change it on startup in the registry. Simply change:


HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Keyboard\InitialKeyboardIndicators=3
to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Keyboard\InitialKeyboardIndicators=1


This turns num lock off. Unfortunately, I think this just applies to whoever's logged in at the time, and doesn't apply to the login screen. Simple enough though, and is described at the bottom of the post in a reply (although for some reason he used some weird code - "2147483650" (string value)). I did this:


HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\Keyboard\InitialKeyboardIndicators=1


and it worked.

No preboot keyboard shortcuts working on White iMac 17" and 21"

We've had both 17" and 21" white iMacs for about 5 years and in that time I've re-imaged them at least 5 times (once a year) using NetBoot (hold down "N" on preboot). But recently I've noticed that these iMacs no longer register any pre-boot shortcuts including reset PRAM ("alt" + "cmd" + "p" + "r"). This means if I have a problem with them (i.e. if the hard disk fails) I won't be able to work any magic on them. Luckily I've not had any trouble yet but in time it'll need sorting out.

I originally assumed it was the last image i'd put on them, or the way in which I'd done it but noticed, but I didn't think that would effect anything pre-boot, like firmware.

I've done a few searches and found mostly mentions of Bluetooth/Wireless keyboards having this issue and one mention of 3rd party keyboards, but no real success finding anyone with this particular problem. I did a few more searches and found this which does sound more promising. The only difference being it does holding down "c" and "alt", but I didn't try these as I just assumed they would work after trying PRAM reset and "cmd" + "s" single user mode. (Never assume anything!)

A person down the bottom says the PRAM battery might have failed, which would make sense as they are over 5 years old and are unplugged for large periods of time (for security measures). The next question: How to replace battery in old white iMacs?

For the time being I shall just have to rely on them working and use the system prefs to alter startup disk.