MacBook Pro keeps typing z & has intrusive Eastern European font dialogue box partial solution?

Macbook keeps typing a z & has intrusive Eastern European font dialogue box


this is identical to a 2016 & 2017 problem partially addressed in apple discussion thread #7624995.


screenshot enclosed:



a few weeks after an OS 12.6.1 upgrade on a Macbook Pro mid 2015....


  1. on any open field (spotlight search window, web browser search window, notes, word, log in pages) the laptop auto types the letter z repeatedly with some pauses and some rapid and lengthy bursts
  2. the delete key sometimes works and sometimes adds more z's
  3. all other keys & functions work

4. sometimes a small dialogue box appears with three eastern European language font versions of the letter Z. Under each of the three z's is the number 1 2 or 3 as shown above in the screen shot. (Ukrainian, Polish, Czech and Serbia are commonly associated with those languages.) .


somethings that did not work:

restart, restart in safe mode, update browser, extensions & OS, guest user, SMC reset, PRAM reset, cache clear, update & run antivirus, some combo of these repeated.


somethings that did work:

1) set the keyboard in system pref from weirdly defaulting from the normal internal keyboard setting to a nonexistent bluetooth keyboard by.....


 system pref—>keyboard—>modifer keys—>select keyboard —>toggle from  ‘bluetooth usb host controller’ to  ‘apple internal keyboard/tackpad”  —> ok


this will work for a while then the " bluetooth usb host controller" will default back on and the highly intrusive z auto typing will resume. you can repeat for short term fix or ...


2)What seems to work for several hours so far is to set the accessibility keyboard to "enable full keyboard access" by.....


system pref—>accessibility-->keyboard--> check the box "enable full keyboard access"


[Re-Titled by Moderator]



MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 12.6

Posted on Dec 10, 2022 4:18 PM

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2 replies

Dec 10, 2022 8:50 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Hi Tom


Thanks! for...


1) The hint on.. terminal commands, I especially liked "control K" that clears from the cursor to the end of the string of auto typed Z's. It is super useful while the delete key is acting up!


2) The info on... space bar not responding in some apps when "full keyboard access" is checked..yep it does that in firefox... but luckily not in any of my other common...... So, at least it's a temp fix


But alas...


the "key repeat" setting resets itself from "off" to "fast" over and over again at about the same time interval as the "keyboard" resets itself to the nonexistent "bluetooth usb host controller" setting. Apple support does not know how that is possible as they are supposed to be manual only resets. (Thanks Wen, you were super)


So... I tried


1) "first aid" disk utility by..

confirmed pre-problem external back up in Time machine was handy

Restarted mac in recovery mode ("power" then "command R" )-->

in new window of the 4 options (time machine, reinstall, safari, disk utility) chose"disk utility"--> "continue"-->

in new window "disk utility "(in top menu bar) -->(from drop down menu) "show all devices" -->

in left window under "apple SSD" --->starting at the bottom volume in the disc tree, I highlighted each of the five in turn --> then selected "first aid" from menu bar --> run --> done..


they all passed.


2) I reinstalled Montery OS from the 4 options menu mentioned above


3) restarted mac


so far...


the delete key issue, the z auto type frenzy & the accent menu/dialogue box issue have not returned


thanks again for your swift help.


cyn




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MacBook Pro keeps typing z & has intrusive Eastern European font dialogue box partial solution?

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