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The March 2015 update of Apple's 13" MacBook Air features fifth generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, resulting in slightly increased performance and battery life.

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Left shift key is stuck despite keyboard replacement

Early 2015 MacBook Air, shift key reads as stuck on boot (safe boot) unless I hold down option key.

Left shift key is nonfunctional once OS is running (right shift works fine), but after the laptop sleeps and restarts the shift key returns to being "stuck". No physical problem and I replaced the keyboard to no avail.

Tried SMC reset, didn't help - can't run NVRAM reset because of the stuck key (just sends me to recovery on boot). What gives? Is this fixable?

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Disconnect internal keyboard. Plug in USB keyboard. Does USB keyboard have a stuck left SHIFT key too? If so, you've got a weird OS problem. If not, your replacement keyboard is also damaged.

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I think it would be something shorted on the logic board and not an os bug.

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I don't believe it's an OS issue either. I also don't think it's a logic board issue; the logic board doesn't "control" the keyboard. I think there's an embedded controller in there which handles keyboard functionality and it just feeds the data back to the logic board. If the internal keyboard is disconnected and the USB keyboard works fine, that would prove that the internal keyboard is the issue.

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I've replaced the keyboard TWICE at this point - problem is recurring. I suspect you're right about it not being OS - though I was hoping against hope. At this point is it likely a motherboard issue? There have been no other signs/issues but I'm running out of possible explanations.

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Left out the crucial info: no, left shift is not stuck on external keyboard.

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The electrical design of the keyboard is basically three sheets of plastic in a sandwich. The top and bottom sheets have traces on them while the middle sheet separates them by a tiny bit, with holes punched through where the contact points for the keys are. When you press a key, it presses down on the top sheet which pushes through the hole and contacts the bottom sheet, thus completing the circuit and registering a key press. On yours, either those contacts are stuck together or there's something in/under the left SHIFT key that's pressing down enough to register the key press. But since you replaced the keyboard twice the chances of this ACTUALLY being the problem are slim -- unless you just had bad luck with replacement keyboards. Where did you source your replacement keyboards from? Are they new Apple parts, or used from Joe Ebay or something?

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Sorry I didn’t see your question beforehand. You’re hitting either a trackpad failure or the battery has become swollen damaging the ribbon cable or the keyboard directly.

Since you replaced the keyboard that rules out the keyboard its self but you still may have a bad cable or the trackpad is bad. This Air’s series leverages the trackpad for the placement of the decode chip as well. This is where moisture can cause corrosion messing it up. Try a new Trackpad 13" MacBook Air (A1466) (Mid 2013, 2014-Early 2015) Track Pad - Apple P/N923-0438

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