Keyboard MacBook gone haywire. help!

[ultrarunner]

ok this is weird. I have resolved my pc issue by doing a system restore but now my mac book has gone haywire. The keyboard does not type what I type. For instance when I type an s it won't type it right away it will type the rest of the sentence and then type the s and sometimes many times. not just the s either so its not stuck. Its only a few years old. No Apple care left. Macbook 5.2 Os X version 10.6.4.
No virus protection because I didn't think I needed it. I have never had any problems up until now and just suddenly.
I have rebooted several times and took the battery out and then rebooted. What can I do?

[rumplestiltskin]

Reboot and hold down Command-Option-P-R until it spontaneously reboots. Continue holding down those keys until it reboots another three times. Release the keys. Has the problem gone away?

If not, reset the SMC. Refer to these instructions: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964

Let us know what happens. It's not a virus.

[ultrarunner]

ok I did all that and rebooted/reset the smc and it still does the same thing. For instance when opening my home page which is Comcast.net, it opens fine but when I go to the search window to type a website in; right when you click on the window to type it automatically starts typing a "z" and it scrolls "z"'s all the way across the window bar. Same when I go to my email sign in--when I click to type in my user name it automatically types the "z"s.

[rumplestiltskin]

Open TextEdit and try typing there. What's the result?

[lordsmurf]

Hit it with a hammer.

[ultrarunner]

I feel like it but....!
text edit typing is the same -some letters work some don't. return nor delete work. It doesn't type on its own though!.
Could it be the sensor in the keypad?

[rumplestiltskin]

Last (simple) test: Boot from the System disc. Instead of reinstalling, select "Disk Utility" from the Utilities menu. Pretend you're going to partition your hard drive. There will be a place where you may type in a name for your volume. See if the keyboard works properly in that small field. If it does, your problem is not hardware but software. Connect your Mac to another Mac in target disk mode (if it will let you - hold down the "t" key when you boot and the FireWire logo will appear on the screen), connect it to another Mac and suck over whatever data you need to retrieve. Then unmount and power down your Macbook. Boot with the System disc again, get into Disk Utility, and partition your hard drive (1 partition is fine). Exit Disk Utility and proceed with the installation.

If your keyboard doesn't work properly when you are in Disk Utility (ie, you can't name the volume), then your keyboard is probably the culprit and you'll have to get it replaced. It's not a terribly expensive item. Look on iFixit for instructions how to swap out the assembly (keyboard, top shell and, I believe, trackpad).

[ultrarunner]

well I ended up hooking a different keyboard via usb to see how it worked and it worked fine. So now I have dropped it at an Apple Service Center. Thanks.
Heather

[rumplestiltskin]

Good luck, Heather!