El Capitan problems with Apple Wireless Keyboard

I'm on a 5K iMac and Apple Wireless Keyboard running the El Capitan GM seed, and sometimes when I awake it from sleep, my keyboard becomes unusable -- it still recognizes keystrokes, but the keystrokes registered do not correspond what what I input. For example, I require my password when resuming from sleep, and if I hit even one key, there will be a small delay and then the password field will start filling with a long string of characters. It's not an infinite string, so it will eventually stop, and I can't see what keys are being filled since it's a password (hidden). The mouse seems to work fine, but the keyboard becomes useless. It doesn't always happen when the computer goes to sleep, and a hard reboot will always fix this problem. Also, a wired Apple keyboard works perfectly, even when the wireless keyboard exhibits this problem. I've tried two Apple Wireless Keyboard with the same results, so I don't think it's the keyboard. I've also done a clean install of El Capitan, and this still happens, so it's not a weird software glitch specific to my install.


I've noticed this issue since earlier El Capitan developer preview versions (can't remember exactly when it started), but I always figured it would get ironed out by the GM. Now that it still exists in the GM, I'm beginning to think maybe something else may be going on. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? Thanks in advance!

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I was experiencing very strange behaviour with my keyboard also. When I tried to log into my iMac from time to time the keyboard response was extremely erratic. Today I experienced the exact same effect but this time I was logged into my iMac and trying to use spotlight search. I would enter a word and it took several seconds for each of the characters of the word to appear. When I hit space bar the space would advance at about 10 to 15 spaces. It turns out my trackpad was the problem. The moment I disconnected it from the iMac the keyboard returned to normal use. I usually keep by trackpad close to the keyboard tray. I've since reconnected it but have moved it up and off to the side. So far keyboard acting normally. I know this does not help Macbook Pro/Air users who are experiencing similar problems but there is definitely something wrong with the trackpad setup. Anyway hope this helps you also.

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I just got home and the keyboard was going crazy again. I'm going to try your suggestion now. I'll be back with more information shortly.

I have had the same issue for the past year with OS X 10.10 Yosemite. So it's not an issue specifically with El Capitan.


I have an old Apple Wireless keyboard with real keys and an Apple Key on it (A1016). I'm using a late 2015 MacBook Pro 15".


The keyboard will only 'malfunction' when I leave my computer for like an hour, and return to awake it. It happens about 50% of the time. I hit a key to type in my password, and if I start seeing a bunch of 'key presses' in the login box, I'm prepared to turn the keyboard over to turn it off then on again, and it works. It seems more to do with the keyboard than the OS.

I think you may be correct. The wireless keyboard I tested with was basically unused. It could just be caused by 'dirt'.

Dirt could be an issue. I've tried briefly cleaning my keyboard but after a few days it started happening again. One other thing I noticed was that from time to time I could not type anything in the password box. It seemed as if the keyboard was still connected by Bluetooth but nothing appeared in the password box. It seemed to coincide with me leaving my iPhone or iPad in between the keyboard and the iMac. Could there be some kind of interference causing these strange keyboard issues?

Well, for me it's not a dirty keyboard. Checked 'Prevent Computer from Going to Sleep While Mointors' and guess what.... problem returned. In fact, friend of mine works at best buy and hooked me up with a brand new Apple wireless KB. And it did the same thing. Unchecked both keyboards worked fine. Checked both keyboard exhibit the random input lag & character input. As stated, in early troubleshooting this issue didn't start occurring (for me) until install of GM release. Never had issue with this problem with Yosemite. If fact, had a spare MacBook from work, wiped it & loaded Yosemite and paired both keyboards to and with the setting checked or unchecked problem does not occurred.


My buddy tested his a late 2013 with my keyboard, and his apple KB. With El Captain GM both keyboards exhibit the issue when the settings is checked. When Unchecked the keyboards do not act up. He did a wipe and load of Yosemite latest release w/ updates. check & uncheck both keyboard worked without issue.


Hope the 'workaround' stops the issue from happening for some. If not, could be a separate issue per HW platform. Good luck to those still experience the issue. I'd recommend to continue to provide feedback via the Apple Feedback Assistance tool and/or Apple BugReport. At least, get the issue reported to Apple, and let them rebut or provide a fix. All my observation and troubleshooting via Apple Feedback Assistance. Good Luck!

I was not able to reproduce the problem with the password lock turned off. I have turned it back on. Not sure other than opening a bug report with Apple development. If someone else has already opened a ticket can you please provide the number? I would like to reference it when I enter my bug report. Thanks!!!

For me the problem only seems to happen when I have "Require password after sleep or screen saver begins" turned on. It usually happens once or twice a day and the only way to stop the keyboard from typing wildly is take the batteries out and put them back in. I would really like to be able to reproduce this problem on a regular basis before heading to the Apple store.

One more piece of information for now. I'm starting to believe this is an interference issue. Not sure where the interfere is coming from. The wifi router I have beside my computer, the iPhone that is usually near the computer or my wireless phone system in the house. Possible other things. Strange one to figure out.

I've been encountering the same issue with my Apple Wireless Keyboard being unresponsive and typing alternate characters. This always happens when I wake my Mac Pro from sleep and am trying to type an email. I have tries swapping out batteries, but the problem persists until I turn off the keyboard and restart my system. This has been happening for the past 2 weeks. One incident corresponded to a loss of a week's worth of email on two of my Gmail accounts. Hopefully this issue will be fixed once the public release come out.

I'm wondering if this problem is dependent on whether a Mac has gone into "Deep Sleep". That occurs on newer Macs after 3 hrs and earlier Macs after one hour. I think the change occured around 2012. When I tried to recreate the problem my iMac was only asleep for a few minutes. I don't really want to wait for three hours to check.

While I was experiencing this problem my mouse was also behaving strange. Loosing connection. I have a trackpad also so I just kept using the trackpad until the mouse returned. I finally unpaired and re-paired the mouse to the iMac. Since then the mouse is working perfectly and I no longer have the phantom password problem. Required password is on and prevent computer from sleeping automatically is turned. It has been 2 days since I made these changes with negative affects.

The same issue was happening to me for the past few betas. Still occurs on 10.11.1, latest beta, but much less frequently. I filed a bug in Beta 3 (21954603) and Apple closed it as a duplicate of 22270730.

I have the exact same problem after upgrading to el capitan.

I also have this frustrating problem when using my bluetooth keyboard while using my 27 inch monitor after installing El Capitan. I haven't noticed it if I just use the keyboard on my macbook pro. I have to restart the computer to eliminate the problem, but after putting it to sleep and returning, it's back. I'll try unchecking the prevent computer from sleeping automatically when display is off to see if it makes a difference.

I have the same problem.. iMac 5K and the wireless keyboard from Apple. Very frustrating!


Apple, read this thread and fix it please!