macbook keyboard help

[xerolen]

so I just reinstalled OSX snow leopard on my 2009 macbook but my keyboard is now mapped completely incorrectly. I have used a software called KeyRemap4Mac but it only remaps some keys. I need a more permanent and proper solution. please can someone help me.

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Apple > System Preferences > Language and Text > Input Sources. Make sure you're setup correctly in there. Strage that a standard install wouldn't be correct on first run though, what did you do to break it in the first place?

 

[xerolen]

it's set up correctly. It's battery died durring an update and the installation got messed up. I tried doing a repair using the disc but it didn't work.

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Ouch :S and that's why you should always plug your laptop in before starting any system upgrades. It's changing core files, any corruption or incompleteness is *very* bad there

Which disc did you use to do the repair? If you use the grey disc that's supplied with the mac and reinstalled over the current installation, it'll replace ALL the OS files again, which should fix the problem. If you use a retail disc though, it would only replace the files that needed updating, and probably not fix anything

 

[xerolen]

Sadly it was the retail disc. My other one disappeared years ago. Is there any other way to fix this or do I need to obtain a disc for my model Mac?

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Did you get Applecare when you bought your macbook? i.e is it under warranty? If it is, take it to an Apple store and they'll sort you out.
Actually, take it in to an Apple store regardless, they'll likely have the disc you need and lend/sell it to you (or let you use their netinstall/restore image) if you ask nicely. Apart from that, maybe eBay?

 

[mac_mogul]

By "Reinstall" do you mean you reformatted your hard drive with a Snow Leopard disc? Or did you perform an upgrade install?

If you don't have any data to lose I would recommend just reformatting again. Plop the disc in, reboot and hold the "c" key after the chime. This will bring up the installation window and a menu bar at the top. From the top you can select disk utility and from there you can reformat.

If you did an upgrade install, you should still be able to repair it by launching the installer at startup but follow the on screen instructions instead of launching disk utility.

And make sure it's plugged in this time

 

[xerolen]

I reformatted the drive then re-installed a fresh copy of OSX Snow Leopard. the problem is the keyboard won't work until the OS has booted up to the login screen. I tried it with windows by replacing the HDD with my old which had windows on it but was too slow to store my stuff and work on it. I was able to use the keyboard for the first login but then the driver got screwed up. I then went back to the OSX drive and it won't work with the internal keyboard but it will work with an external one at least until I hit a key on the built in one. then the external just won't work even if I unplug it then plug it back in. I'm planning on bringing it to an apple store within the next few days. if anyone has any other suggestions that I can try till then please let me know. Thank you everyone your comments have helped me slowly fix it but still having problems.