Chosen Solution
I am working on a Macbook Pro Early 2011 laptop for a friend. The logic board was defective so I sent it to a repair shop and installed it when it was returned. I also replaced the keyboard because the laptop would not start when the power button was pressed. I wiped his hard drive and performed a clean install of Sierra. Everything seemed to be fine until I tried using a couple of startup keys during the boot process. The Option key is not recognized at all; when I press it, the laptop boots without giving me disk options. I tried using the “D” key to get to the diagnostics app but it was also ignored. The Command-R sequence is recognized; it takes me to the Recovery options when pressed. The Shift key also works as it starts the OS in safe mode. I thought that maybe I had a bad keyboard, but the “D” key works after the OS boots. I tried resetting the PRAM; it does not work because it needs the Option key which is not being recognized. I tried resetting the SMC but it also uses the Option key so I don’t know if that worked. Searching the Internet, I saw that the EFI or SMC firmware might need to be updated. Attached is a picture of the laptop’s system information that shows the EFI and SMC version numbers. Just for comparison, I looked at the version numbers on another Macbook Pro 2011 that I have (second picture). While the SMC versions match, the EFI versions do not. Any ideas on what could be the issue? Can anyone explain the differences in the EFI firmware numbers of the two laptops? Thanks!
What you are seeing is the EFI versioning based on the MacOS version each is running with. During the OS install/OS upgrade/security update process the firmware is updated as needed. For now what does a USB or Bluetooth keyboard do? Lets see if we can isolate out if the keyboard you put in is the issue or something else.
“Service” keys such as left control, left option, left command use a partly different circuitry than the ordinary keys. Depending on the damage the macbook suffered there are a couple of QFN serving such keys and some resistors involved that might have been damaged..would be probably needed some further trobleshooting and parts replacement. EFI doesn’t probably have anything to do with it, sounds more like a secondary damage caused by a shorted keyboard (liquid spill?)
