10.5.7 and disappearing cross hair cursor (using command+shift+4)

I have exactly the same problem. After I updated to OS X 10.5.7 I could no longer
get Command-Shift-4 to work.
Zack

I think I have found the solution. Before I give you that I want to set the scene. After installing 10.5.7 update I found that I:
• Could not restart from the Apple menu (had to do it manually)
• Command-Shift-4 no longer worked
• Could not boot in the Safe Mode
• Command-Option-P-R no longer worked
• In the sleep mode my G-5 Fans reved up to high speed
• Could not boot on a CD/DVD by holding the "C" key down
• Most of the icons on the right side of the menu bar no longer worked.
SO, I inserted OS-X 10.5 in the computer tray and did an ARCHIVE & INSTALL
After that was installed, I installed OS X 10.6 update. When I restarted all of the above problems had disappeared and my G-5 was back to normal. Hope this helps someone else.
Zack

Make that 10.5.6 update and everything has worked fine since. Noi so with 10.5.7 update.

The 10.5.8 didn't fix this issue whatsoever... of course.

Message was edited by: Matt M

Matt M wrote:
The 10.5.8 didn't fix this issue whatsoever... of course.

That's rather unfortunate. The supposedly related VMWare issue was reportedly solved, but I guess it thus wasn't that related.

Maybe OS X 10.6 will be better... -sigh-

This problem just developed on my MacBook (early 2009) Leopard 10.5.8. CmdShift4 was working fine through Thursday. Stopped working on Friday. The only thing I did differently from Thurs. to Fri. was switch RAM from the stock 2GB to an upgraded 4GB (2x2GB). I've logged out; restarted; shutdown. I've not yet run DiskWarrior or DiskUtility from a startup DVD. Thus, the only variable in my case was the update of the RAM; I had no problem with the installing of the combo update which installed 10.5.8 and Safari 4, all of which worked fine with CmdShift4...until I changed the RAM. (By the way the RAM change was super-easy and worked well.)

Solution found: I did run DiskWarrior, which rebuilt the directory file and repaired permissions and checked files. However, this didn't fix the broken cmd-shift-4 problem. I just read somewhere else in these forums about "logging out" and back in. Voila! In my case, this simple expediency fixed the problem. I am not certain that I had not previously logged out and back in, but I may not have; I do know that I did "shutdown" and "restart," which did not effect the repair.

Barbatto wrote:
FWIW, this problem was fixed on both of my machines with ATI video cards once I upgraded to Snow Leopard.

Interesting, although there still seems to be some flickering issue. See the release notes for the latest seed of 10.6.2: http://news.worldofapple.com/archives/2009/10/16/apple-seeds-new-mac-os-x-1062-b uild-seed-notes/

GraphicsDrivers
- Fixes to stencil renderbuffers.
- Resolves a crash in OpenCL.
- *Resolves screen flickering issue.*