Touchpad & occasionally keyboard freeze since Snow Leopard upgrade

I'm having the same problems and yet to find a fix. I have installed the 10.6.4 update and if anything the problem is worse.

I do not use Spaces (nor is it enabled) and the problem occurs with different programs running — I cannot detect a common thread other than it never happened with Leopard.

Maybe I'm holding it the wrong way?

I'm having the keyboard freeze problem as well, after locking the screen for a prolonged period. I updated to Parallels 5 when updating to 10.6.3, and originally thought Parallels was the issue. However, I've been having the same issue with just the current FF and Thunderbird left running overnight. 10.6.4 didn't solve the problem.

Mouse cursor moves and can select dock icons, Apple-Tab theoretically allows application switching, but cannot type in text (get error bells instead). The menu context remains that of the foreground app, even after quitting that app via the Dock. Only after quitting all running apps does full keyboard control return.

I'm having an increasingly frequent and worsening problem with the cursor on my macbook pro. The cursor will freeze for a short period of time, typically only 2-5 seconds, although occasionally up to 15-20 seconds. It happens most often during text editing, which I do a lot of, but only after an edit function of some sort - copy/paste, or even simply moving the cursor to another location and adding or deleting a single letter. As long as I'm typing without editing I can move the cursor around just fine. Editing with the keyboard (arrow keys/backspace/delete) does not cause the problem. The cursor also freezes whenever I change windows using Spaces. For 3-5 seconds after I enter the new window the cursor is stuck, and then will move normally again. Using FileMaker Pro, the cursor freezes after every edit in a field. If I do the edit and don't touch the cursor, it releases within a few seconds. If I do the edit and them immediately try to move the cursor, it freezes and stays frozen for as long as I try to move the cursor, plus an additional 10 seconds or so after I stop trying to move it, before releasing. My biggest concern, as I alluded at the beginning, is that this behave is becoming more frequent, and the delays are growing longer. I'm not certain, but don't believe I ever saw the behavior prior to Snow Leopard. Other than this problem, the machine works as well as the day I bought it.

I've taken the computer to the Apple store, and the genius could see the problem, but he was neither enlightened nor enlightening. I'm fully upgraded on OS X - now at 10.6.4. The machine is a Spring 2007 model MacBook Pro - 2.16GHz Core 2. The model identifier is MacBookPro2,2 and the boot ROM version is MBP22.00A5.B07. SMC version is 1.12f5 Based on discussions in various forums on the web, we're not alone re: the problem. Has anyone here found a solution yet?

Hi D,

It would be very helpful to know what you've tried so far. As you've noticed, you are not alone with this issue, but you must also have noticed that there have been a variety of things which have worked, some software, some hardware.

I have the same issue.

I think it is definitely a hardware (ribbon cable) problem. Apple says, that there is a fix included in the OS 10.6.4 update, but I don’t think that software can really solve it. After the update my computer behaves almost normal, but sometimes still strange.

Here it what I get when I type “sudo dmesg” into the terminal:

AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::message – kIOUSBMessagePortHasBeenReset.
AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::checkStatus – received Status Packet, Payload 2: device was reinitialized
AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::message – kIOUSBMessagePortHasBeenReset.
AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::checkStatus – received Status Packet, Payload 2: device was reinitialized
AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::_deviceGetReport – DeviceRequest for reportID 0xc8 returned with result 0xe000404f – retryingAppleUSBMultitouchDriver::message – kIOUSBMessagePortHasBeenReset.
AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::checkStatus – received Status Packet, Payload 2: device was reinitialized
AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::message – kIOUSBMessagePortHasBeenReset.
AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::checkStatus – received Status Packet, Payload 2: device was reinitialized
AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::validateChecksum – 18-byte packet checksum is incorrect (expected 0×32c, checksum bytes were 0xc8d)
AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::message – kIOUSBMessagePortHasBeenReset.
AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::checkStatus – received Status Packet, Payload 2: device was reinitialized
AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::message – kIOUSBMessagePortHasBeenReset.
AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::checkStatus – received Status Packet, Payload 2: device was reinitialized
AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::message – kIOUSBMessagePortHasBeenReset.
AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::checkStatus – received Status Packet, Payload 2: device was reinitialized
AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::message – kIOUSBMessagePortHasBeenReset.
AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::checkStatus – received Status Packet, Payload 2: device was reinitialized

This is with the 10.6.4 "fix". As you can see touchpad & keyboard are reinitialized again and again. Which means the fix by Apple is a hack/workaround to make bad designed hardware work.

I would appreciate it if some of you could post your "sudo dmesg" and OS X version as well to see if you suffer from the same cause.

Don't worry beeing ask for your password. dmesg won't change your system. The password is just needed to prevent unauthorized people to gather information about your system.

I am having the same problem.

First once a month but now increasingly worse. Trackpad and keyboard freezing up for several seconds. Also trackpad becomes inaccurate and "confused". Right after reboot (with startbutton) it is ok for some time but then it starts failing me within 5 minutes.

It may be a hardware problem cause it persists even though I startup from a DVD or other external drive. Maybe some loose cable or something I have no idea.

Really frustrating thats for sure. Have some deadlines comin up and I honestly don´t know how to cope with them with my Macbook letting me down...:-(

I really need to fix this! Any ideas anyone?

See if this keyboard/trackpad solution works for you.

I have been having this issue for months now. I have installed 10.6.4 and after talking to Apple Care, also re-installed Snow Leopard. With a clean install of the OS, the Geniuses at the Apple Store were still able to see multiple usbmultitouch resets in the Console.

I've been watching the Console to see if I can pinpoint what may be causing the issue but it seems to be happening lately while the laptop idles. The first few times it happened while I was watching an avi via QuickTime.

Three months ago, Apple replaced my case, keyboard and trackpad. This issue has persisted beyond that repair and once again, they'll be replacing all three again once the parts come in later this week.

So far, no fix for me but the guys at the Apple Store seem pretty dedicated to helping me with this issue. I'm just glad this is happening before my AppleCare runs out.