Keyboard stops working in Snow Leopard when using Spaces

Try making a "new folder" on desktop, then trashing it. Should bring the keyboard back.

Try making a "new folder" on desktop, then trashing it. Should bring the keyboard back.

Just to add to this, I have found that when it happens, not only does the keyboard stop working, but key-command equivalents sent from other sources, mouse driver, QuicKeys etc., also stop working. This is telling me that it's not the keyboard it's stopped reading, but all key-input for certain keys, whatever their source.

As others have noted, using key commands to change spaces still works, as does the Eject key, for me.

The kill Dock workaround is the most reliable for me (it's never failed thus far), however, I've found that 95% of the time you can fix the issue by clicking a Dock program icon of another running program. For instance, if Spaces freezes when you're in Safari, click the Preview icon (assuming Preview is running). Clicking the currently-running program's icon doesn't fix the issue.

I leave Activity Monitor running all the time (hidden, set to appear in all Spaces), which makes it trivial to kill Dock when this fix doesn't work.

I've noticed that the issue occurs more frequently for me when running Aquamacs 2.0preview2. When it's not running, or I'm running an older Aquamacs Emacs, the issue happens more rarely.

Also, I have never seen it happen when I switch Spaces via ⌘⇥ (command-tab) to switch to an application occupying a different Space. It only seems to happen when I switch Spaces directly (via ^→, ^← etc., or ^1, ^2, etc.).

Thought I'd chime in as well, with a variant to this issue.

Same problem with the keyboard dying, but the problem only happens for me when I have Typinator or TextExpander running and I trigger the spaces switch via a mouse click using USB Overdrive. The big difference though (for me) is that only the first few keystrokes are ignored, after which point the keyboard functions normally. (It'll ignore all keystrokes until a slight (.5s) pause is given in keystrokes. So if you start typing really fast it'll ignore it all, but if you just hit a key, wait a second, then start typing, it'll be fine.)

And, as others pointed out, it ignores simulated keystrokes as well. So keystrokes given by USB Overdrive will get ignored as well.

(Perhaps related to the questions about using command or control or option for the Spaces shortcut: If TextExpander is enabled and the spaces shortcut is control+arrows, it won't kill the keyboard but it will switch spaces twice. If it's the command key, it'll eat the keystrokes as described above. With Typinator it behaves the same way (kills the keyboard) regardless the shortcut key.)

Less annoying than having the entire keyboard die like everybody else, but it's really, really frustrating. Spaces took a big step backward in Snow Leopard, between this and apps consistently being restored from the dock onto the wrong space.

I have this problem. It goes away, however, when I press the up or down arrow keys on my MacBook Pro. Strange . . .

I upgraded to 10.6.2 this morning. Still the same problem.

Thanks for the info. This lack of interest from Apple is making me enjoy more and more Windows 7 on my Macbook.

Still same issue here too. Very very frustrating that a basic feature touted in their OS is still non functional after several updates.

I haven't seen this issue as often as before, but one change I made was to turn on automatic Space-changing when an application becomes active. I think that seems to "reset" the problem often enough that it helps prevent the sticking from occurring.

The issue is still there, but if you rely on Spaces turning on automatic switching might help make it less annoying (or at least replace a hugely annoying issue with a less painful one).

Unbelievable, even their second major update 10.6.2 couldn't fix such a big issue. Always thought that Apple chooses usability over time-to-market. Now they're not better than Microsoft in terms of quality.