Keyboard shortcuts not working (Finder only)

Question

Level 1

26 points

Keyboard shortcuts not working (Finder only)

All the usual keyboard shortcuts have suddenly no effect.
These include like: command-tab, command-space (for Spotlight), control-F7 (to enable full keyboard access), etc.

In fact all the keyboard shortcuts in the Keyboard Shortcuts section of the Keyboard & Mouse panel in System Preferences aren't working.

When I logged in today, everything worked properly. Suddenly, without any apparent reason, I noticed pressing command-tab had no effect. Nor did any others.

I rebooted my Mac (fixed it, temporarily), quit and relaunch the Finder and the Dock (did not fix).
Usual applications shortcut work (like command-T on Safari).

Quicksilver's shortcuts don't work either! (option-space)

Seems like all the modifiers are gone..?
Any help?

The only things that's changed recently is that I installed XCode yesterday.

Message was edited by: Armaguy

Mac Pro Quad-Core @ 2.66Ghz 3GB, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Nov 14, 2009 9:46 AM

Reply

Answer 1

baltwo

Level 9

62,386 points

Nov 14, 2009 12:52 PM in response to Armaguy

Create a new admin user account, log into it, and see if the problem persists. If so, it's system-wide and reinstalling the 10.5.5 COMBO or, better yet, the 10.5.8 COMBO update is in order. If not, there's a conflict or corruption in the original accounts preferences, which needs resolving.

Reply

Answer 2

Armaguy Author

Level 1

26 points

Nov 15, 2009 1:07 PM in response to baltwo

Interesting, I will try this right away.

Could I simply use the root account?

Although I haven't tested it (I've rebooted and it's working for now, however I expect it to fail in a few moments) yet, I just remembered I just updated OS X just before the problem came.

BTW- Some more odd things happened. I just rebooted my Mac and start using it happily (without any problem). Then everything on screen start to lag and froze, except for the mouse icon which kept alternating between SBBOD and the normal cursor. I was able to move the cursor, however clicking made nothing. No keyboard key had any effect either; I had to shutdown the computer by holding the switch.

Message was edited by: Armaguy

Reply

Answer 3

baltwo

Level 9

62,386 points

Nov 15, 2009 2:32 PM in response to Armaguy

I haven't enabled the root user account in seven years. I see no reason for you to go there. Updated the OS? The latest is 10.5.8 and your profile shows 10.5.5. I suggest reinstalling the 10.5.8 COMBO upodate, repair permissions, and restart.

Reply

Answer 4

Armaguy Author

Level 1

26 points

Nov 15, 2009 5:15 PM in response to baltwo

Oh that's an error of mine, I forgot to change my OS version here when I updated some time ago. Well the problem hasn't reappeared so far, but I kindof haven't used the computer either yet. Oh well, if it reappears I'll just try reinstalling the update and the usual stuff (permissions).

Thanks!

Reply

Answer 5

Armaguy Author

Level 1

26 points

Nov 17, 2009 8:05 PM in response to Armaguy

That's right, I'm reviving my own thread.

This problem re-occured, just now. Before getting angry (imagine your fast workflow halting) and rebooting, I thought I'd have a look at the internals and find what happened.

The console shows this particular line that just happened:

EDIT:
Never mind the console! I somehow fixed it.

Here's what I did:
In the console log (that I didn't post) there was some odd process. Since I'm not very good at decrypting a log file, I opened up Activity Monitor. I realized that there was 3 instances of ScreensaverEngine running, but all 3 of them were not responding. I opened up the System Preferences (I thought the Screen Saver pane would make something react in the monitor, but no).

Since it was only ScreensaverEngine, I forced quit all 3 of them. The Mac is back up and running now. I have changed screensaver (recently I installed a new one, called PolarClock3 which was based on Flash I think).

Bottom line: PolarClock3 was apparently the culprit, and made my computer do really unrelated oddities.

Reply

Answer 6

baltwo

Level 9

62,386 points

Nov 15, 2009 8:27 PM in response to Armaguy

Thanks for the feedback. Good computing.

Reply