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User profile for user: Nick Payne
Nick Payne Author
User level: Level 1
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Beach ball when switching keyboard layouts

This dreading bug is killing me, when typing in adium and switching between layouts quickly system starts to freeze. Once the problem starts, it spins beach ball for around 5 seconds every time I switch layout or just switch to another window or app.

This bug might be caused by Cloud.app, I love stars.app or Navicat.app, but it can also appear out of thin air. And actually why so many apps are able to impair it?

I even reinstalled Snow Leopard, but it didn't help much, after reboot everything works fine until some moment where I need to quickly check something in browser (Firefox), and then type back in IM (Adium) and then it just spins and spins the beach ball.

I type a word, switch to another layout... wait... wait... click any application... wait... wait... you get the idea.
Even when launching killswitch (cmd-opt-esc) I have to wait first.

The layout switcher is broken in Snow Leopard. And what's even worse, when it spins the beach ball CPU usage does not change, there are no messages in Console, nothing.

I don't know where to report this except here, and since people in Cupertino barely ever switch layouts, this might go unnoticed for years.

Message was edited by: Nick Payne

Air, Pro, Mini, Mac OS X (10.6.3), >_<

Posted on May 5, 2010 8:32 AM

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11 replies
User profile for user: Tom Gewecke
Tom Gewecke
User level: Level 10
115,952 points

May 5, 2010 9:18 AM in response to Nick Payne

It sounds like an Addium problem to me, so best to talk to the people who make it.

You can report the issue to Apple here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

but I can't imagine them spending any time trying to find out why Addium causes this. I use over a dozen layouts and have never seen what you describe with any apps, but I don't use Addium.
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User profile for user: Nick Payne
Nick Payne Author
User level: Level 1
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May 5, 2010 9:51 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

This is actually Snow Leopard issue and it's not Adium problem, the whole system stalls. This can be kickstarted in any application by quickly switching layouts. But unfortunately not every time. Having some applications running seems to affect this.

From my observation looks like for example Cloud causes it, and while it has been reported to cloud developers, the issue is in Macos, not just 3rd party apps.

Thank you for the link though, sent message to Apple.
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User profile for user: Tom Gewecke
Tom Gewecke
User level: Level 10
115,952 points

May 5, 2010 10:10 AM in response to Nick Payne

This is actually Snow Leopard issue and it's not Adium problem, the whole system stalls. This can be kickstarted in any application by quickly switching layouts. But unfortunately not every time. Having some applications running seems to affect this.


I would be interested in seeing any urls you might have for reports by others who have this problem, since I have never seen it myself, and also don't remember seeing it in these forums.

By the way, which layouts are you most commonly switching between?
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User profile for user: Nick Payne
Nick Payne Author
User level: Level 1
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May 5, 2010 10:37 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

I use Russian-PC and U.S. Before I used Russian layout self-made with Ukelele's help because Apple incorrectly placed some chars. But recently switched to original one after this Beach Ball problem started (few months ago) to make sure it's not caused by the layout.

Here are some links to Cloud's bug tracker:
http://support.getcloudapp.com/discussions/bugs/30-ball-of-death
http://support.getcloudapp.com/discussions/help/112-freezing ( somebody mentions japanese)
http://support.getcloudapp.com/discussions/help/21-cloud-app-sometimes-hangs-the -system-while-running

There are more, Cloud been hyped so at least people are reporting en masse.

But okay, I removed cloud, I removed I Love Stars, I am removing all aplications which been working fine for years, and today it happened again, maybe this time it was MediaRage, I'm not sure, had to reboot.

People at Cloud think thats some library they use, ok, Cloud is new, but other apps which I been always using now causing the beach ball too?
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User profile for user: Tom Gewecke
Tom Gewecke
User level: Level 10
115,952 points

May 5, 2010 11:54 AM in response to Nick Payne

I use Russian-PC and U.S. Before I used Russian layout self-made with Ukelele's help because Apple incorrectly placed some chars. But recently switched to original one after this Beach Ball problem started (few months ago) to make sure it's not caused by the layout.


I made similar layouts couple years ago for people to use, but have not had any reports of beach ball issues.

http://m10lmac.blogspot.com/2007/11/os-x-105-leopard-fixing-russian-pc.html

Here are some links to Cloud's bug tracker:


Thanks!

But okay, I removed cloud, I removed I Love Stars, I am removing all aplications which been working fine for years, and today it happened again, maybe this time it was MediaRage, I'm not sure, had to reboot.


Have you installed non-Apple Cyrillic fonts or special Russian spell checker on your machine?
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User profile for user: Nick Payne
Nick Payne Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

May 5, 2010 6:22 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

I did not installed anything suspicious after reinstalling Snow Leopard, especially I wasn't installing anything related to keyboard layouts, spelling or anything. I am developer myself and flawless work is my #1 priority.

Also I don't use Cloud, or any program that I suspect causing this bug. Actually I am sure there are other people with this problem around the world.
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User profile for user: Nick Payne
Nick Payne Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

May 6, 2010 1:55 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

It's not Adium causing this, I just usually notice this problem in Adium first because I switch layouts there usually. Besides on another computer where I do have less things running everything seemed fine, till I ran say Navicat or Cloud. List of programs which are causing problems (from my observations):

Cloud http://getcloudapp.com
I Love Stars http://www.potionfactory.com/blog/2008/05/15/i-love-stars
Navicat http://navicat.com
MediaRage http://www.chaoticsoftware.com/ProductPages/MediaRage.html

They don't cause this bug immediately, they have to run for a while, that's why it's hard to say exactlty which app is doing it. I have to check suspicious apps on other computer too. And it looks to me that this issue been added to Snow Leopard not that long ago.
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Beach ball when switching keyboard layouts

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