Input source language keeps changing on Mac OS X 10.9.4

First time posting on this site so hopefully I am posting it in the right place. Apologies if not. I've been having issues with my MacBook Pro (15-inch, mid 2009). I have my input source language set as "Irish"; however, as of today any time I log in (after the computer has been shut down) the input source language has switched itself to "U.S.", and I have to go and change it back to "Irish".

I haven't changed anything major as of late. The only thing I can think of is that I accidently clicked a link in a spam email which linked to a "Linkbucks" site which then had a "skip this ad" button which again I foolishly clicked which in turn led to a JPG image of someone's Facebook. I googled "Linkbucks" and read that it is a web browser hijacker virus which can then change your settings etc.

I ran Clamx Av to see if anything of that sort was on my computer, but nothing came up. Am I just being paranoid here thinking some Linkbucks virus has infected my computer? How do I stop the computer from constantly resetting the input language on power-off? Any help would be much appreciated.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Aug 14, 2014 3:42 PM

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26 replies

Aug 15, 2014 8:43 AM in response to gaeluirbeach

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a test, not a solution. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

Step 1

The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is localized to your user account.

Create a new account in the Users & Groups preference pane, and delete it, including its home folder, after testing.

Step 2

The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.

Please take this step regardless of the results of Step 1.

Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you turn on the computer, and again when you log in.

Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.

Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.

The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.

Test while in safe mode. Same problem?

After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of Steps 1 and 2.

Aug 14, 2014 4:44 PM in response to gaeluirbeach

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.HIToolbox.plist

Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select

Services Show Info in Finder (or just Show Info)

from the contextual menu.* An Info dialog should open.

☞ Does the dialog show "You can read and write" in the Sharing & Permissions section?

☞ In the General section, is the box labeled Locked checked?

☞ What is the Modified date?

If you don't have read and write access to the item, change the settings as directed here. Note, however, that if one file has wrong access settings, most likely others do as well. If the item is locked, unlock it.

*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Open a TextEdit window and paste into it (command-V). Select the line you just pasted and continue as above.

Aug 15, 2014 1:47 AM in response to Linc Davis

Hi Linc Davis.


Thanks for the reply. I followed the above steps and found the following;


☞ Does the dialog show "You can read and write" in the Sharing & Permissions section? Yes, it says I can "read & write".

☞ In the General section, is the box labeled Locked checked? No it's not checked.

☞ What is the Modified date? The modified date reads "Yesterday 23:07"

Aug 15, 2014 3:44 PM in response to Linc Davis

I tried TEST 1: Created another non-admin account. When I logged in the language was "Irish" and did not change when I restarted (I restarted and shutdown several time to be sure).


TEST 2 : I then tried test two following the instructions above. When I logged in via safe mode the language input was "Irish". I then removed the few login items listed (as per the safe mode instructions you linked me to). I then restarted sevral times normally and all reboots since have "Irish" not "US" as the input source language.

Aug 18, 2014 3:56 AM in response to Linc Davis

Hi.

I do have the same problem as gaeluirbeach with Mavericks 10.9.4 on my MacBookPro : each time we come to the starting window (the one where we choose among the users accounts for opening a session), the language is by default French of France instead of French Canadian (CSA).

As you probably know, the keyboard in Canada is a QWERTY one, which isn't the case in France. So we have to change the keyboard attribution before logging.
This bug never happened with previous versions of Mavericks, nor with previous systems; it doesn't happen neither on my iMac (with Mavericks 10.9.4).
For sure, we made localizations on each account through the System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Advanced, to have Canada measurements, etc. as environment.

Bizarrely, this wrong by default choice of keyboard at starting up does not occur when starting with alt-key ; the logging is then interpreted correctly as being coded on by a CSA keyboard (because it works) and after opening the safety Mavericks partition, the CSA icon keyboard appears in the menu bar (along with the USA keyboard as the other favorite one). I chose Utility Disk and made disk and permissions reparations, but the bug still remains when I restart the MacBookPro (without alt-key).


So I followed the steps described above by Linc Davis (mainly suppressing items activated when opening a session) but the bug still remains.


Thanks for reading and help.

Aug 24, 2014 4:06 AM in response to Linc Davis

You think mine is also a bug? I've had Mavericks for a while now with no problems and this just started happening out of nowhere. It seems to have fallen into a pattern. If I change the language back to "Irish" it will stay as such for maybe two days after which it'll switch itself back to "US". There is an apple place up the road from me that do repairs and the like, think my best bet is just to bring it in?

Aug 24, 2014 2:45 PM in response to gaeluirbeach

Well, I actually resolved this problem in the following way.


First, this problem of language when booting didn't occur on my two other iMacs (both running 9.4), only on my MacBookPro.
Second, MacBookPro had a problem when Mavericks was updated from 9.3 to 9.4 : on one of the accounts, some Apple apps were no more activable (Preview, iPhoto, iTunes). Strange, isn't it? So I had to create a new account with the personal folders...
All this to point out there had been problems when installing 9.4 on MacBookPro.


How I finally resolved ?
I re-installed 9.4 (alt-R on restart) and now, 10 hours later, everything seems OK : good localization when booting and switching accounts, all the apps seems to run fine everywhere...


' Hope it will work for you too !

Sep 13, 2014 7:52 AM in response to gaeluirbeach

Hi guys, I've got the same problem.


I've tried reinstalling (twice), and for one or two weeks it looked like it was finally fixed, but now it started to do it again.


That means that every time I turn on my MacBook (mid 2009, Mavericks) I have to reinstall the 5 input sources I regularly use.


I had to reinstall twice, because the first reinstall didn't solve the problem. The second one lasted, as I said, about two weeks.


Also, on my second reinstall I selected the input sources right during Mac Os X install, so even before the Os was actually installed.


I was hoping that it was fixed once and for all, but now I see that the problem persists. I really hope Apple fixes it, it's becoming annoying.


In short, reinstalling didn't really fix it for me, except for a short time only.

Sep 13, 2014 8:49 AM in response to Gi_Emme_Ci

Hi, GMC.

I'm sorry these re-installations didn't work for you.

My re-installation of Mavericks 9.4 three weeks ago still works well; and what about you, Gaeluirbeach?


But, GMC, do we talk of the same problem? What do you mean by « I have to reinstall the 5 input sources I regularly use » ?

Gaeluirbeach and I were concerned about the keyboard being proposed by MacOS when starting a new session;
do you really mean you need to use 5 different localized keyboards?

Sep 13, 2014 9:08 AM in response to Zlib

Yes, I do. I do use five input languages: Italian (which is the original language of the MacBook keyboard), Hebrew, Arabic, Greek polytonic and U.S. extended which has different diacritical signs I use for other languages written in the latin alphabet such as German and Polish.


Everything used to work perfectly in Leopard and Snow Leopard, but since I upgraded to Mavericks, every now and then the system only presents the U.S. (not even extended) input source, and that's when I have to reinstall all of them again, and remove the default, non-extended one.


It's a small annoyance but an annoyance nonetheless.


I usually have my MacBook connected with an external mouse, keyboard and monitor.


The only thing that changed in the last weeks is that yesterday i used my computer alone, disconnected from all external peripherals, and today I had this problem again, after weeks.


Maybe it's just a coincidence, but disconnecting the external keyboard is the only thing I did recently that could be vaguely related to input sources, and something I never did while the whole thing was working fine.


Correlation doesn't imply causation, but I'm out of ideas right now. Reinstalling didn't work, and neither did other solutions I found on the Internet.

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Input source language keeps changing on Mac OS X 10.9.4

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