Keyboard And Finder Problems

P

pshill

Registered
I'm using a 17" flat screen G4 iMac . I recently made all of the latest Apple software updates to 10.3.9 (security, Java, iTunes 5 and Safari). Before that, I repaired permissions. Afterwards, I fsck and repaired permissions again. No problems.

After a couple of days I noticed the computer wouldn't wake from sleep until I pushed the power button, then it did. Then i noticed apple-Q wouldn't work on any apps. Then random apps would come on when I selected a different app in the dock. Links in Safari brought up menus instead of the link. Contextual menus no longer worked in the Finder. Then I couldn't change settings in system prefs.

I zapped PRAM and rebooted. Same behavior.

I booted from an external backup. Same behavior.

I replaced the PRAM battery. Same behavior.

I tried MacFixit, but all I got was that the hard drive was corrupt. I don't see how that would affect the behavior when booted from the un-updated backup drive.

Any ideas?

 
Very strange, Does this also happen when you log in as a different user?

Just a hunch - have you tried a different keyboard and mouse?
 
This happened with all users.

I finally got a reply with a good thought on MacFixIt suggesting it was a USB bus problem. Sure enough, I was able to isolate it to either the keyboard, mouse or USB extension i had the keyboard connected with. I haven't had a chance to figure out which was the culprit and am now using one of my kids' keyboard and mouse.

Who'd have thought a keyboard or mouse could start doing something that screwy?

On the bright side, I now have a new PRAM battery.

Thanks for the reply.

PSH
 
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