10.9.5 & late 2009 iMac - Copy & Paste not working

[OldCorpse]

I'm on 10.9.5, on a late 2009 27" iMac i7. A problem has developed a few weeks ago, wherein on occasion I'll lose the ability to Copy & Paste. It doesn't matter what I try - it doesn't work: (1) I right click on my mouse and select Copy and then Paste the item - nothing happens; (2) I use the keyboard to Command + C then I go and Command + V and nothing happens; (3) I select "Copy" from the Edit menu, then go and select "Paste" from the Edit menu and nothing happens. Basically, it seems like the Copy & Paste function doesn't work. I reboot the iMac, and the problem goes away. But after a few hours, it's back on again, and again, I have to reboot to correct it. Repairing permissions doesn't help. The HDD on my iMac is 1TB and it shows about 282GB used and 717GB free, I have 8GB RAM and it shows at least 1.79GB free.

Any ideas as to what might be the problem here? Is it OS related, or hardware related? Would upgrading to 10.11 help? TIA!

 

[Ebenezum]

I haven't seen such problem in Mavericks.

It might be software related. Do you have any software installed that modifies Finder, shortcuts or installs extensions?

 

[OldCorpse]

No, no extensions. I do find it puzzling, which is why I came here, looking to see if anyone else might have had such an issue. Very strange.

 

[Ebenezum]

Strange.

One possibility is System Preferences>Keyboard>Shortcuts. Maybe there is a conflicting shortcut for copy and paste?

 

[OldCorpse]

Nope, no issue with shortcuts. Besides, no method of trying to copy and paste works, including selecting from the Edit Menu. A reboot fixes the issue for some time, but then it pops up again after some time. I have no real answer.

 

[Ebenezum]

Have you tried running EtreCheck to see if there is something unusual installed?

 

[OldCorpse]

Haven't run EtreCheck, but I don't tend to install odd things, just the usual apps that most people do. Anyhow, I'm sort of waiting for El Cap to shake itself out and then hope that an upgrade will sort things out... I had some issues with my new iPod Touch and iTunes and it finally forced me to upgrade from iOS 8.4 to 9.2, which resolved the issues. Hoping for the same with El Cap... for now, I'm holding off on El Cap due to the many reports of bad experiences... maybe with a .3 iteration I'll spring for it.

 

[Ebenezum]

Its impossible to say if installing El Capitan will help or not.

If you decide to install El Capitan make sure to have a bootable clone before you install it. Without clone its much harder to return to previous OS if things don't work out.

My experiences testing 10.11.2 haven't been pleasant so I'm likely to stay in Mavericks unless Apple improves 10.11 dramatically. Which isn't very likely if Apple sticks to current 1 year development schedule...

 

[CoastalOR]

OP: I would guess that your problem is OS/software related.

Have you tried a 10.9.5 OS reinstall booting into the Recovery drive (command + r) or download the full 10.9.5 installer from the App Store Purchased tab and let it run after the download? Backup before doing a reinstall just like Ebenezum recommended, just in case.

 

[OldCorpse]

Yeah, I'm not anxious to go to El Cap, given all the bad reports, so I'm holding off for now. I have not thought about re-installing 10.9.5 - originally my iMac was on 10.6 (Snow Leopard) which I loved, and hung on to for a long time... until I finally went from 10.6 directly to 10.9. I tend to stick to an OS for a long time if I find it works for me - I did the same thing with my first Mac - I waited until Tiger was out before I got onboard, and I loved Tiger. I then waited until Snow Leopard and stuck to that until like 10.9.3 or so (don't remember the exact 10.9.x). I saw heard a lot of bad stuff about Leopard, so I skipped it, same for Lion, also skipped it. Didn't like what I saw of Yosemite, was hoping El Cap would be better... but then thought I'd skip El Cap too - until my recent Copy & Paste troubles.

There is one other possibility - my HDD might be failing, because sometimes there are other odd behaviors, like freezes or really a long time to launch an app, or the app randomly won't launch at all. Stuff like that. My HDD is a Seagate 1TB - and I've always had problems with my HDD on this iMac - I had the HDD replaced 3 times under warranty (and AppleCare) - all Seagate drives. Maybe bad luck Seagate struck again, who knows. Personally I don't like Seagate drives, because I've always had bad luck with them even as external drives, had at least 4 external HDD fail all Seagates.

If it is the HDD that's bad luck as I'm out of warranty completely - I had 4 years altogether... year 1 basic warranty year 2 and 3 Apple Care, and year 4 was from American Express (because I bought the iMac on my AmEx card). But now I'm completely out of coverage, and so would have to pay for a HDD replacement myself - I was actually thinking that if the HDD fails, I might tackle the swap for a new one myself. Really, I was hoping this iMac would last me until such a time as Apple came out with an iMac that's tempting - and I think it is close, what with a high resolution monitor on the 27"... just hoping for a bit more, and if all goes well, maybe I can buy a new one come 2016 or 2017. I want another 1-2 years out of this one (which is a late 2009 model I actually bought February of 2010).