Keyboard shortcuts stop working, can't logout/restart/shutdown

[apfhex]

Twice recently (just yesterday and today) I experienced a problem where keyboard shortcuts - like Dashboard or Spotlight - stop working, and when I try to logout or restart/shutdown, OS X won't do it. Apps quit but it just sits there and I have to cut the power. The last thing I installed was the Safari 4 beta, but that worked fine all week before this started. I can't see any processes that are hanging, I've added no new peripherals, etc. (bottom line, I've not changed anything, so I don't know what's causing it).

 

[HolmesQatar]

Funny, I've been having this exact same problem and it's driving me nuts. For me it's my Spaces controls. I can't switch by pressing Ctrl-#. But I also cannot do anything function key wise with the keyboard. I cannot adjust brightness, volume, dashboard, etc.

And then to top it all off, as it is with yourself, the Mac will not logout or restart. It hangs and does nothing. So I pull the plug. Fantastic.

I also installed Safari 4 but could that really be an issue?

 

[lilnyc]

I am having a problem with Dashboard and all of my shortcut keys. They all stop working, but my Mac Pro still shuts down. No apps stall.

I have not yet installed Safari 4...I am now that I know of it, so all of my issues are pre-Safari 4. Maybe it's something else?

 

[LarryHuffman]

The keyboard shortcuts for Spaces on my new MacBook stopped working after I installed and then uninstalled Safari 4 Beta. I was able to get them back in Settings.

 

[zeeklancer]

Hey guys, I had this problem too. My spaces shortcuts stopped, that is when I found it, I am sure other shortcuts stopped working. But I did find the problem!

Check your Activity Monitor. I found that my screen saver (one of the default apple ones) Was crashing some how and not responding. You should find a red process running. The deal is the screen saver took control of shortcuts as a security measure, but the screensaver locked up and did not give controls back. Kill the locked up screen saver process and you get your shortcuts back.

It could be something else for you guys, but that is what was going on with me. I changed screen savers and the problem has not come back.

-Zeek

 

[apfhex]

It could be something else for you guys, but that is what was going on with me. I changed screen savers and the problem has not come back.

I heard that suggested in a similar thread, but in my case that's not the problem. I've stopped using screen savers entirely but it still happens and it's completely random. I've checked Activity Monitor/top in the Terminal and it's not a hung process. At this point, I'm hoping it will either go away with 10.5.7, or I'll just do a clean install when Snow Leopard comes out.

 

[MacSpartan]

Anything new on this at all? I bought my wife a 24" imac a few weeks ago and it has been exhibiting this same exact behavior.. very odd and so far I can't put my finger on anything to solve. My MBP is not having any of these issues.

 

[apfhex]

Happened maybe a coupe times since 10.5.7 came out, but it's not terribly frequent. Never figured it out any further.