Some preferences 'forgotten'

[andysmith]

I just came to take a screenshot by pressing Cmd+*, which I set ages ago, but nothing happened.
So I checked in System Prefs, and the keyboard shortcuts I've set have been replaced with the defaults.
I checked the other preferences, but most were as I've set them - except a couple (I'd disabled iTunes popping up when I put in an Audio CD - that had set back to default).
It must have happened within the last couple of days - and I haven't done too much on it during. I've installed Audion is the only thing I can think of.
Apart from on Sunday morning, when I woke it from sleep, and it was frozen - still displaying the time I put it to sleep at. (I had to hold down the power button to turn it off, then restart) That's never happened before, and it's been fine since.
Could that have caused it, or should I be looking at something else?

 

[rainman::|:|]

Likely your PRAM battery is dying. That's usually the culprit when preferences start resetting themselves. Try this. Set a few preferences (energy saver, desktop pattern, whatever) and shut down. Wait a couple of minutes and start back up. If the preferences are not kept, the battery needs replacing.

I suppose it could also be bad permissions, but that would usually apply only to a single app. So you could try repairing permissions, doesn't hurt.

When the PRAM battery goes bad, all hell can break loose. Sometimes the clock will be wrong. Sometimes it could reset a bunch of prefs. Or sometimes the whole machine may not start up at all. Depends on your computer. Any other weird activity lately?

edit: just noticed how recent your machine is... i would hope your battery won't be dead for a few years. The crash you described *could* have caused it. If you don't see any other problems, don't worry about it

paul

 

[andysmith]

Yeah, it's only 3-4 months old.

One of the settings that went was the energy prefs - so could the PRAM have been corrupted by that?
Is the PRAM read/written to when waking from sleep, and are things like keyboard shortcuts stored in it?

 

[andysmith]

Just tried shutting down for 5 mins, and everything is fine