Major OSX 10.6.5 Bug Workaround (was: Selection Problem…)

[csansom]

I haven't found any reference to this in a fairly quick search of both this and the 'Usage, Techniques, Tips & Optimization' forum, so I thought I'd mention it here:

After the OS update to 10.6.5 (and still true in 10.6.6) I found a really annoying thing happening in DP: if I had a selection - of any sort - the next selection I made behaved as if the shift key were being held down. In other words it would add to the existing selection instead of deselecting it before making the new selection. Similarly, if I dragged over part of an existing selection, it would deselect that part, leaving the rest selected. And so on. As you can imagine, this nearly led to some fairly horrific blunders when editing.

So... I'd just about got into the habit of always doing a command-D to deselect all before making a selection, when I remembered a related problem I'd had in Photoshop CS4, to which a solution was posted on a Photoshop users' forum. I thought I'd give this solution a try and bingo! It works! If you want to read about the background, the forum is here:
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/752602
It's all to do with an API that changed in 10.6.5.

But if you've been hit by this and would rather just skip to the solution, you can download a little hack here:
http://www.bache.name/download/osx/10_6 ... 20hack.dmg
Here is what the author of the hack, Jesper Storm Bache, says:

This application runs and then exits (after trying to remedy the problem).
By the way the application simply simulates a key up event for the following keys: option, shift, command, and control.

It works for me, and I hope this helps someone. Meanwhile, I hope MOTU are working on a fix...

[FMiguelez]

.

I haven't heard of that one. Not ever...
I suppose most people here haven't either, otherwise they would've posted rants about this long ago.

But thanks for telling us about your experience and your solution.

[dinobass]

This happens to me. I use The Event List editor a lot to nudge things. If I make a selection and then try to click/drag to change the value, the selection gets deselected. I've been getting around this by using the scroll function on my Magic Mouse (dragging my finger up or down on the surface of the mouse) to change the value of a selection. Also, when I use the arrow keys to scroll up or down through selections in the Event List (say that I want to change the velocity on a few notes), I do notice that sometimes the values will change by one as I scroll to the next selection.

[Shooshie]

Guys, this has been a strange bug, and I've been fighting it for months. It basically involves a modifier key acting as though it is stuck. It can be Command, Option, Shift, or Control, but for me it's usually Command. There are many things that happen when the Command Key is held down. For example, it toggles a grid in the edit windows, and will not release it. You cannot change that grid in the edit windows once this virtual "key" gets stuck. Click on a tab in the Consolidated Windows, and that tab will become the only tab open in that column of the CW. Plus, you won't be able to access the menus on that tab. And more, as you all have found.

I have wracked my brains trying to track down this bug, for I thought it was something in DP. I've seen it happen in other apps using Spaces. The Control Key will not release, and it will make you think the keyboard has become disconnected.

When I found out that this was going on for Adobe apps, I was thrilled, because I knew they'd find a solution for it. What they have discovered is that the problem was introduced by OSX in the 10.6.5 update, though I suspect it was introduced before that. They have figured out that this problem in 10.6.5 waits without issues until some app like QuicKeys, JiTouch, XGestures, Quicksilver, or others introduces a virtual modifier key. Then it won't release the keys. Without warning, you are suddenly stuck with this problem that can only be cured by restarting, it appears.

Then someone wrote the little hack, linked up above in this thread. The hack runs a script that provides a "key-up" event for each of those modifiers. The problem is temporarily alleviated. The hack, once again, can be found at this address:
http://www.bache.name/download/osx/10_6 ... 20hack.dmg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Apple will have to issue a permanent fix to this, as it involves a new API of theirs in the OS itself. Until then, use the hack. When you hear of people having strange problems that could be attributed to a stuck modifier key, tell them about the hack.

Shooshie

[Shooshie]

PS: Thanks to csansom for tracking that down.

I was right on your tail, but you beat me to it, and I couldn't be happier about it. When I first started trying to track this bug down, they had not found the problem yet in the Adobe forum. They were chasing individual apps, and I knew those were not the culprits, because some of the ones they said were the problems are not even on my drive. I've been through tons of tests -- removing plugins, removing preferences, fixing permissions, re-installing DP, and more. Nothing worked, and of course it's obvious why, now. It involved something in the OS itself, which could be triggered by a number of applications, not just one.

It still will happen, and when it does, it can cause problems that are hard to fix -- for example, it can completely change your Consolidated Windows, forcing you to have to reopen and reposition all the panes that it wiped out. Or, it can cause you to edit notes which you thought had been deselected, but they had not. So, be aware, be careful, and run this script at the slightest suspicion that something has changed.

One last thing: I'm changing the title of this thread to Major OSX 10.6.5 Bug Workaround.

Shooshie

[Shooshie]

.

I haven't heard of that one. Not ever...
I suppose most people here haven't either, otherwise they would've posted rants about this long ago.

But thanks for telling us about your experience and your solution.

It's been appearing more often in this forum than you might guess, because it is a bug with many faces. I've posted about it quite often, actually, but it is such an insidious bug that it takes many forms -- those of various modifier keys being "stuck" in the down position. It comes silently without warning, and does not announce what is going on. It's been affecting a lot of people, but they don't know it. I've been watching and asking people to try certain things, but because it may affect "Command" for me, and "Shift" for someone else, the symptoms differ, as do the triggers. It was devilishly hard to track down, and it took the programmers at Adobe to find it. the hack is not an official Adobe hack, but is put out by one of their programmers, unofficially. I suspect there are legal reasons for that. In any case, Apple will have to fix this bug. When they do, some people will begin to notice that DP runs better. Others never had the bug, because they either don't use 10.6.5, or they don't have any applications/utilities/shortcut apps which trigger the bug.

Shooshie

[Klaus]

So what version of SL is 'kind of safe' to use ?
Seems that every version has some fixes for the previous versions...
so what to use ?
10.6.4 seems to have graphical issues...

TIA

Klaus

[bayswater]

Could it be that this is specific to some keyboards? Might require a firmware update as well as a fix in OSX? Because I haven't had the problem so far.

[Shooshie]

Anything's possible; it's for Apple to figure out at this point. It has to do when an app accesses a particular new API in Apples OS design and code. At least, the Adobe guy said it was new with OS X version 10.6.5. On the other hand, if you don't have some of the apps that do access that API, then you wouldn't have to worry about it. It just sits there until something accesses the code. Then it somehow delivers a modifier key up without the following "down." further, the keyboard's ability to close the modifier is at this point stuck. The key will stay up until the account is logged out or the computer shut down and restarted.

While a keyboard update or other firmware update [could] be a factor, it probably is not, because the computer runs fine until it calls that new API. Nothing in particular about the keyboard itself is out of sorts; it's something that changes the computer's resting state, and refuses to allow it to be changed back. That should be easy to track for Apple's coders, and I'm sure they will fix the problem in an upcoming release, because the problem can now be reliably triggered.

The last OS in which this wasn't a problem was 10.6.4 think. Maybe 10.6.5. But the trouble is that if you're using a Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad, you may need the later versions of the OS to handle the app that programs it. Its "settings." I don't know any answers; just more questions!

The little script, however, runs quickly and quietly with no intervention involved. No need to click OK, or anything like that; so you could have a key shortcut to call up the script, and the problem would be gone that instant, at least until it comes back. Then hit the key again. And so forth. That's the "fix" until Apple comes through.

Shooshie

[Klaus]

Anything's possible; it's for Apple to figure out at this point. It has to do when an app accesses a particular new API in Apples OS design and code. At least, the Adobe guy said it was new with OS X version 10.5.6. On the other hand, if you don't have some of the apps that do access that API, then you wouldn't have to worry about it. It just sits there until something accesses the code. Then it somehow delivers a modifier key up without the following "down." further, the keyboard's ability to close the modifier is at this point stuck. The key will stay up until the account is logged out or the computer shut down and restarted.

While a keyboard update or other firmware update [could] be a factor, it probably is not, because the computer runs fine until it calls that new API. Nothing in particular about the keyboard itself is out of sorts; it's something that changes the computer's resting state, and refuses to allow it to be changed back. That should be easy to track for Apple's coders, and I'm sure they will fix the problem in an upcoming release, because the problem can now be reliably triggered.

The last OS in which this wasn't a problem was 10.5.4, I think. Maybe 10.5.5. But the trouble is that if you're using a Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad, you may need the later versions of the OS to handle the app that programs it. Its "settings." I don't know any answers; just more questions!

The little script, however, runs quickly and quietly with no intervention involved. No need to click OK, or anything like that; so you could have a key shortcut to call up the script, and the problem would be gone that instant, at least until it comes back. Then hit the key again. And so forth. That's the "fix" until Apple comes through.

Shooshie

Shooshie,
now you mention 1.5.x
the thread is about 10.6.5
Typo ?

Klaus

[Shooshie]

Anything's possible; it's for Apple to figure out at this point. It has to do when an app accesses a particular new API in Apples OS design and code. At least, the Adobe guy said it was new with OS X version 10.5.6. On the other hand, if you don't have some of the apps that do access that API, then you wouldn't have to worry about it. It just sits there until something accesses the code. Then it somehow delivers a modifier key up without the following "down." further, the keyboard's ability to close the modifier is at this point stuck. The key will stay up until the account is logged out or the computer shut down and restarted.

While a keyboard update or other firmware update [could] be a factor, it probably is not, because the computer runs fine until it calls that new API. Nothing in particular about the keyboard itself is out of sorts; it's something that changes the computer's resting state, and refuses to allow it to be changed back. That should be easy to track for Apple's coders, and I'm sure they will fix the problem in an upcoming release, because the problem can now be reliably triggered.

The last OS in which this wasn't a problem was 10.5.4, I think. Maybe 10.5.5. But the trouble is that if you're using a Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad, you may need the later versions of the OS to handle the app that programs it. Its "settings." I don't know any answers; just more questions!

The little script, however, runs quickly and quietly with no intervention involved. No need to click OK, or anything like that; so you could have a key shortcut to call up the script, and the problem would be gone that instant, at least until it comes back. Then hit the key again. And so forth. That's the "fix" until Apple comes through.

Shooshie

Shooshie,
now you mention 1.5.x
the thread is about 10.6.5
Typo ?

Klaus

A typo would happen maybe once. I think this was a full-fledged "brain-o." Yes, I meant 10.6.5. I even looked it up in my "About this Mac" window, and I STILL got it wrong. A word of advice: don't get old.

Thanks for revealing my infirmities to all!

Shooshie
PS: I'll change it in the earlier messages so as to avoid further confusion.

[FMiguelez]

Yes, I meant 10.6.5. I even looked it up in my "About this Mac" window, and I STILL got it wrong. A word of advice: don't get old.

I think you meant that as a joke, Shoosh. However:
I've read that people like us, musicians who constantly use our brains in creative ways, and us who keep learning new things about technology, etc, will always have an edge over regular people, and our brains will be kept at a MUCH better working condition, even when we get reaaaaaaaally old.

Every time we write or perform music, or we learn new things, we are exercising our brain and keeping it healthy. Think Arthur Rubinstein, Claudio Arrau or Wilhelm Kempff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxzpy1b1_BY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Seeing him play like that, at that age, is simply inspiring!

I don't know how old you are (you look quite young to me), but I can tell you we all will be smart and sharp when age catches with us anyway. Hey, anyone is entitled to have a momentary "lapsus-brutus" once in a while, after all

[n2mpujack]

Haven't run into the problem yet on my new Mac Mini under 10.6.5; been doing a lot of retouching in Photoshop CS5 without glitches so far (other than user error). Haven't moved DP6 over from my G4 PB yet so can't comment there.

[rpmusic333]

Not sure if my problem is related, but here goes:

When I open a new instrument in DP (ie Kontakt) I am not able to select anything as the mouse "smears" or "blurs" everything in white as if I'm holding down the mouse and selecting lines of text in a document.

The mouse, however, works perfectly fine in other areas of DP - it's just when I open new instruments...

Thoughts?

[rpmusic333]

Figured out the problem - the MAS AudioUnit Support was 1.7 in the HD...but it was 1.6 in my User. Replace the 1.6 with the 1.7 and it worked.

If anyone has a problem with this in the future - let me know, I can talk you through it.