Apple releases update for freezing MacBook keyboards

[AppleInsider]

Apple has released a software update for its MacBook and MacBook Pro systems that addresses chronic freezing issues with the systems' keyboards.

The fix acknowledges an issue previously reported by AppleInsider which causes intermittent unresponsiveness on multiple generations of the Intel-based portables running Mac OS X Leopard.

When affected, some MacBook and MacBook Pro models are temporarily unable to provide keyboard input, in some cases lasting a minute or more. Users are sometimes compelled to relaunch Finder or the system itself to regain control of the system beyond the trackpad or external peripherals.

The patch requires Mac OS X 10.5.1 or later to install and is available either through the official Software Update utility or as a separate download (979KB) from Apple's support website.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[ballistik]

What about the issue that has plagued thousands of users? Look at the Apple Discussion boards>Leopard>Networking> and you should see a post regarding Wifi Airport Dropout issues... This post has been viewed over 33,000 times and I am currently having the issue myself... After upgrading to Leopard (like countless others, I'm sure) I get a dropout on my airport WiFi signal... If you click on the airport icon up in the menu bar it will say "scanning..." and it will reconnect then until you move your mouse pointer off of it... Some days it's fine, then it will dropout suddenly. MacFixIt has posted articles about this, but Apple has still not even acknowledged that it exists... Can anyone report this to Apple and see what is being done about it? I called AppleCare but nobody there seems to know a thing about it...???

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Apple has released a software update for its MacBook and MacBook Pro systems that addresses chronic freezing issues with the systems' keyboards.

The fix acknowledges an issue previously reported by AppleInsider which causes intermittent unresponsiveness on multiple generations of the Intel-based portables running Mac OS X Leopard.

When affected, some MacBook and MacBook Pro models are temporarily unable to provide keyboard input, in some cases lasting a minute or more. Users are sometimes compelled to relaunch Finder or the system itself to regain control of the system beyond the trackpad or external peripherals.

The patch requires Mac OS X 10.5.1 or later to install and is available either through the official Software Update utility or as a separate download (979KB) from Apple's support website.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[dr_lha]

Originally Posted by ballistik

What about the issue that has plagued thousands of users?

What is the point of your post? Would you rather they not fix the keyboard problem that is affecting thousands of users also? I never understand why when Apple releases fixes its always met with "wahhh!!! Why didn't they fix my issue!". Maybe this is understandable if this thread was about 10.5.2 or something, but to moan like this when Apple make a very specific fix is just silly.

Patience, I'm sure Apple are aware of your issue and are working on it, although for the record, my Mac mini has worked better using WiFi since I installed Leopard on it, than it ever did under Tiger.

[klick]

this is driving me nuts.

i have a completely knocked out keyboard and trackpad since a week now.
finally a fix but it won’t install on my macbook pro with 10.5.1 on it.

it says my computer doesn’t need it.

THAT’S NOT TRUE!!

it DOES need it. damnit!

[dcorban]

Wow, I wasn't expecting this. I haven't had my keyboard stop responding for about a week, but when it does happen, it seriously pisses me off.

As for any sort of wifi issue... none here. I have never, ever had my wifi connection drop even when I roam to the darkest corners of my house.

[ajmas]

Although not the subject of the post, whatever wireless problems affect my Mac also affect my PC, though my PC gets it worse. I suspect that it is to do with the allocated spectrum being shared with cordless phones and other devices using the unregulated portion of the spectrum. I know when I start using my cordless phone it kills the wi-fi connection, but that is hardly surprising.

Before blaming Apple (I am not saying they are necessarily without blame), make sure you have checked for all other sources of potential interferences. Also if you have PC laptop be sure to compare results.

[Phlake]

Originally Posted by ballistik

What about the issue that has plagued thousands of users? Look at the Apple Discussion boards>Leopard>Networking> and you should see a post regarding Wifi Airport Dropout issues... This post has been viewed over 33,000 times and I am currently having the issue myself... After upgrading to Leopard (like countless others, I'm sure) I get a dropout on my airport WiFi signal... If you click on the airport icon up in the menu bar it will say "scanning..." and it will reconnect then until you move your mouse pointer off of it... Some days it's fine, then it will dropout suddenly. MacFixIt has posted articles about this, but Apple has still not even acknowledged that it exists... Can anyone report this to Apple and see what is being done about it? I called AppleCare but nobody there seems to know a thing about it...???

Hey, please don't take this as a personal attack, but merely a suggestion from a person who reads these forums often (sans posting).

If you're going to post the same thing at AI and TUAW, please change one of them to make life more interesting for readers. Thanks.

[digitalclips]

Thank you Apple.

Please can I have a fix for my Dual G5 too which has the same issue as my MacBook Pro Update not seeing my G5 as needing help ...

[eAi]

Indeed thank you Apple

I've had this quite a few times a few seconds after resuming from deep sleep, very annoying! Haven't tried the fix yet though...

[rosstheboss]

Wow...Apple actually acknowledged a problem!!!!

i wonder how long they've been editing reports of this from their own discussion boards for?

There's a 'known' (well, they must know about it because they keep deleting the posts!) about so-called Bridget Riley 17" Powerbook screens (vertical lines of dead pixels).

The self-proclaimed 'Genius' told me that Apple don't respond to any research that isn't done by themselves, and that "out of the millions of computers they sell, then it's bound to happen". But isn't everyone paying the same? (and what's $2000 multiplied by 'millions'?!)


We should ALL seriously question the ethics of a company that puts it's head in the sand when a number of customers have identical issues. For every issue that they finally address, how many get completely ignored?!

[jasenj1]

Interesting. I haven't had a problem on my work 15" MBP or my wife's MB since doing the "Safe Boot, repair permissions, reboot" trick. It would be interesting to know what this patch changes.

- Jasen.

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Apple has released a software update for its MacBook and MacBook Pro systems that addresses chronic freezing issues with the systems' keyboards.…
When affected, some MacBook and MacBook Pro models are temporarily unable to provide keyboard input, in some cases lasting a minute or more.

That's right folks. It doesn't happen on all MacBooks or MacBookPros.

For those who conclude that Apple doesn't care, reads these blogs, monitor their discussion boards, analyze their Geniuses reports or listen to their customers, are as ignorant as doorknobs.

For anybody to suggest that issues like this, particularly after a major upgrade, shouldn't happen or can be instantly fixed knows nothing about the intricate problems that can crop up, no matter how diligent one can be.

Why does it happen to only some laptops and not others. Could it be that it only happened on a select manufacturing lot, in the presence of a particular program or utility pre, post or recently installed, another's external keyboard driver, a bad permission*, etc. And if it is fixed on one, does it work on cause problems on others. Only testing, more testing and more testing will tell.

Best advice, be patient, give it time. This reminds me of how 'dumb' my parents were and now how dumb my kids feel I am. Sooner or later, we all begin to realize how smart our elders are. We just had to grow up to realize it.

Great work Apple.

*Just ran Disk Repair (and don't forget to do this after every update or new install) and now have only one file that was not modified/repaired. Beautiful.

[unusualAspect]

oh joy! I raised bug about this problem just a couple of days ago and was directed to an earlier already reported bug for the same. This had me convinced that they were working away on it... I wonder if my comment in the bug report that I "Had to use Vista to get my work done" speeded up the fix? :-D

[Stormchild]

This is interesting, because I have been losing keyboard input *completely* from time to time on my PowerBook G4 (running 10.5.1), often requiring a complete restart to fix it. Sometimes it only affects my external USB keyboard; other times the internal keyboard stops working as well.

I have also noticed that when I try to type in my password to log in as the system is still starting up (I can hear the disk grinding still), if my timing is wrong I can lose keyboard input at that time and be forced to restart AGAIN.

Very frustrating and disappointing for a supposedly "mature" operating system. I never had fundamental issues like this in Tiger or earlier.

[doh123]

Originally Posted by Stormchild

This is interesting, because I have been losing keyboard input *completely* from time to time on my PowerBook G4 (running 10.5.1), often requiring a complete restart to fix it. Sometimes it only affects my external USB keyboard; other times the internal keyboard stops working as well.

I have also noticed that when I try to type in my password to log in as the system is still starting up (I can hear the disk grinding still), if my timing is wrong I can lose keyboard input at that time and be forced to restart AGAIN.

Very frustrating and disappointing for a supposedly "mature" operating system. I never had fundamental issues like this in Tiger or earlier.

The issue on Macbooks never affected external keyboards. It was a sleep issue on internal keyboards.. that never happened if they computer hadn't been to sleep (I tested this a bunch myself and could easily reproduce the problem). If you are having problems like that, it may not be a keyboard problem, but osmething else that is just having a symptom of refusing keyboard input.

[doh123]

Originally Posted by ajmas

Although not the subject of the post, whatever wireless problems affect my Mac also affect my PC, though my PC gets it worse. I suspect that it is to do with the allocated spectrum being shared with cordless phones and other devices using the unregulated portion of the spectrum. I know when I start using my cordless phone it kills the wi-fi connection, but that is hardly surprising.

Before blaming Apple (I am not saying they are necessarily without blame), make sure you have checked for all other sources of potential interferences. Also if you have PC laptop be sure to compare results.

that is so true.. I had this guy that was complaining about randomly losing signal, when not right by his base station. Come to find out, he was only testing it in two places... right beside the station, and sitting in his living room quite a ways away. He assumed it was the distance, but sometimes he had a strong signal, and then for awhile it would just dump him off. Well he sat in there the same time every day, and it happened most every day... while his wife was cooking dinner. Every time she turned on the microwave, poof no signal... he finally admitted after i showed him, that it wasn't Apple fault or a crappy computer. He had no idea that microwave ovens disrupt the 2.4ghz frequency that wifi uses.

[doh123]

Originally Posted by klick

this is driving me nuts.

i have a completely knocked out keyboard and trackpad since a week now.
finally a fix but it won’t install on my macbook pro with 10.5.1 on it.

it says my computer doesn’t need it.

THAT’S NOT TRUE!!

it DOES need it. damnit!

That is very unlikely. If you keyboard and trackpad hasn't been working at all for a week, then it is NOT this issue. This issue fixes a problem where keyboards would come and go... but Trackpads kept on working. The keyboard didn't stop working for extended periods of time... definitely not a week.

You computer might need the patch, but doesn't see the keyboard.... you may have a cable that came disconnected inside.