Early 2008 MacBook Pro

Well, there _are_ Adobe employees reading and commenting on this topic, so I'm confident that Adobe's aware of a potential problem. There are also a few reports on Apples Discussion forums. I suggest you go there and start a thread on this topix as well - how else should they get to know?

I'm using an 2009 iMac 24".

Meanwhile, I was running Photoshop without problems for two and a half days. A couple of minutes ago, when I switched back to Photoshop after working in InDesign for a couple of hours, the problem showed up again. Quitting Photoshop, killing the Dock (as suggested earlier in this thread) and restarting Photoshop didn't help. Restarting the finder didn't help either.

I have no idea what I did "right" for the last 2.5 days but oh so wrong just minutes ago. It's frustrating.

I use an early MacPro 2008, a MacPro 2009, and a (fairly old) MacBookPro and I have not yet seen this issue.

Are you using a direct keyboard/mouse, or any bluetooth devices?

Some users report that resetting the "SCM" solved their bluetooth problems:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964?viewlocale=en_US

Then, there is the good old "reset pram," but I don't know if that would make a difference in this case

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/26871.html

I'm using an USB keyboard and a BT mouse (Logitech M555b, no Logitech or other 3rd party drivers installed).

I'm using an Apple Bluetooth Keyboard and Magic Mouse.

I use the Apple Magic mouse and an Apple BT keyboard

Does not seem that we all use the same hardware

FYI: i'm using CS5 instead of CS4

USB Apple Keyboard + Wacom with the latest driver as of today.

Yes, Adobe is aware of the problem. There are several of us who have been spending a lot of time trying to track this one down, on the forums and elsewhere. So rest assured, we are working on it.

My keyboards and mice are all direct, so that is one difference. Could you try to reset the SCM and see if that makes a difference?

Mac Pro with Apple (wired) keyboard and Logitech MX510 mouse. No Bluetooth capability.

The issue does seem to come and go. I thought I had it solved for about 20 minutes yesterday when I turned off Suitcase Fusion 2 Core. But it eventually came back again.

For the following 5 hours, I have been problem free by doing the following:

1) Disabled x-gestures and text-expander (hear jitouch and any other quick key, shortcut software will also need to be deactivated.)

2) Remove these from your startup items system prefs --> accounts --> login items --> select item --> hit "-"

3) Restart computer. Some people log out, but my computer freezes when I try to just log out and then in

previously I JUST disabled the above items and forgot to remove them from startup. They will cause a conflict even if they are disabled but have been loaded. Ironically, I had tons of bluetooth issues BEFORE os 10.6.5 and this resolved those.

Fingers crossed, disabling xGestures (and unchecking "Start xGestures when logging in"), then restarting looks like it solved the problem for me too. It has been over an hour since restarting and the problem hasn't returned. I'll follow up if it does, but at this point it looks like we can point the finger at xGestures.

To followup, whenever I have xGestures or Typinator enabled, I am experiencing the issue. The issue with xGestures appears after my first successfully recognized gesture, and the issue with Typinator appears after my first successfully recognized expansion.

Ensure that these items (or similar macro / shortcut programs) are not in your Startup Items and then log out and back in and you should be good to go!

Good luck. But many if not most of us don't have xGestures installed in the first place And as I mentioned before, I've been problem-free for 2.5 days until Photoshop/OSX striked back...

Thanks for the suggestion. I was able to reproduce the problem after installing xGestures, which means this is the first time I've been able to observe the problem firsthand.

For those who don't have xGestures installed, do you have any other applications installed that involve reassigning or changing the function of modifier keys?

I am not using xGestures, but I am running TextExpander.  I'll try disabling that to see if it causes an issue still.

Jeanne,

I have Quicksilver installed (which I believe is similar in function to xGestures).  I have not had the opportunity yet to test if disabling it solves the problem, but maybe someone has?

The other app I have installed that might possibly do something like that is MagicPrefs, which gives detailed control to the MightyMouse.  When I have a chance, I'll try disabling each of these individually and see what I can find.

I also have dropbox.  Is there still some thought that this may also be causing an issue?  All three of these applications are integral to my productivity, so I hope a better solution is found that doesn't require them to stay disabled!

Thanks again for all the suggestions. I was originally working under the assumption that one application/utility might be triggering the problem, and that's why Dropbox seemed like it might be the culprit. But it looks like getting rid of Dropbox doesn't solve the issue, so it may just be a red herring. It's possible that the issue can be triggered by several different applications, which is why it's so helpful to get a list of all the possibilities.

I am running TextExpander as well, but so far I can't trigger the issue simply by using TextExpander (I've been using it regularly in the past few days and I tried it right now - Photoshop still works fine).

OK I founds a way to reproduce the problem systematically on my system. Whenever I use the Quick Entry dialog WITH AUTOFILL in Things.app, the next time I launch Photoshop it will give me the problem. The shortcut I have for that function is Cmd-Option-Shift-Space, I'm not sure it's the default because I've had it like that forever. I normally use the Quick Entry dialog in my emails or in Safari, and I've tried every combination and every time it causes the problem in the Adobe apps. From the description on the web site (http://culturedcode.com/things/wiki/index.php/Quick_Entry_and_Autofill) that function tries to read the current open document in the frontmost app via AppleScript. So maybe there's a OS bug there that seems to trigger the problem in the Adobe apps? I don't get any problems if I use the regular Quick Entry dialog whose shortcut is (for me) Cmd-Option-Ctrl-Space. Also it's worth noting that I tested the Quick Entry dialog WITH AUTOFILL with no Adobe apps running, and that triggers the problem every single time, logging out in between tries.

Other Things.app users out there, can you try to see if you get the same behaviour?

I would prefer it if we could start something like a public google doc that we could share as a list, but maybe each person could just cut and paste the lists I have started and add to it? Please include version number when possible.

Was effecting:

Photoshop CS3

Illustrator CS3

Items Running, that are NOT interfering:

Quicksilver

Dropbox

1 Password 3.4.4

Items disabled, that SOLVED the problem:*

X-Gestures 1.75

TextExpander 2.0

Jitouch

*Please note, these are items that MUST be disabled, removed from your startup items, and your computer restarted.

That's it for me! Woohooo!

Ctrl-Alt-space bar is the shortcut for the quick entry dialogue here. After envoking it and switching back to Photoshop, Photoshop's screwed up.

I have been able to reproduce this behavior on my machine.

If I write a very simple application that does the following, then I get the straight lines in Photoshop:

     CGPostKeyboardEvent((CGCharCode)0, (CGKeyCode)56, true);

Ctrl + Alt + Space—Things Quick Entry—did it for me as well.

I've tried quitting Things when Photoshop is stuck but I haven't had any luck in "restoring" it. Only logging out and back in fixes the problem for me.

Bingo!  I think you guys have it!  I use Things— my quick entry key combo is different (control+command+shift+space), but it sure sounds like it could be the source of my issue as well!  (Maybe not a Things-specific issue, but something to do with some combo of complex shortcuts?)

Things caused the issue for me as well.  However, is the same error invoked in any application with the CTRL+ALT+Space combo or other combos?

My shortcut for Things autofill was different (just CTRL+Space) and I still got the error during some unknown point in my workflow.

I am running Photoshop CS3, but am seeing the exact same behaviour reported here -- it is as though the modifier key is jammed down. The problem started directly after installing 10.6.5 today. It randomly occurs, but once it happens the only way I can make Photoshop usable again is to log out and log back in again. Unfortunately I run none of the apps listed here as perhaps causing the problem. I do run the Glims plugin for Safari, which I uninstalled "just in case" but to no avail.

Wow - quit Things, launched Photoshop - everything was fine. Launched Things, everything was still fine. Hit my Quick Entry dialog box shortcut (ctrl-opt-space) and bingo: Photoshop goes all wonky. Dragging rulers is inverted (ie. horizontal rulers become vertical and vice versa), marquee selections expand from the center, etc., etc.

Thanks for helping to isolate this - now I wonder what needs to be updated to fix this - Things, OS X, or Photoshop?

Update to my previous post: I may have isolated the app causing the problem. Since uninstalling moveAddict I haven't seen the problem recurring. That utility remaps cmd-x in the finder to cut files (as in Windows). So that could explain what was amiss -- some sort of keyboard clash/error thingy. Thanks to all who helped with this.

It looks like Jesper was right and there is an API call that triggers the problem in 10.6.5 and not 10.6.4. So any application that uses this API could potentially cause this problem for people. It's impossible to compile a list of every single application that has this in its code, so you may have to do some troubleshooting to figure out the culprit. Disable or uninstall the application, make sure it's not set to start at login, and then restart your computer.

Please let me know what you find -- I've been going through and trying to reproduce the problem in all the programs listed here.

It appears that the API that has changed in 10.6.5 is:

     CGEventPost(kCGSessionEventTap, ...);

http://www.bache.name/download/osx/10_6_5%20keyboard%20hack.dmg

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.

That works for me, thanks! It's now in my dock, no more logging out and then back in...

—N.

Hmm, keyboard triggers. I use them a lot with these applications:

- 1password (CTRL + ALT + L)

- Things (CTRL + ALT + spacebar)

- Tweetie (CTRL + ALT + OPTION + T)

So using one of these keyboard shortcuts could trigger the problem in the Adobe Suite. I can see that most of us use Things. Now is the question indeed who needs to fix this?

nononxense - did you read Jesper's posts?  This appears to be a MacOS bug introduced in 10.6.5.

The apps triggering it (Dropbox, Things, etc.) might be able to code around it, but that's a bunch of different apps to fix.

I suggest that everyone who is able to identify an app, that triggers this issue, contacts the developer of that very app. Wether it's up to them to code around a bug, or to report the bug to Apple or to change the way their apps work because that API call may be deprecated (it does not necessarily need to be a bug) - they will know best what to do.

In my case it's Things, even if I change the default shortcuts. If I quit Photoshop and open it again it gives the problem. As long as I do not use the Things shortcuts it works flawless. I'll inform Cultured Code of this bug. Anyone else having the same issue. If everyone sends an email to Cultured Code they they will see its quite important to take action on this bug.

Was effecting:

Photoshop CS5

Illustrator CS5

Indesign CS5

Items Running, that are NOT interfering:

Alfred

Dropbox

Things

Items disabled, that SOLVED the problem:*

None, simple reboot

moveAddict...that's what was causing it on my computer...removed it from my auto login and now CS is all good and the problem I was having with Filemaker as well.

Clearly this is a OSX 10.6.5 issue.

Thank you all for figuring this out...I've been crippled for over a week. Now I'm good to go.