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up vote 5 down vote favorite

Basically it stops recognizing all non alpha keys. Restarting eclipse does not fix the issue. Rebooting my computer does.

I'm using OS X 10.6.4 fully updated. :)

Anyone else experience this?

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migrated from serverfault.com Jul 17 '11 at 13:20

This question came from our site for system and network administrators.
    
I have this issue too, none of the "fixes" have ever worked for me. –  NorthIsUp May 27 '11 at 19:05

8 Answers 8

up vote 3 down vote

Instead of killing the dock, you need to kill the Finder. To do this, you have to do "Apple + Alt + Escape" which shows you the force quit dialog, select the "Finder" and click "Relaunch". Your keys should be start working again.

I suspect it's something to do with an application crashing and then screwing up Java processes (this happened immediately after Firefox crashed).

All the best

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1  
I've tried this dozens of time, with no success. Only a reboot solves the problem. –  bobber205 May 27 '11 at 16:52
    
works for me, thanks –  cerberos Dec 29 '11 at 7:07
up vote 2 down vote

I have the same issue with disabled keys in Eclipse two times a month.

Solution: Quit Apple Mail.

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+1 It actually worked!!! WTF? –  Shanimal Aug 14 '12 at 20:12
    
This happens anytime I force wuit Firefox. When I close any program on the dock I regain access to the keys. –  Shanimal Aug 14 '12 at 20:38
up vote 1 down vote

Killing the Dock process fixes this annoying issue.

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This just happened to me again, with Eclipse refusing to recognize my keyboard. I tried –  bobber205 Dec 30 '10 at 20:09
    
I tried killall -KILL Dock to no avail. :( The dock did indeed restart, but I am still having the issue. –  bobber205 Dec 30 '10 at 20:10
up vote 1 down vote

For me the problem was my mouse.

It's 3rd key was engaged. It's an Evoluent Vertical Grip mouse and I never used the 3rd mouse button so I didn't realize that it was permanently pressed. Getting it unstuck fixed the problem.

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up vote 1 down vote

I had the same problem, and the solution was pointed out in Jonah Dempcy's answer.

Although I don't have a mouse — I have a MacBook Pro with OS X Lion 10.7.2 and Aptana 3 — somehow middle click was activated (i.e. the third mouse button.

As soon as I used my custom shortcut for middle click, the problem disappeared. So, just click the third mouse button / wheel / shortcut a few times.

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up vote 1 down vote

I have the same issue. I'm using a 17" Macbook Pro with OSX 10.7.4 and Aptana Studio 3.1.3. The solution that works for me is to put the laptop to sleep and then wake it up. Works every time. I also have an issue where I click on something on the desktop or dock and it gets stuck to the cursor as if I had click and drag enabled. The same solution of putting the computer to sleep and then waking fixes this as well. I'm assuming the two are somehow related and it is an OSX bug.

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up vote 0 down vote

Happened to me on Aptana Studio 3, simply restart Aptana

I had left my computer on overnight and returned to some work to find the arrow keys and backspace had stopped working

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up vote 0 down vote

Happened to me on ZendStudio 7.2. I am using Macbook Pro with OSX 10.8.4. Putting notebook to sleep solved my problem.

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