MacBook Pro - System Stuck on All Caps

[robgelm]

Hello,

I am new hear. Admittedly I don't normally post to forums much. Hopefully I am posting this in the right place. I did a search for similar issues from others and did not find anything.

I posted the following on the Apple.com support site with no response. I'm hopeful to get some help here.

----
After running OnyX, Monolingual and Apple update (after restart) my MacBook Pro now has (some, not all) menu dialogs coming up in all caps (such as in NeoOffice). This also happens in any of my web browsers when I do a Google search (results are in all caps). For the record, as I type this question it too is showing all caps though I do not have caps lock on. Any suggestions?
----

Since my post on Apple.com, I have rebooted a number of times; I have logged in to a different account on the same computer (caps are fine in a different account); I have tried re-clearing the system and the font cache; and I am still seeing all caps as I type this post (though when my post showed up on the apple forum it posted with both upper and lowercase). Additionally, I have discovered additional issues with all caps in some places on some websites, particularly when i fill in some sort of form. Also, some portions of PDFS have come up in all caps. What often gets my attention is the fact that the capital letters take up too much space and the letters get scrunched together. Otherwise, when I type a document in a word processor, caps and lowercase work fine. Also, I have a copy of OpenOffice light (similar to Neooffice) and its menu dialogs come up just fine.

All of this seems to suggest to me that it has something to do with system settings for my particular user account, but i don't no much about such things.

This is driving me crazy and I can't seem to find any solutions (multiple google searches). Please help.

PS - I nearly forgot. I have a MacBook Pro with OSx 10.6.8 Snow Leopard.

Also, I apologize if the caps and lowercase are funky in this post. I can only see all caps.

 

[oldscribe]

Hi,

Your post looks fine to me.


Try holding down the shift key, see if things change to lower case, also If you have Function keys set to work as standard function keys in "System Preferences>Keyboard & Mouse>Keyboard Tab" then your "Fn key" (as a modifier key) could be locked on. Just tap the Fn key to unlock it.

I have read posts regarding a similar caps key issue and when taken to a GB it was found to be water damage.

 

[robgelm]

Hi,

Your post looks fine to me.


Try holding down the shift key, see if things change to lower case, also If you have Function keys set to work as standard function keys in "System Preferences>Keyboard & Mouse>Keyboard Tab" then your "Fn key" (as a modifier key) could be locked on. Just tap the Fn key to unlock it.

I have read posts regarding a similar caps key issue and when taken to a GB it was found to be water damage.

Thanks for the response. I suspect you're not understanding the problem, however.

Your suggestion seems to be referring to typing alone. Typing, however, is not normally an issue for me unless I am in my web browser filling in a form (such as on this forum). The problem does not seem to be some sort of "caps lock" issue. It would seem to be some sort of system issue that is interfering with application menus as well as altering portions of PDF's though not the whole PDF, and so on.

It also make some portions of some webpages show up in all caps. On this site for example, all of the main navigation menu options are in both upper and lower case (as they should be). The forum thread headings are in upper and lower case, but the entire text of every post is in all caps unless (for example) something is italicized - then it is in lower case. Additionally (still referring to this site), all of the headings on the righthand sidebar are in upper and lower case, but all of the rest of the text is in all caps.

I could be wrong, but This would seem to have nothing to do with holding down my shift key or changing keyboard settings.

Again, thank you for your response. If you have further suggestions I would certainly appreciate it.

 

[oldscribe]

Hi,

Yes I am lost here, as you say different accounts are fine, when you last ran ONYX did you you clean fonts as screen shot?

 

[robgelm]

Hi,

Yes I am lost here, as you say different accounts are fine, when you last ran ONYX did you you clean fonts as screen shot?

Yes I did. I also ran the full system cache cleaner under the system tab in OnyX.

I also ran Monoligual and did an Apple update.

 

[oldscribe]

Hi,

When you ran monolingual did you also removed the input menues and architecture as well?

 

[robgelm]

Hi,

When you ran monolingual did you also removed the input menues and architecture as well?

When I open Monolingual now "Input Menu" is unchecked (but that may just be the default). I don't believe I would have maked the check box. I do remember reviewing that tab, but I was trying to be careful not to delete anything essential. Since I do not know what "Apple Keyboard Layouts" refers to, I would not have checked it (though it is always possible that I may have accidentally done so, but I doubt it).

Under the "Architectures" tab I did have everything checked except "Intel" and "Intel 64-bit."

 

[oldscribe]

Hi,

One last question does this issue happen in multiple browsers? If yes then I would defiantly book a GB appointment ASAP.

As I conclude that monolingual is the culprit, ONYX just can not do this and as you say it has absolutely nothing to do with Mac system preference settings, and if all browsers exhibit the same then it is not there preference settings either.

 

[robgelm]

Yes, I believe so. However, things have gone from bad to worse. Last evening I attempted to restart my computer and it would not reboot. After trying various boot options found through google search, I was eventually able to boot from the original install disc (though my wife's disc not my own - mine would not work - weird). I am currently in the process of copying files (since my last Time Machine Backup - a few days ago) over to an external drive via Terminal.

We'll see what happens from here.

Thanks for all of your help thus far.

 

[robgelm]

Good news (sort of)! I was able to use Disk Utility when booting from the Install Disc to repair permissions. I was also able (as mentioned earlier) to backup some files since the last Time Machine backup.

After that I was able to reboot into my Macbook without issue. Hopefully, I will consistently be able to do so from now on.

Additionally, the text on this site is back to normal. The odd thing is that I am still having issues with NeoOffice menus and with Google searches, etc. (still in all caps).

At this point, I may try a full Time Machine restore (once I figure out how to do that) and then restore the additional backed-up files not included in Time Machine.

Hopefully that will take care of the all caps issue in its entirety. I'll keep you posted.

 

[oldscribe]

Hi,

Sorry to hear about your boot issue,

At this point, I may try a full Time Machine restore (once I figure out how to do that) and then restore the additional backed-up files not included in Time Machine.

To restore you entire MBP via your Time Machine archive you will have to run it in conjunction with the Mac OS X Installer to do this.
1. Boot from the install DVD and once the Installer starts running choose Utilities – Restore System from Backup.
2. But I must add this may take a long time – many hours, or even overnight.

EDIT:

Good to hear things are looking better.

 

[robgelm]

Well, it seems I finally got everything figured out.

Booting up is no longer and issue as mentioned in an earlier post.

As far as ALL CAPS goes, it seems it was a font issue. I stumbled upon the ability to change certain system fonts in Tinker Tool. In and of itself, this did not fix the problem, but it did alter the issue which suggested to me it was some sort of font issue (corruption, missing font or whatever). So I reinstalled system fonts from the original OSX Install Disc using Pacifist. Then I restarted my system. This still did not fix the issue until I cleared the font cache using OnyX and rebooted again.

Tada! Everything seems to be back to normal again.

Thanks for your attempts to help, I really appreciate it.

Blessings to you.

 

[oldscribe]

Hi,

Good to hear your system is back to normal, and thank you for posting your findings. It will help others who may encounter what you have.
Have a good weekend.