My iMac just started doing the weirdest thing it won't make a capital "O" with the Shift key. I can make a capital O with the Caps Lock key. All the other capital letters work!!

I googled and found a couple other ppl who had problems with one letter but i couldn't tell if what ppl told them to do worked. There was something about PRAM I haven't tried but I tried blowing on the O key and the Shift key in case there was dust and that didn't work. Yes I checked it isn't just one program it's all of them (Firefox, Word, textedit, etc).

Probably I need a new keyboard? The iMac is really old (2011) but if I get this one it will work, right? It says MacOS 11 or later.

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MK2A3LL/A/magic-keyboard-us-english

On 05/07/2022 23:36, Connor Shannon wrote:
> My iMac just started doing the weirdest thing it won't make a capital "O" with the Shift key. I can make a capital O with the Caps Lock key. All the other capital letters work!!
>
> I googled and found a couple other ppl who had problems with one letter but i couldn't tell if what ppl told them to do worked. There was something about PRAM I haven't tried but I tried blowing on the O key and the Shift key in case there was dust and that didn't work. Yes I checked it isn't just one program it's all of them (Firefox, Word, textedit, etc).

Try starting your computer in Safe Boot mode, procedure here:-

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mh21245/mac

If, on restarting in normal mode, the problem persists, it may well be a
keyboard problem.

Good luck! :-D

In article <444489fa-72ff-4e8e-8e2c-f500a51d9340n@googlegroups.com>,
Connor Shannon <cshannon1898@gmail.com> wrote:

> My iMac just started doing the weirdest thing it won't make a capital "O"
> with the Shift key. I can make a capital O with the Caps Lock key. All the
> other capital letters work!!
>
> I googled and found a couple other ppl who had problems with one letter but i
> couldn't tell if what ppl told them to do worked. There was something about
> PRAM I haven't tried but I tried blowing on the O key and the Shift key in
> case there was dust and that didn't work. Yes I checked it isn't just one
> program it's all of them (Firefox, Word, textedit, etc).
>
> Probably I need a new keyboard? The iMac is really old (2011) but if I get
> this one it will work, right? It says MacOS 11 or later.

the first thing to try is go to system preferences, keyboard preference
panel, input sources tab. tick the box show input menu in menu bar,
then
click on the input menu that's now in the menubar and select show
keyboard viewer. this is a floating window, so switch to whatever apps
you want and start typing, while watching what gets highlighted in the
keyboard viewer.

if that doesn't show anything unusual, then the next step is to test
the mac with a different keyboard and also try that keyboard on a
different mac. if you live near an apple store, you might want to have
them take a look.

if you do end up replacing the keyboard, *any* usb-compliant keyboard
will work. it doesn't have to be from apple, nor does it even need to
be new. a used keyboard from ebay should work fine until you replace
the imac.

In article
<444489fa-72ff-4e8e-8e2c-f500a51d9340n@googlegroups.com>,
Connor Shannon <cshannon1898@gmail.com> wrote:

> My iMac just started doing the weirdest thing it won't make a capital "O"
> with the Shift key. I can make a capital O with the Caps Lock key. All the
> other capital letters work!!

Maybe you have to clean the keyboard. Keys accumulate dust
wererabbits under them which impede the key fully depressing and
making a keyclick. You can take key caps off and do glorious
combat with the dust wererabbits. Chiclet key caps are trickier
and can break if you stare too long. I mostly use a flat plastic
probe.

--
:-<> Siri Seal of Disavowal #000-001. Disavowed. Denied. Deleted. @
'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' /|\
Discordia: not just a religion but also a parody. This post / \
I am an Andrea Chen sockpuppet. insults Islam. Mohammed

On 2022-07-05 22:36:56 +0000, Connor Shannon said:

> My iMac just started doing the weirdest thing it won't make a capital
> "O" with the Shift key. I can make a capital O with the Caps Lock key.
> All the other capital letters work!!
>
> I googled and found a couple other ppl who had problems with one letter
> but i couldn't tell if what ppl told them to do worked. There was
> something about PRAM I haven't tried but I tried blowing on the O key
> and the Shift key in case there was dust and that didn't work. Yes I
> checked it isn't just one program it's all of them (Firefox, Word,
> textedit, etc).

Could well be something wrong with the Shift key. Does it happen with
both Shift keys?

Someone I know has an old iMac and the keyboard doesn't recognise the
Backspace key, which makes editing text a bit cumbersome.

> Probably I need a new keyboard? The iMac is really old (2011) but if I
> get this one it will work, right? It says MacOS 11 or later.
>
> https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MK2A3LL/A/magic-keyboard-us-english

If your Mac is running MacOS 11.3 or newer, then it should work. If
you're using an older version of MacOS it may or may not work.

Apple's keyboards are on the expensive side. Pretty much any keyboard
will work, especially wired USB ones, although for a Windows keyboard
you may have to change the modifier key mapping in the Keyboard System
preferences (they tend to have Command and Option around the wrong way).

Thank you everyone for the very good ideas!

You know how when your car has something wrong and then you take it to the shop and it runs fine? Well now my iMac is working okay. I opened the little keyboard image like nospam said and the capital O is working okay. That was yesterday and now so far today its also okay.

Yesterday things got worse first I would start to type and the blinking cursor would start moving on its own! I had to hit ESC to stop it but it kept doing it. It was crazy.

I had already restarted the iMac before that and that hadn't fixed it. My other Mac is a Macbook so I don't have another key board or I would of tried that first.

If this happens again I am going to try the other Shift key and Safe Mode and all the other ideas, thank you!

In article <547e6c56-9f70-482b-a3db-1f3f4531d956n@googlegroups.com>,
Connor Shannon <cshannon1898@gmail.com> wrote:

>
> You know how when your car has something wrong and then you take it to the
> shop and it runs fine? Well now my iMac is working okay. I opened the little
> keyboard image like nospam said and the capital O is working okay. That was
> yesterday and now so far today its also okay.

intermittent problems are always 'fun'.

> Yesterday things got worse first I would start to type and the blinking
> cursor would start moving on its own! I had to hit ESC to stop it but it kept
> doing it. It was crazy.

that is another indication of a problematic keyboard.

> I had already restarted the iMac before that and that hadn't fixed it. My
> other Mac is a Macbook so I don't have another key board or I would of tried
> that first.

you can try the keyboard on the macbook (and mouse too for that matter).

if the problems follow, then it's the keyboard. however, being an
intermittent problem, it might take a few days (or more).

> If this happens again I am going to try the other Shift key and Safe Mode and
> all the other ideas, thank you!

safe mode will not make a difference. the person who suggested that has
no idea what safe mode is even for.

On 2022-07-06 12:02, nospam wrote:
> In article <547e6c56-9f70-482b-a3db-1f3f4531d956n@googlegroups.com>,
> Connor Shannon <cshannon1898@gmail.com> wrote:

>> If this happens again I am going to try the other Shift key and Safe Mode and
>> all the other ideas, thank you!
>
> safe mode will not make a difference. the person who suggested that has
> no idea what safe mode is even for.

Booting in safe mode can solve problems involving corrupt system caches
since it forces all caches to be cleared. So this wasn't an entirely
unreasonably suggestion.

André

--
To email remove 'invalid' & replace 'gm' with well known Google mail
service.

In article <ta4png$4bgk$1@dont-email.me>, André G. Isaak
<agisaak@gm.invalid> wrote:

> >> If this happens again I am going to try the other Shift key and Safe Mode
> >> and all the other ideas, thank you!
> >
> > safe mode will not make a difference. the person who suggested that has
> > no idea what safe mode is even for.
>
> Booting in safe mode can solve problems involving corrupt system caches
> since it forces all caches to be cleared. So this wasn't an entirely
> unreasonably suggestion.

it won't fix what appears to be a defective keyboard.

safe mode is useful for some issues, but this isn't one of them.

On 2022-07-06 13:37, nospam wrote:
> In article <ta4png$4bgk$1@dont-email.me>, André G. Isaak
> <agisaak@gm.invalid> wrote:
>
>>>> If this happens again I am going to try the other Shift key and Safe Mode
>>>> and all the other ideas, thank you!
>>>
>>> safe mode will not make a difference. the person who suggested that has
>>> no idea what safe mode is even for.
>>
>> Booting in safe mode can solve problems involving corrupt system caches
>> since it forces all caches to be cleared. So this wasn't an entirely
>> unreasonably suggestion.
>
> it won't fix what appears to be a defective keyboard.
>
> safe mode is useful for some issues, but this isn't one of them.

It doesn't track with the keyboard being defective for only a single key
to fail to produce a capital letter when the shift key is held down.

On Wednesday, July 6, 2022 at 11:02:37 AM UTC-7, nospam wrote:
> In article <547e6c56-9f70-482b...@googlegroups.com>,
> Connor Shannon <cshann...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >
> > You know how when your car has something wrong and then you take it to the
> > shop and it runs fine? Well now my iMac is working okay. I opened the little
> > keyboard image like nospam said and the capital O is working okay. That was
> > yesterday and now so far today its also okay.
> intermittent problems are always 'fun'.
> > Yesterday things got worse first I would start to type and the blinking
> > cursor would start moving on its own! I had to hit ESC to stop it but it kept
> > doing it. It was crazy.
> that is another indication of a problematic keyboard.
> > I had already restarted the iMac before that and that hadn't fixed it. My
> > other Mac is a Macbook so I don't have another key board or I would of tried
> > that first.
> you can try the keyboard on the macbook (and mouse too for that matter).

I didn't know that. I just Googled and it looks like I can do screen sharing? But then I would just be looking at the Macbook screen on the iMac monitor but what I would need is the iMac computer with a different keyboard. Is there a way to do that with a Macbook??

p.s. so far iMac is okay today, hope I'm not jinxing it by saying that. :)

In article <ta4slf$4lvu$6@dont-email.me>, Alan <nuh-uh@nope.com> wrote:

> >>>> If this happens again I am going to try the other Shift key and Safe Mode
> >>>> and all the other ideas, thank you!
> >>>
> >>> safe mode will not make a difference. the person who suggested that has
> >>> no idea what safe mode is even for.
> >>
> >> Booting in safe mode can solve problems involving corrupt system caches
> >> since it forces all caches to be cleared. So this wasn't an entirely
> >> unreasonably suggestion.
> >
> > it won't fix what appears to be a defective keyboard.
> >
> > safe mode is useful for some issues, but this isn't one of them.
>
> It doesn't track with the keyboard being defective for only a single key
> to fail to produce a capital letter when the shift key is held down.

it does, along with the random cursor movements, strongly suggest a
defective keyboard and not a cache issue. it's also intermittent, which
is further evidence it's hardware.

In article <f0f14b2e-385b-4206-b58c-aa73d78cbd24n@googlegroups.com>,
Connor Shannon <cshannon1898@gmail.com> wrote:

> > > My
> > > other Mac is a Macbook so I don't have another key board or I would of
> > > tried that first.
> > you can try the keyboard on the macbook (and mouse too for that matter).
>
> I didn't know that. I just Googled and it looks like I can do screen sharing?

you can, but that's not going to help.

> But then I would just be looking at the Macbook screen on the iMac monitor
> but what I would need is the iMac computer with a different keyboard. Is
> there a way to do that with a Macbook??

if it's a usb keyboard, unplug the keyboard from the imac and connect
it to one of the macbook's usb ports. if it's a bluetooth keyboard,
unpair and re-pair it. you can also swap the mouse but that's just for
convenience, not to diagnose anything.

On 2022-07-06 17:43:04 +0000, Connor Shannon said:
>
> Thank you everyone for the very good ideas!
>
> You know how when your car has something wrong and then you take it to
> the shop and it runs fine? Well now my iMac is working okay. I opened
> the little keyboard image like nospam said and the capital O is working
> okay. That was yesterday and now so far today its also okay.
>
> Yesterday things got worse first I would start to type and the blinking
> cursor would start moving on its own! I had to hit ESC to stop it but
> it kept doing it. It was crazy.

Almost certainly the Space Bar getting stuck.

Could be ...

- dirt and fluff under the keys (including a lost staple from paperwork)
- if it's a wired keyboard: a broken cable/socket
- if it's a wireless keyboard: battery running low, interferrence in
the signal, or broken antenna

> I had already restarted the iMac before that and that hadn't fixed it.
> My other Mac is a Macbook so I don't have another key board or I would
> of tried that first.
>
> If this happens again I am going to try the other Shift key and Safe
> Mode and all the other ideas, thank you!

I haven't checked recently, but Apple's support website used to say you
should use a wired USB keyboard when using keyboard boot commands due
to the wireless connection not being made until the Mac is already
part-way through the boot process and past the point where the keyboard
command would work ... which is insanely stupid since they only ship
wire*less* keyboards with their desktop Macs. :-\

On 2022-07-06 14:56, nospam wrote:
> In article <ta4slf$4lvu$6@dont-email.me>, Alan <nuh-uh@nope.com> wrote:
>
>>>>>> If this happens again I am going to try the other Shift key and Safe Mode
>>>>>> and all the other ideas, thank you!
>>>>>
>>>>> safe mode will not make a difference. the person who suggested that has
>>>>> no idea what safe mode is even for.
>>>>
>>>> Booting in safe mode can solve problems involving corrupt system caches
>>>> since it forces all caches to be cleared. So this wasn't an entirely
>>>> unreasonably suggestion.
>>>
>>> it won't fix what appears to be a defective keyboard.
>>>
>>> safe mode is useful for some issues, but this isn't one of them.
>>
>> It doesn't track with the keyboard being defective for only a single key
>> to fail to produce a capital letter when the shift key is held down.
>
> it does, along with the random cursor movements, strongly suggest a
> defective keyboard and not a cache issue. it's also intermittent, which
> is further evidence it's hardware.

Except where would the hardware defect BE exactly.

The shift key works... ...except with the "o" key.

On 2022-07-06 22:21:44 +0000, Alan said:
> On 2022-07-06 14:56, nospam wrote:
>> In article <ta4slf$4lvu$6@dont-email.me>, Alan <nuh-uh@nope.com> wrote:
>>
>>>>>>> If this happens again I am going to try the other Shift key and Safe
>>>>>>> Mode and all the other ideas, thank you!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> safe mode will not make a difference. the person who suggested that has
>>>>>> no idea what safe mode is even for.
>>>>>
>>>>> Booting in safe mode can solve problems involving corrupt system caches
>>>>> since it forces all caches to be cleared. So this wasn't an entirely
>>>>> unreasonably suggestion.
>>>>
>>>> it won't fix what appears to be a defective keyboard.
>>>>
>>>> safe mode is useful for some issues, but this isn't one of them.
>>>
>>> It doesn't track with the keyboard being defective for only a single key
>>> to fail to produce a capital letter when the shift key is held down.
>>
>> it does, along with the random cursor movements, strongly suggest a
>> defective keyboard and not a cache issue. it's also intermittent, which
>> is further evidence it's hardware.
>
> Except where would the hardware defect BE exactly.
>
> The shift key works... ...except with the "o" key.

One possibility, if it's a crack in the circuit board inside the
keboard, then pressing those two keys together might be enough to open
the crack and break the connection, while pressing them individually or
using the other Shift key or tapping Caps Lock is not.

On 06/07/2022 19:02, nospam *LIED*!
> the person who suggested that has
> no idea what safe mode is even for.

Safe mode can help you determine whether an issue is being caused by
software that loads when your Mac starts up.

Safe mode prevents your Mac from loading certain software when it starts
up, including login items, system extensions not required by macOS, and
fonts not installed by macOS. It also does a basic check of your startup
disk, similar to using First Aid in Disk Utility. And it deletes some
system caches, including font caches and the kernel cache, which will be
created again automatically as needed.

Safe mode is particularly useful when you're trying to resolve an issue
that doesn't seem to be associated with using a particular app. As
always, keeping your software up to date is the first step for resolving
any software issues.

Full details here:- https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201262

On 06/07/2022 21:01, André G. Isaak wrote:
> On 2022-07-06 12:02, nospam wrote:
>> In article <547e6c56-9f70-482b-a3db-1f3f4531d956n@googlegroups.com>,
>> Connor Shannon <cshannon1898@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>> If this happens again I am going to try the other Shift key and Safe
>>> Mode and
>>> all the other ideas, thank you!
>>
>> safe mode will not make a difference. the person who suggested that has
>> no idea what safe mode is even for.
>
> Booting in safe mode can solve problems involving corrupt system caches
> since it forces all caches to be cleared. So this wasn't an entirely
> unreasonably suggestion.
>
> André

Thank you, André :-D

In article <ta51md$1j48$1@gioia.aioe.org>, Your Name
<YourName@YourISP.com> wrote:

> >
> > Thank you everyone for the very good ideas!
> >
> > You know how when your car has something wrong and then you take it to
> > the shop and it runs fine? Well now my iMac is working okay. I opened
> > the little keyboard image like nospam said and the capital O is working
> > okay. That was yesterday and now so far today its also okay.
> >
> > Yesterday things got worse first I would start to type and the blinking
> > cursor would start moving on its own! I had to hit ESC to stop it but
> > it kept doing it. It was crazy.
>
> Almost certainly the Space Bar getting stuck.

the space bar was never mentioned.
>
> Could be ...
>
> - dirt and fluff under the keys (including a lost staple from paperwork)
> - if it's a wired keyboard: a broken cable/socket
> - if it's a wireless keyboard: battery running low, interferrence in
> the signal, or broken antenna

none of those would cause the symptoms he described.

In article <ta51tp$58kl$1@dont-email.me>, Alan <nuh-uh@nope.com> wrote:

> >>>> Booting in safe mode can solve problems involving corrupt system caches
> >>>> since it forces all caches to be cleared. So this wasn't an entirely
> >>>> unreasonably suggestion.
> >>>
> >>> it won't fix what appears to be a defective keyboard.
> >>>
> >>> safe mode is useful for some issues, but this isn't one of them.
> >>
> >> It doesn't track with the keyboard being defective for only a single key
> >> to fail to produce a capital letter when the shift key is held down.
> >
> > it does, along with the random cursor movements, strongly suggest a
> > defective keyboard and not a cache issue. it's also intermittent, which
> > is further evidence it's hardware.
>
> Except where would the hardware defect BE exactly.
>
> The shift key works... ...except with the "o" key.

also an erratic cursor, which you've ignored twice.

how would a corrupt cache cause either of those to happen?

In article <SlxxK.264003$SIa.202313@fx01.ams1>, David Brooks
<nomail@afraid.org> wrote:

> > the person who suggested that has
> > no idea what safe mode is even for.
>
> Safe mode can help you determine whether an issue is being caused by
> software that loads when your Mac starts up.
>
> Safe mode prevents your Mac from loading certain software when it starts
> up, including login items, system extensions not required by macOS, and
> fonts not installed by macOS. It also does a basic check of your startup
> disk, similar to using First Aid in Disk Utility. And it deletes some
> system caches, including font caches and the kernel cache, which will be
> created again automatically as needed.
>
> Safe mode is particularly useful when you're trying to resolve an issue
> that doesn't seem to be associated with using a particular app. As
> always, keeping your software up to date is the first step for resolving
> any software issues.
>
> Full details here:- https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201262

you're regurgitating a link, which you clearly do not understand.

like i said, you have no idea what safe mode is for and why it won't
make any difference in this situation, or any of the other situations
where you blindly suggest it.

On 07/07/2022 11:20, nospam concedes that he *IS* a LIAR!

> In article <SlxxK.264003$SIa.202313@fx01.ams1>, David Brooks
> <nomail@afraid.org> wrote:
>
>>> the person who suggested that has
>>> no idea what safe mode is even for.
>>
>> Safe mode can help you determine whether an issue is being caused by
>> software that loads when your Mac starts up.
>>
>> Safe mode prevents your Mac from loading certain software when it starts
>> up, including login items, system extensions not required by macOS, and
>> fonts not installed by macOS. It also does a basic check of your startup
>> disk, similar to using First Aid in Disk Utility. And it deletes some
>> system caches, including font caches and the kernel cache, which will be
>> created again automatically as needed.
>>
>> Safe mode is particularly useful when you're trying to resolve an issue
>> that doesn't seem to be associated with using a particular app. As
>> always, keeping your software up to date is the first step for resolving
>> any software issues.
>>
>> Full details here:- https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201262
>
> you're regurgitating a link, which you clearly do not understand.
>
> like i said, you have no idea what safe mode is for and why it won't
> make any difference in this situation, or any of the other situations
> where you blindly suggest it.

What is safe mode?

Like safe mode on Windows, macOS’s safe booting mode is designed for
troubleshooting purposes. Not only does starting up in safe mode help
isolate software issues from hardware failures, but it is a recommended
way of diagnosing problems should you encounter problems that cannot be
fixed any other way.

What happens in safe mode?

In safe mode, your Mac prevents some software, such as startup items,
from loading. What does get loaded are the bare minimum level of drivers
and essential software. This is by design to help you troubleshoot your
Mac and isolate the cause of a software conflict. As a bonus, booting in
safe mode also forces a check of your startup disk.

How to start up your Mac with Apple silicon in safe mode

Follow these steps to boot your M1 Mac in safe mode:

1) Shut down your Mac by clicking  > Shut Down.

2) Press and then quickly press and hold your Mac’s power button and
release it when “Loading startup options” appears on the screen.

3) Select a startup volume. You will see Continue below it.

4) Press and hold the Shift key and Continue will change to Continue in
Safe Mode. Click Continue in Safe Mode. You may have to enter your Mac’s
password.

Start Apple silicon Mac in Safe Mode

Now, your Mac will now boot in safe mode. You will see the words “Safe
Boot” in Mac’s menu bar and System Information.

How to boot Intel-based Mac in safe mode

Follow these steps to start up your Mac with an Intel processor in safe
mode:

1) If your Mac is awake, shut it down by choosing Shut Down from the
Apple menu. Otherwise, just power it on and proceed to step 3.

2) After your Mac shuts down, power it on again.

3) Immediately press and hold the Shift key.

Do not press the Shift key before you hear the startup chime (if you
normally hear the start up chime on your Mac). You would ideally hit
Shift as soon as possible after you hear the start up tone.

Tip: If you use the FileVault feature to encrypt the entire startup
disk, release the key when your Mac prompts you to unlock the disk, type
in your password, and press Enter.

4) Release the Shift key when the desktop or Mac’s login screen appears.

3 ways of telling if you’re started in safe mode

If you’re unsure whether or not you’re in safe mode, take note of the
following signs that give it away.

1. Menu bar reads “Safe Boot”

The first indication that you’re starting up in safe mode appears when
you land on the login screen. If you’re in safe mode, the words “Safe
Boot” in red letters will appear in the menu bar in the upper right
corner of the screen.

2. Slower overall performance

Past the login screen, you’ll notice slower overall performance.
Graphics will no longer be accelerated as default drivers are loaded.
The menus, windows, and the Dock appear solid even if Translucent Menu
Bar is selected in System Preferences.

Your screen might blink or tear during the login process. Menus, the
Dock, your desktop, and other aspects of the user interface won’t have
as many visual effects, and translucency will be disabled.

And as mentioned further below, several macOS features might be
unavailable to you in safe mode, like watching movies in the DVD Player
app, capturing video, connecting to Wi-Fi networks, etc.

3. Boot Mode in System Information reads “safe”

Another method of determining the status of your boot mode involves
using the System Information application.

1) Open System Information from Applications > Utilities. You can also
choose About This Mac from the Apple menu () and then click the System
Report button in the Overview section.

2) In the lefthand column, locate and click Software. You should see a
couple of related items listed on the right side of the System
Information window.

If the Boot Mode is listed as “Safe,” you’re started in safe mode. If it
reads “Normal,” you’re in macOS’s normal-boot mode.

Verify whether Mac is in Safe Mode or not

How to leave safe mode

To exit safe mode, restart your Mac like you normally would (choose
Apple menu () > Shut Down), but don’t hold down any keys during
startup. You should be back on your desktop in normal mode.

Keep in mind that leaving safe mode might take longer than it does to
boot in normal mode. Just be patient and don’t interrupt the process or
hold down the power button to hard-reset your Mac.

Is your startup disk encrypted with FileVault?

If you are using FileVault (macOS’s built-in disk encryption feature
that protects your data from prying eyes), you can still start up in
safe mode by holding down the Shift key immediately after powering on
your Mac. However, you might be prompted to log in twice: first to
unlock the encrypted startup disk, and one more time to log into the
Finder with your user account. If you’re booting in safe mode with
FileVault enabled on the startup disk, you can let go of the Shift key
after you see the first login screen.

Is your Mac taking longer than usual to boot in safe mode?

Don’t worry, this is normal. Your Mac performs a directory check of your
startup disk as part of safe mode, so it will take a significantly
longer time than usual to reach the login screen or the desktop.

Things your Mac does in safe mode

Starting up a Mac in safe mode does the following:

Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if
needed.
Loads only required kernel extensions.
Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically.
Disables user-installed fonts.
Deletes font caches, Kernel cache, and other system cache files.
macOS features unavailable in safe mode

Booting in safe mode starts only essential services, so some macOS
features and apps might not work correctly.

These are some of the features that are unavailable to you in safe mode:

Movies in the DVD Player application won’t play.
Video in iMovie and some other video apps cannot be captured.
Some audio input or output devices might not work.
Some USB, FireWire, and Thunderbolt devices might not be available.
Wi-Fi networking might be limited or unavailable, depending on the Mac
and macOS version you’re using.
Safe mode in OS X v10.6 or later disables File Sharing.
More features not listed above might be unavailable in safe mode as well.

When should I start up in safe mode?

Although booting in safe mode on a daily basis or whenever an
insignificant problem arises isn’t recommended, there are definitely
instances when starting up in safe mode could be your last resort.

Here are some of the typical scenarios:

If your Mac doesn’t finish starting up:

Certain issues might keep your Mac from completely starting up, and
using safe mode can help you resolve them.

If an app is causing issues:

An app you recently installed might be the culprit, especially if it
came outside the Mac App Store. Starting up in safe mode might help
isolate the misbehaving app as it prevents certain software from
automatically loading or opening.

If your Mac has slowed:

Though not as pronounced as on Windows, your Mac amasses temporary files
in various caches over time which might slow down the overall
performance of the operating system and apps. You can clean up your Mac
thoroughly using specialized software like MacPawn’s CleanMyMac.

Or, you could see if booting in safe mode and then back to normal does
the trick. As part of starting up in safe mode, macOS deletes font
caches, Kernel cache, and other system cache files, which might speed
things up a bit.

If your Mac has directory issues:

Many but not all issues with your Mac’s startup disk can be resolved
using the built-in Disk Utility application. If you’re plagued with an
issue that cannot be reproduced in safe mode but appears to be resolved
when you start up normally, chances are it was caused by a cache or a
directory issue with your startup disk that safe mode fixed.

On 2022-07-06 18:10, Your Name wrote:
> On 2022-07-06 22:21:44 +0000, Alan said:
>> On 2022-07-06 14:56, nospam wrote:
>>> In article <ta4slf$4lvu$6@dont-email.me>, Alan <nuh-uh@nope.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>>>>> If this happens again I am going to try the other Shift key and
>>>>>>>> Safe Mode and all the other ideas, thank you!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> safe mode will not make a difference. the person who suggested
>>>>>>> that has no idea what safe mode is even for.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Booting in safe mode can solve problems involving corrupt system
>>>>>> caches
>>>>>> since it forces all caches to be cleared. So this wasn't an entirely
>>>>>> unreasonably suggestion.
>>>>>
>>>>> it won't fix what appears to be a defective keyboard.
>>>>>
>>>>> safe mode is useful for some issues, but this isn't one of them.
>>>>
>>>> It doesn't track with the keyboard being defective for only a single
>>>> key
>>>> to fail to produce a capital letter when the shift key is held down.
>>>
>>> it does, along with the random cursor movements, strongly suggest a
>>> defective keyboard and not a cache issue. it's also intermittent, which
>>> is further evidence it's hardware.
>>
>> Except where would the hardware defect BE exactly.
>>
>> The shift key works... ...except with the "o" key.
>
> One possibility, if it's a crack in the circuit board inside the
> keboard, then pressing those two keys together might be enough to open
> the crack and break the connection, while pressing them individually or
> using the other Shift key or tapping Caps Lock is not.

That seems pretty far-fetched.

A crack that only opens when the combination of the shift key and one
particular other key is pressed? The same crack wouldn't open when
pressing at least one of the "9", "0", "I", "P", or "L" keys that are in
closest proximity to the "O"?

Really?

On 2022-07-08 03:51:37 +0000, Alan said:
> On 2022-07-06 18:10, Your Name wrote:
>> On 2022-07-06 22:21:44 +0000, Alan said:
>>> On 2022-07-06 14:56, nospam wrote:
>>>> In article <ta4slf$4lvu$6@dont-email.me>, Alan <nuh-uh@nope.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>>>>> If this happens again I am going to try the other Shift key and Safe
>>>>>>>>> Mode and all the other ideas, thank you!
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> safe mode will not make a difference. the person who suggested that has
>>>>>>>> no idea what safe mode is even for.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Booting in safe mode can solve problems involving corrupt system caches
>>>>>>> since it forces all caches to be cleared. So this wasn't an entirely
>>>>>>> unreasonably suggestion.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> it won't fix what appears to be a defective keyboard.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> safe mode is useful for some issues, but this isn't one of them.
>>>>>
>>>>> It doesn't track with the keyboard being defective for only a single
>>>>> key to fail to produce a capital letter when the shift key is held down.
>>>>
>>>> it does, along with the random cursor movements, strongly suggest a
>>>> defective keyboard and not a cache issue. it's also intermittent, which
>>>> is further evidence it's hardware.
>>>
>>> Except where would the hardware defect BE exactly.
>>>
>>> The shift key works... ...except with the "o" key.
>>
>> One possibility, if it's a crack in the circuit board inside the
>> keboard, then pressing those two keys together might be enough to open
>> the crack and break the connection, while pressing them individually or
>> using the other Shift key or tapping Caps Lock is not.
>
> That seems pretty far-fetched.
>
> A crack that only opens when the combination of the shift key and one
> particular other key is pressed? The same crack wouldn't open when
> pressing at least one of the "9", "0", "I", "P", or "L" keys that are
> in closest proximity to the "O"?
>
> Really?

It was simply an example. :-\

In article <SlxxK.264003$SIa.202313@fx01.ams1>,
David Brooks <nomail@afraid.org> wrote:

> On 06/07/2022 19:02, nospam *LIED*!
> > the person who suggested that has
> > no idea what safe mode is even for.
>
> Safe mode can help you determine whether an issue is being caused by
> software that loads when your Mac starts up.
>
> Safe mode prevents your Mac from loading certain software when it starts
> up, including login items, system extensions not required by macOS, and
> fonts not installed by macOS. It also does a basic check of your startup
> disk, similar to using First Aid in Disk Utility. And it deletes some
> system caches, including font caches and the kernel cache, which will be
> created again automatically as needed.
>
> Safe mode is particularly useful when you're trying to resolve an issue
> that doesn't seem to be associated with using a particular app. As
> always, keeping your software up to date is the first step for resolving
> any software issues.
>
> Full details here:- https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201262

It seems about once every six months my 2009 A1125 will boot up very
very slowly, the progress bar finally stalls and it restarts and goes
into Recovery Disk mode. I just run First Aid on everything, and it goes
back to normal. Any ideas why this happens?

FWIW I have Snow Leopard installed on the iMac's HD, and I normally run
El Capitan on an external SDD (actually I have two of them connected).