Frozen input at login with Mac OS X 10.5.6 update after iPhone "jailbreak" attempt

Several users have reported that, after updating to Mac OS X 10.5.6, mice and keyboards have frozen and will not allow them to log in or otherwise provide input to the computer.

Apple Discussions poster ThomazL writes:

"It worked earlier today but after a reboot on my Mac Mini with 10.5.6 [I cannot] get either a USB KeyBoard/Mouse or Bluetooth to interact with the login window. However I can get to the "Safe Boot" with USB keyboard but still dead."

Alex Kerbawy adds:

"Same problem. Worked last night, turned off, woke up, turned on, login window doesn't allow keyboard entry. Crazy enough the keyboard works enough to get me into Safe Mode and perform PRAM reset. Hardware works. Software whacked."

The keyboards are working, because users can provide startup commands which are recognized by the system. Safe Boot, PRAM resets, and other inputs all properly register during the boot process, but once the system has loaded (even in Safe Mode) the mouse and keyboard will not work. It seems many users with this problem have tried putting their iPhones into "DFU" (Device Firmware Upgrade) mode in attempts to "jailbreak" them and install apps and upgrades not authorized by Apple. It appears that in the latest version of the Mac OS, there is an incompatibility with running an iPhone in DFU mode, which can result in broken "IOUSBFamily.kext", among other USB-related kernel extensions.

Despite this happening for users who have tried Jailbreaking their phones, it may occur for other reasons that might cause the same kernel extensions to get corrupted.

Affected users have several options to fix this problem.

Fixes:

Manually replace the extensions Users will have to boot their systems into Target Disk Mode (holding "T" at bootup) and then attach the computer via FireWire to another Mac running OS X 10.5.6. The hard drive will mount on the new mac's desktop, and users should then locate the /Macintosh HD/System/Library/Extensions/ folder on the boot drive of the new mac. From this folder, drag the "IOUSBFamily.kext" file to the respective place on the mounted disk in Target Disk Mode, replacing any files with duplicate names (NOTE: Be sure you are dragging FROM the local boot drive TO the mounted disk in target disk mode).

After this is completed, users should insert their Leopard install DVDs, unmount the disk from the second computer, and then restart the computer while holding the "C" key to immediately boot to the Leopard DVD. With the installer loaded, choose a language and then from the "Utilities" menu select "Disk Utility". Run a permissions repair on the boot drive and restart again, this time booting normally off the main drive. If the USB inputs are still frozen, try this process again, but this time copy all USB-related kernel extensions from the healthy drive to the problematic one. These files are:

• AppleUSBMultitouch.kext
• AppleUSBDisplays.kext
• AppleUSBAudio.kext
• AppleUSBTopCase.kext
• IOUSBFamily.kext
• IOUSBMassStorageClass.kext

As a last resort, users can try copying all extensions from the healthy computer to the problematic one, though third-party extensions should be removed. After the extensions are copied it is important that permissions be fixed as described earlier.

Install OS X to a fresh partition/drive as a resource for fresh extensions For users with a spare external hard drive around, they can install a fresh and bootable copy of OS X to that drive, updating it to 10.5.6, and then copy the files mentioned in the first step from the new installation to the problematic one on the computer's internal drive.

Archive and Install For users without access to a second macintosh or an external drive, the only way to retrieve the broken extensions is to do an archive and install of the operating system. To do this, boot off the Leopard DVD and run the installer, choosing to Archive and Install and selecting the option to preserve user data and settings. This will keep all user files as they are, and have the system running nearly as it was before the install. Some third-party applications may need to be reinstalled. Previous systems will be stored in a "Previous System" folder at the root of the drive, and can be safely deleted after users check to ensure all programs are installed correctly.

Resources