MBP trackpad/keyboard unresponsive after application crash

Question

Problem

I have a mid-2012 MacBook Pro 13" (non-retina) equipped with 6GB RAM.
Recently, I have noticed that when an application crashes and Crash Reporter appears, the trackpad and keyboard do not function until about ten seconds later. All background tasks that were running at the time of the crash are still running.

This behaviour is extremely strange, and I'd like to know if:

• Is this exclusive to my Mac, or is it a known issue?
• Is there a way to fix it?

Extra details

• The 6GB RAM was equipped in December, before this issue started for me.
• I am running the release version of 10.8.3.
• I have installed no Trackpad tweaks.

Answer 1

I would definately diagnose with Apple's hardware test but you can also look through the system log.

You should be able to see if a particular application/service is causing this issue.

System logs are in /var/log/system.log

Take special note of the TIME when an application crashes and then go into the log and see if there is something related to the keyboard/trackpad; or any particular patterns. You may find that after a crash a service is restarting and that service is consuming either

• enough resources to put the keyboard/trackpad out for 10secs
• there is an I/O conflict.

Worst case scenario you can (painstakingly) format.

I would be looking at why your computer is crashing in the first place and prevent such application(s) from crashing.

Answer 2

Make a new user account and log into it, then test if you still experience the problem.

If not, then that narrows things down to your user account and you can proceed from there, perhaps looking for a specific app or setting you've used.

If so, and especially if you never mess with the command line or install third party apps often, a system reinstall (not a clean wipe and install) certainly won't hurt things and can be done overnight while you sleep.

You can also try performing Apple's Hardware test to ensure nothing is failing.

Answer 3

Fascinatingly, the problem appears to have disappeared altogether, which is really quite strange! Applications that crash no longer have this issue. I don't know what fixed the problem, but after about two hours without the error, I can confidently say the problem's fixed.

To speed up the automatic bounty award process, I'll be awarding the bounty to rg144, as their answer had the most upvotes (2). Congratulations - enjoy the 50 rep!