Member Avatar for compdoc

OK so a while back I posted how a customer forgot her password and so I eventually got her in the computer.

Now she brings it to me and she cant type in the username and password, it's as if the keyboard is locked. the volume keys work, I can get into single user mode, I have also changed the RAM and reset the PRAM with no luck.

the keyboard does work in single user mode, I tried and I can type in single user mode. I just can't type in the username and password fields.

I don't know what to do here, I'm not very experienced with iMac or OS X.

any help will be greatly appreciated.

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Dani AI

Generated

Quick diagnosis and targeted next steps (building on and )

If the keyboard accepts input in single‑user mode and firmware keys respond, the hardware is almost certainly OK — the problem is at the OS/login stage (loginwindow, keyboard/input drivers, or a third‑party component). 's disk check was a good first step; when the filesystem looks healthy, focus on isolating the graphical login environment and account-level settings.

Try these low‑risk checks first:

  • Boot into Safe Mode (this disables third‑party InputManagers, login items and many kexts) and see if the login window accepts typing.
  • Try a known‑good wired USB keyboard and different USB ports; unplug all nonessential USB/FireWire devices.
  • If a Bluetooth keyboard is used, switch to a wired keyboard — Bluetooth can fail before the GUI has the driver running.

If those tests don’t help, force the Setup Assistant to run so you can create a fresh admin account (safe way to confirm whether the problem is account-specific). From single‑user or the install DVD Terminal, mount the drive writeable, remove the setup sentinel, and reboot:

mount -uw /
rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
reboot

Create a new admin when the Setup Assistant runs, then test the keyboard at the login window. Back up first if possible (Target Disk Mode or the install DVD).

Additional diagnostics:

  • Inspect logs for USB/HID or loginwindow errors: tail -n 200 /var/log/system.log and search for related messages.
  • Look for third‑party InputManagers, startup items or non‑Apple kexts in /Library/InputManagers, /Library/StartupItems and /System/Library/Extensions and move suspicious ones aside when booted from DVD/Target Disk Mode.

If a new admin account works but the original doesn’t, remove problematic login items or corrupt preference files; if nothing helps, archive your data (Target Disk Mode) and do an Archive & Install from the OS X DVD.

Member Avatar for nspireing

have you tried in single user mode the command fsck -y this runs basicly the disk utility repair.

Member Avatar for compdoc

just tried it came back with use fsck -f to force checking so I did that and it came back with the volume appears to be ok

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