Just the past few days I have been typing in Mail and found that the letters being typed have stopped appearing on the screen and the caps lock button light has been flashing. This only lasts a few seconds and I have to go back and retype what is missing. All is well for some time before it does it again. It has only happened in Mail but then I haven't been using Word or anything else the past couple of days to know if it does it in everything. I did a Google search and failed to find anything relating to this problem. I have a G5 iMac PPC. I have never seen the caps lock button flash on and off before and I wasn't even using it during any of the occurances. Any ideas?
Not to be like Chicken Little, hill1866, but due to recent OS-X exploits — some patched, some not — I have to wonder if perhaps your machine may not be housing an unwanted guest?
I know; shame on me for daring to touch upon hallowed ground. . . especially with my boots on. But even Macs can be exploited if the user is careless (or not).
Maybe you have a defective keyboard; it happens. Try checking the USB port to make sure everything's plugged in tight. Check all your interim connections, too. If that doesn't solve it, try switching keyboards to see if the glitch goes away.
If not, then go the usual litany of routes in finding a cure.
DiskWarrior would be a good thing to use, if you own a license for it.
Do you have the "Open safe files after downloading" tab UN-ticked in Safari/Preferences?
Do you permit email to enter your Mac?
Do you have the OS-X firewall turned on?
Have you downloaded any recent software from the WWW that doesn't seem to work quite the way it should?
Have you taken a peek in Activity Monitor to see if anything's pulling down mega-cycles from your proc.? Most spyware/trojans are named after system services to throw you off. Don't expect to find any poignant clues there. DUPES may offer a clue; such as having two kernel_tas (in Terminal type "top" and press return) running at the same time, etc.
Try taking a peek at "login items" in your standard account(s) [in 10.4; in admin account(s) in 10.3] to see if anything's been added without your permission. These items start at login, and may include some or other component that is being used to monitor your system.
There was a lot of that going on in 10.2. . .
If all fails and the problem persists consider backing up your must-haves and running the OS-X multi-pass random overwrite from DVD; you choose the security level. Then reinstall OS-X from scratch.
Although mass-spammer worms are unheard of in the Macintosh platform, there ARE some 33-odd made-for-Mac trojans that apparently will run in OS-X 10.4. In the near total absence of spyware scanners for the Macintosh platform, the Mac Community is a sitting duck.
Our sole prerogative is to use the recommended security protocols and trust in Apple's punctual delivery of patches.
Even so, I would choose OS-X over Windows any time.
Twenty + years of the CommonName parasite have given Microsoft and William Gates a reputation for the kind of software we can all live [better] without.