Kensington MouseWorks causes Finder quit on wake from sleep

Eric P. Peterson wrote on :

Hello,

Some of you may have seen the posts of my trials and tribulations in finding out why the Finder unexpectedly quits, with complete loss of navigation and keyboard/mouse response, upon wake from spin-down sleep on my G4/450 AGP Mac that runs OS 9.1, and to which I've attached a Kensington ADB Turbo Mouse, with a CompuCable mini-ADB USB adapter (I wonder if the iMate would solve my problem...). I've gone through the Extensions Manager with a fine-toothed comb, and have discovered that the Kensington MouseWorks software is the culprit. I have the most recent version of the software, as of this posting, as well as the most recent adapter driver, and I even re-installed each, but the result is the same. What I see on the screen when waking up the system from spin-down sleep is the background picture, and a blank, gray space where the system menu bar and application switcher are supposed to be. Then, those items appear, with everything that's supposed to be in the menu bar. The startup volume icon appears, then the rest of the icons (including Trash) appear. Next, I see the disk-access light light up on my external Firewire drive, hear the error beep, and see the "Finder unexpectedly quit" error message. At that point, no keyboard action of any kind registers, nor does any Turbo Mouse activity. To restart, I must press the small left button below the G4 power button. I tested on each of the two USB ports (switching the keyboard and the adapter with each other), and each of the ADB ports on the Turbo Mouse itself. I tested each of the two Firewire ports. None of these port switchings made any difference, but I disconnected the Turbo Mouse, disabled all related software, plugged in the Apple mouse to the keyboard, restarted, and was able to put the system to spin-down sleep and then wake it up to find a fully functional system. So, I conclude that the Kensington MouseWorks software causes the problem. In the recent past, I tried downgrading my MouseWorks software, but that had no effect on the wake from sleep issue, so I suppose (please correct me if I'm wrong!) that I must either live without the ability to wake the system from spin-down sleep, live without the track ball, or buy either another ADB to USB adapter or a USB track ball. What can I do to be able to use a Turbo Mouse track ball with my G4 system? Any and all advice will be appreciated!

Thanks, Eric

Neill Massello replied on :

Eric P. Peterson ericp65@redacted.invalid wrote:

Some of you may have seen the posts of my trials and tribulations in finding out why the Finder unexpectedly quits, with complete loss of navigation and keyboard/mouse response, upon wake from spin-down sleep on my G4/450 AGP Mac that runs OS 9.1, and to which I've attached a Kensington ADB Turbo Mouse, with a CompuCable mini-ADB USB adapter (I wonder if the iMate would solve my problem...). I've gone through the Extensions Manager with a fine-toothed comb, and have discovered that the Kensington MouseWorks software is the culprit. I have the most recent version of the software, as of this posting, as well as the most recent adapter driver, and I even re-installed each, but the result is the same.

. . . . .

In the recent past, I tried downgrading my MouseWorks software, but that had no effect on the wake from sleep issue, so I suppose (please correct me if I'm wrong!) that I must either live without the ability to wake the system from spin-down sleep, live without the track ball, or buy either another ADB to USB adapter or a USB track ball. What can I do to be able to use a Turbo Mouse track ball with my G4 system? Any and all advice will be appreciated!

This problem does not occur on my AGP 2x450 G4 running 9.1 and using a USB Expert Mouse Pro and the latest version of MouseWorks. If you like the Kensington trackball, I suggest you upgrade to the USB version. From what I've seen and heard of other people's experiences, USB converters are just not worth the trouble: upgrade your peripherals.

Jeff Collins replied on :

In article ericp65-D8AB75.00204213062001@redacted.invalid, "Eric P. Peterson" ericp65@redacted.invalid wrote:

Sorry for all your troubles, Eric. Did you email Kensington? I remember I had some trouble long ago with my TurboMouse when I switched from the SE/30 to a PowerMac. I called Kensington, told them the problem and they fedexed a new TM to me that day. They might have an idea about your problem...

so I suppose (please correct me if I'm wrong!) that I must either live without the ability to wake the system from spin-down sleep, live without the track ball, or buy either another ADB to USB adapter or a USB track ball. What can I do to be able to use a Turbo Mouse track ball with my G4 system?

Well, there's a new USB/ADB TurboMouse available at http://shop2.outpost.com/product/68524 and elsewhere.

Another thing you might try before getting a new track ball is to sleep different :-) That is, try a 3rd party energy saver replacement. I've heard good things about Sleeper http://www.stclairsoft.com/Sleeper/.
Might be worth a download.

Cheers, Jeff

Eric P. Peterson replied on :

In article 1eux36g.15fqwdq122u7dkN%nmassello@redacted.invalid, nmassello@redacted.invalid (Neill Massello) wrote:

Eric P. Peterson ericp65@redacted.invalid wrote:

Some of you may have seen the posts of my trials and tribulations in finding out why the Finder unexpectedly quits, with complete loss of navigation and keyboard/mouse response, upon wake from spin-down sleep on my G4/450 AGP Mac that runs OS 9.1, and to which I've attached a Kensington ADB Turbo Mouse, with a CompuCable mini-ADB USB adapter (I wonder if the iMate would solve my problem...). I've gone through the Extensions Manager with a fine-toothed comb, and have discovered that the Kensington MouseWorks software is the culprit. I have the most recent version of the software, as of this posting, as well as the most recent adapter driver, and I even re-installed each, but the result is the same.

. . . . .

In the recent past, I tried downgrading my MouseWorks software, but that had no effect on the wake from sleep issue, so I suppose (please correct me if I'm wrong!) that I must either live without the ability to wake the system from spin-down sleep, live without the track ball, or buy either another ADB to USB adapter or a USB track ball. What can I do to be able to use a Turbo Mouse track ball with my G4 system? Any and all advice will be appreciated!

This problem does not occur on my AGP 2x450 G4 running 9.1 and using a USB Expert Mouse Pro and the latest version of MouseWorks. If you like the Kensington trackball, I suggest you upgrade to the USB version. From what I've seen and heard of other people's experiences, USB converters are just not worth the trouble: upgrade your peripherals.

Sound advice. I brought the ADB track ball over from my 9500 system, but I should have forseen that I'd eventually want/need a track ball for each of my computers. My current Jimmy-rigged setup was sort of an intermediate step, before I spend more money on computer items (I'm still saving up to buy an affordable laserjet printer). Looks like it's time for a new track ball :)

Peace, Eric

Carl Freire replied on :

In article ericp65-D8AB75.00204213062001@redacted.invalid, "Eric P. Peterson" ericp65@redacted.invalid wrote:

Some of you may have seen the posts of my trials and tribulations in finding out why the Finder unexpectedly quits, with complete loss of navigation and keyboard/mouse response, upon wake from spin-down sleep on my G4/450 AGP Mac that runs OS 9.1, and to which I've attached a Kensington ADB Turbo Mouse, with a CompuCable mini-ADB USB adapter (I wonder if the iMate would solve my problem...).

iMate comes with driver software. I've got the latest version of both it and MouseWorks installed and everything works with no problems. Is there driver software for the CompuCable adpater? If so, do you have the latest version installed?

Second item: I discovered that the iMate adapter likes to be plugged in directly to one of my USB ports. It doesn't work if I go through the USB mini-hub.

I have a PBG3/Firewire, if that makes any difference, which I doubt but who knows.

Carl

Eric P. Peterson replied on :

In article B74D8EF19668189F5@redacted.invalid, CHECKTHESIG@redacted.invalid (Carl Freire) wrote:

In article ericp65-D8AB75.00204213062001@redacted.invalid, "Eric P. Peterson" ericp65@redacted.invalid wrote:

Some of you may have seen the posts of my trials and tribulations in finding out why the Finder unexpectedly quits, with complete loss of navigation and keyboard/mouse response, upon wake from spin-down sleep on my G4/450 AGP Mac that runs OS 9.1, and to which I've attached a Kensington ADB Turbo Mouse, with a CompuCable mini-ADB USB adapter (I wonder if the iMate would solve my problem...).

iMate comes with driver software. I've got the latest version of both it and MouseWorks installed and everything works with no problems. Is there driver software for the CompuCable adpater? If so, do you have the latest version installed?

Yes, the adapter comes with two drivers, which are named identically, except that there's some odd character at the beginning of one of them (apparently Arial Narrow, which I use for my system font, doesn't show the character properly, instead showing a rectangle). I notice that I must have both active in order to get more than simple mouse functionality. I have the latest versions of software for both the track ball and the adapter.

Second item: I discovered that the iMate adapter likes to be plugged in directly to one of my USB ports. It doesn't work if I go through the USB mini-hub.

Lacking a hub, I have the adapter plugged into one of my USB ports, with the keyboard plugged into the other.

I have a PBG3/Firewire, if that makes any difference, which I doubt but who knows.

Carl

I have no familiarity with any G3, so I don't know, either ;)

Thanks, Eric