Having Difficulties with the Paste Board Server (PBS)

Question

Hello!
I have having difficulty with the paste board server with extensive use of QuicKeys v3.1.1. I have a repetitive process that draws data from FileMaker Pro 8.0v3 to populate variables in QucKeys via the clipboard. The data is then used by QuicKeys to control automated processes in a FileMaker Pro 6.0v3 solution. After about 8,000 copies, pastes, assign variable, and use variable processes, the pbs dies and is no longer usable in any application. I cannot copy, cut, or past after that. A log out or restart is required to get the clipboard working again.
I found an old reference to this (dating back to December of 2004) on the Mac OS X HInts website. It reads as follows:
I may be an unusual case, but I have a repetitive problem with Apple's Paste Board Server (pbs) dying on a semi-regular basis. The main symptom is the inability to copy and paste between applications. Logging out or rebooting will fix the problem every time, but a less disruptive solution is to spawn a new copy of /System -> Library -> CoreServices -> pbs. Some apps will connect to the new server automatically, though many (notably Firefox and TextEdit) need to be quit and restarted before they start working normally again.
How can you tell if pbs is dead? Open a Terminal window and run:
ps x | grep pbs
If pbs is dead, you'll see something like:
350 ?? Z 0:00.00 (pbs)
22200 std R+ 0:00.01 grep pbs
If pbs is alive, you'd see:
350 p4 S 0:00.29 /System/Library/CoreServices/pbs
22200 std R+ 0:00.01 grep pbs
If you see (pbs) in parentheses, it's dead! Zombied to be technical. If you see the full path to pbs listed out, then pbs is running fine. If you see both, then chances are you've already restarted pbs manually at some point since you last logged out or rebooted.
If your pbs is dead, you can starte a new one. Just open a Terminal window and type:
nohup /System/Library/CoreServices/pbs &
I have tried the above to no avail. When I check the pbs using the terminal command as stated above, I get the ??, but I also get the full path and no (pbs). Starting a new pbs does not seem to work. This info, of course, being 2 years old may no longer be relevant.
My sense is that the constant use of the automated processes eventually reaches some limitation of the pbs and it needs to be reset. I'd love to be able to do this from time to time in the form of an AppleScript or Terminal command during the process.
Any help on this would be much appreciated
Dual 2.3 GHz PowerPC G5   Mac OS X (10.4.4)   quicKeys v 3.1.1

Answer 1

Opened a case with apple, they were able to reproduce the error.
"Dear Marly,
I finally was able to get it to go to the point where I could try and purchase the allowance, and I received the same error that you initially reported. Now that we have finally been able to confirm that it is something specific to the account, I am going to open an investigation into what is causing it and report back as soon as we have resolved the issue. "