IMac Intel slow keyboard and mouse response

Question

I have an iMac running Snow Lepard that within the last two days is experiencing keyboard and mouse delays, about 10 seconds or more and I am seeing the rotating ball.  The keyboard is directly attached while the mouse is bluetooth but both experience delays.  I can type something and then 10 seconds later it will catch up.  Same thing happens if I try to scroll down with either the keyboard or mouse.  I do not see the spinning ball during this tim, I only see it when I change applications.  I have more than 20 percent memory.  I shut down and unplugged for greater than 15 seconds.  When it came back up I saw a grey screen with white and black tiny squares.

Answer 1

Hi erahi,
It's not the update that's the problem. That update has been used successfully by millions. What probably happened was that there were some pre-existing issues you didn't even know about and the update exacerbated them. But why are you updating to 10.5.3 instead of 10.5.4?
Let's test this first:
Try starting in "Safe Mode" (It will take more time to startup in Safe Mode because it runs a directory check.)
If that works go to System Preferences >> Accounts >> Login Items and remove them. Boot normally and test. If not go to ~(yourHome)/Library/Contextual Menu Items and move whatever is there to the desktop. Then do the same with /Library/Contextual Menu Items. Lastly, try moving ~(yourHome)/Library/Fonts to your desktop and restarting.
Log out/in or restart, if that sorts it start putting items back one at a time until you find the culprit.
-mj