(Sometimes) can't type password at login

I am currently having a very similar problem to the one "Nurlin" posted. I just upgraded to Tiger (v10.4.6) and added 512MB of Ram to my 800MHZ, 15-inch flat screen imac.
When I startup, I get a login screen with my user name and a box to type my password. Problem is, I can't type anything. I CAN use the keyboard to open/close the disk drive and adjust volume and screen brightness with the function keys. The mouse also tracks normally.
The only fix I have found is to force the computer to power off by holding down the power button and then to restart. Doing this once or twice always provides a functional login screen and everything works normally.
Here are the things I've tried so far:
1.Booting from the installation disk and using disk utility to repair the disk and the permissions.
2.Changing my login password
3.Dumping the startup preference files
4.Resetting PRAM and NVRAM
None of these things has had any effect. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
--James

Hi James,
I'd love to see this, but you are a bit far away for a housecall.
So... sometimes it works normally, but never the first time? Eventually it is OK though? And once it's OK, it's completely OK: no follow on problems?
Does the startup process look normal otherwise when it fails - ie., there's no signal that any particular startup process will fail or work?
Mouse is OK: So you can click sleep, shutdown, etc? Can you click in the password box? Does doing that give you an insertion point? Does pressing Shift or Caps Lock give you an up-arrow icon in the password box?
Three things to try:
* Boot in Safe Mode -- hold the shift key when you startup and keep it down until the login window appears. Does the keyboard work correctly and consistently or not? If it works and you can type the password, do it, then press the shift key again and click Login. Keep the shift key down until the desktop appears. Then reboot normally and test. (Since Safe Boot invalidates some boot-time caches and forces them to be recreated at the next normal boot, it's possible that the process could fix a problem.)
* In System Preferences > Accounts, click the lock icon to authenticate, then Login Options. Check off "Automatically log in as" and choose the account you are having problems with. Reboot a few times. Do you experience any keyboard problems?
* Create a new user in System Preferences > Accounts. Try selecting that user at boot time. Same problem or does the keyboard work correctly and cnsistently?
Good luck,
John

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