Status Menus in the Menu Bar Behaving Chaotically

Question

I have an annoying issue where the icons in my menu bar at the top right are staying highlighted (several at a time if I try moving through them) and their pull down menus can be difficult to reach.
Just filed it as Bug ID# 6595221 at Apple's Bug Reporter. Details follow:
17-Feb-2009 12:17 PM John Muir:
Summary:
Menu bar icons remain highlighted – several at a time – and using their menus becomes difficult as the system is unclear whether they're pulled down or not. I've included a couple of screenshots.
Steps to Reproduce:
Clicking on any menu bar item leaves persistent highlights, and appearing / disappearing pull down menus which are a fight to use.
Expected Results:
Ordinary functionality where a menu bar icon is only highlighted when you click on it and are using its pull down menu.
Regression:
This started happening after I installed 10.5.0 from my original retail disc and ran the 10.5.6 combo update. After installing my 3rd party software (specifically Adobe CS 3 Design Premium), the error suddenly manifested itself. I wiped my PowerBook and tried again: same result. May well have something to do with installing CS3. Click on any menu icons up there and it's chaos.
Notes:
This line keeps popping up in system.log in Console.
*Feb 17 20:05:15 Johns-PowerBook SystemUIServer[102]: * -[NSCFString rangeOfString:options:range:locale:]: nil argument*
Also included are some screenshots and the system.log file.
'Menu Bar Bug.zip' and 'Johns-PowerBook.spx' were successfully uploaded

Answer 1

John, I see no reproduction of your problem on any of my four system, so based on what you've described I would conclude the problem was your upgrade from 10.5 to 10.5.6. I would presume the original system was in some way defective and/or you did not repair the HD and permissions prior to the upgrade. If I were you I'd consider the following:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.