MATLAB: Cannot type or edit in MATLAB, only right click and menus.

crashguimac

Strange occurrence today, I started MATLAB and I cannot get any input except right click menus. Running 2012a on MAC 10.6. Worked fine last night. Have restarted the computer several times. When I click on the M editor or command window nothing happens, as if it is locked up. Every now and then it seems to work for an instant and whatever inputs I've tried show up on screen, then it freezes. If I double-click a word I can highlight it, but there's no cursor function.
A few times I've gotten the following error:
java.awt.IllegalComponentStateException: component must be showing on the screen to determine its location
  at java.awt.Component.getLocationOnScreen_NoTreeLock(Component.java:1995)
  at java.awt.Component.getLocationOnScreen(Component.java:1969)
  at apple.awt.CAccessibility$22.call(CAccessibility.java:370)
  at apple.awt.CAccessibility$22.call(CAccessibility.java:368)
  at apple.awt.CToolkit$CallableWrapper.run(CToolkit.java:1125)
  at java.awt.event.InvocationEvent.dispatch(InvocationEvent.java:199)
  at apple.awt.CToolkit$CPeerEvent.dispatch(CToolkit.java:1215)
  at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(EventQueue.java:715)
  at java.awt.EventQueue.access$400(EventQueue.java:82)
  at java.awt.EventQueue$2.run(EventQueue.java:676)
  at java.awt.EventQueue$2.run(EventQueue.java:674)
  at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
  at java.security.AccessControlContext$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(AccessControlContext.java:86)
  at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:685)
  at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(EventDispatchThread.java:296)
  at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(EventDispatchThread.java:211)
  at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:201)
  at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:196)
  at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:188)
  at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:122)
>>
Any ideas? Should I reinstall?
Thanks Mark

Best Answer

I found a workaround: Close all programs
    Go to Applications / Utilities / Java Preferences
    The Java Prefs app will open
    In the 'General' Tab, change the order of Java SE, so that the two with the older versions are on top.  The versions are in the RH column on my system.  For example, my toplisted version was 1.6.0_51..., which is the latest version updated yesterday.  There were also two entries for 1.6.0_24...  Drag these so they are on top (64-bit first)
   Close the app
   Start MATLAB.  Now I can type and everything is good.
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