Karabiner elements randomly stops working occasionally on Catalina 10.15.6 until next reboot.

[lpkruger]

(note: if I have not provided enough logs or debugging information, I happy to upload whatever is requested)

Symptom: all remapping stop working on MacBook pro connected with USB keyboard and mouse. For USB keyboard and mouse, they stop working entirely, but the laptop keyboard/trackpad still works. If I un-plug and re-plug the USB keyboard and mouse, they work again but the configured remappings does not work.

(I do not have any remappings configured on the internal keyboard/trackpad, but I could set one up for test purposes if it is helpful to test. The remappings I have configured on the USB keyboard/mouse do not work until the next reboot)

The problem is unpredictable and I don't know what triggers it. From my user perspective it just happens at any random time, often after the machine has been running for several days. Rebooting the whole machine returns functionality to normal but I haven't yet discovered any other workarounds. I am also happy to upload and logs or other debugging information that might help.

The problem will resolve and return to normal functionality if I reboot the machine.

I also tried manually closing the "Karabiner Elements" app, and using sudo kill -9 to stop and restart the remaining daemons. However, one of the karabiner_grabber processes gets stuck in a zombie state and doesn't die or restart.

Before and after killing the processes: Process 134 seems like the most interesting data point:

$ ps -ef|grep -i karab
    0   130     1   0 Thu06AM ??         2:01.43 /Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-Elements/bin/karabiner_observer
    0   134     1   0 Thu06AM ??         4:10.21 /Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-Elements/bin/karabiner_grabber
    0   179     1   0 Thu06AM ??         0:00.36 /Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-Elements/bin/karabiner_kextd
605834466   994     1   0 Thu06AM ??         0:00.37 /Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-Elements/bin/karabiner_grabber
605834466   996     1   0 Thu06AM ??         0:00.36 /Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-Elements/bin/karabiner_observer
    0  1001     1   0 Thu06AM ??         0:35.11 /Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-Elements/bin/karabiner_session_monitor
605834466 10806 10483   0 11:23AM ttys004    0:00.01 grep -i karab
$ sudo kill -9 130 134 179 994 996 1001
Password:
$ ps -ef|grep -i karab
    0   134     1   0 Thu06AM ??         0:00.00 (karabiner_grabbe)
605834466 10822     1   0 11:24AM ??         0:00.02 /Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-Elements/bin/karabiner_observer
    0 10823     1   0 11:24AM ??         0:00.02 /Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-Elements/bin/karabiner_kextd
605834466 10824     1   0 11:24AM ??         0:00.03 /Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-Elements/bin/karabiner_grabber
    0 10825     1   0 11:24AM ??         0:00.02 /Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-Elements/bin/karabiner_session_monitor
    0 10826     1   0 11:24AM ??         0:00.16 /Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-Elements/bin/karabiner_observer
605834466 10832 10483   0 11:24AM ttys004    0:00.01 grep -i karab

$ kextstat |grep -i karab
  122    0 0xffffff7f83fe0000 0x5000     0x5000     org.pqrs.driver.Karabiner.VirtualHIDDevice.v061000 (6.10.0) 4D004D1A-ED2F-3780-AD53-A10F286EC759 <52 6 5 3 1>

[whosnothungry]

same here

[bangedorrunt]

Have you tried new version of Karabiner which use DriverKit? You can find it here

[trueskawka]

Reboot did not fix it for me - I'm on Catalina 10.15.6 and Karabiner 13.0.0. Happy to provide any logs if helpful! I need remapping for my external keyboard and this issue has killed my productivity.

[tekezo]

Are there any error log messages? https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/docs/manual/operation/log/

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[kellertobias]

Having the same Problem.

systemextensionsctl list

2 extension(s)
--- com.apple.system_extension.driver_extension
enabled	active	teamID	bundleID (version)	name	[state]
*	*	G43BCU2T37	org.pqrs.Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice (1.6.0/1.6.0)	org.pqrs.Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice	[activated enabled]
*	*	KRCLLMGZ2D	com.motu.driver.pro.audio.dext (2.0.0 90114/2.0.0 90114)	com.motu.driver.pro.audio.dext	[activated enabled]

after reboot randomly the driver is either loaded or not (until next reboot)

[suba8888]

Exact same issue encountered with latest version 14.10.0 on Monterey 12.6.

[Zoomer547547]

Same here - Sonoma 14.1. I have three keys mapped to a script for text. These 3 stop working but the rest work (mapped to screenshot, etc). Restart of Karabiner does not fix the issue. Usually a reboot of computer does, but I can't do that in middle of workday.