Help Keyboard non-op for Google apps

[RBEmerson]

For some reason, Google apps such as Gmail and the search tools no longer accept type-ins. The keyboard appears and responds to key presses, but the output doesn't go into the app or search bar. WTF?!?

Doing a Restart doesn't help. I'm about to do a battery pull. I really, really don't want to do a Factory Reset.

This is a DINC2 with GB and the 4MB OTA follow-on update but otherwise basically box stock (no add-on launchers, no rooting, etc.).

Added: Yahoo e-mail works as always - type-ins work just fine.

 

[RBEmerson]

The battery pull seems to have cleared the problem. NTL, it's a little scary to see Google-related apps spontaneously ignore the keyboard while Yahoo and other third party apps don't.

 

[RBEmerson]

Oh, this gets dumber... this morning the phone wouldn't dial entries in my contacts. It'd act correctly right up to actually dialing the call, and then... nada. A Restart (not battery pull) cleaned this one up, but it's getting spooky in here...

 

[RBEmerson]

Today the keyboard not talking to Gmail came back yet again. I now suspect some live wallpapers (from AOI) are causing problems. At least, the wallpaper selected at the time (AOI's 3D Matrix) was frozen, too. When I replaced it with a static wallpaper, the keyboard started talking to Gmail again.