Don't you love software bugs

I had the same issue this morning and a reboot sorted it out

I have the same problem where the virtual keyboard stop working. i have been using the N900 for a month with no problem and one "Bang" stops working. Tried all solution but nothing work. Last option will be re-flashing it to get it back to factory standard.

Is Google Pinyin installed? If so, uninstall it. (See http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=43312 )

Also https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8657 might be related.

For me, also purging the scim and mscim configuration files was necessary to restore the virtual keyboard and other input functions. See http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...3&postcount=30

wooooh!..i thought my screen keyboard is not working too, one time i tried to tap at google site to search but no screen keyboard, so my solution is first disable the virtual keyboard at the settings and next reboot, and after you turn on ur n900 then enable again the virtual keyboard at the screen, thats my only simple solution to my cp, i experience this problem when i try to put the dev repository to my cataloges =p

Okay my problems seems to a be a little different from the problems you guys have been having with the VK...mine pops up just fine on the first go at times, while there are instances when i have to pound on the writing area in text messaging several times for the keyboard to show up surprisingly the VK works just fine in the Notes application...my n900 is on titan's kernel power45 and its overclocked to 750 mhz.....is it a bug in the kernel????btw i have theme customizer installed...i had customized one of the onboard themes to my taste..thought that might have been the cause so i restored all settings to default in the theme customizer....several restarts....tried everything....still the lag.....mind you sometimes the vk pops up on first go and the problems seems to be localized to texting????????

(Cross-posting for other suffering MSCIM users)

I have just created a status menu switcher applet, which allows on-the-fly enabling/disabling of MSCIM (no rebooting).

This will save your battery life greatly, and also allows you to use the onscreen keyboard and symbol menu again!

It still has a few rough edges, but will probably be helpful to most people not requiring MSCIM to be active constantly.

Read this thread carefully, and then download the package if you wish to try it.

All usual warnings apply!! I will not be responsible if your device requires reflashing afterwards, etc.

What fixed my issue (virtual keyboard never pops up):
In Text Input settings, uncheck Use virtual keyboard, Save
Get back, check it back, Save.
Switch off the device, remove the battery. Wait a minute or two, pop the battery in and turn on the device.

Vrtual keyboard back online.

The solution to this problem is very easy and quite simple.I'll go through it step-wise..
1: Open application manager and go to uninstall
2: Uninstall MSCIM or SCIM that you have
3: Open X-Terminal
4: sudo gainroot
5: cd /etc/event.d(There's a space after 'cd')
6: ls
7: After 'ls',see if 'scim' is there in that list that comes up,if its there just remove it with the following command.I'll just write it as '8'
8: rm scim
Now type '9' and '10' exactly as i do,
9: /usr/bin/gtk-query-immodules-2.0
10: /etc/gtk-2.0/gtk.immodules
Even if '10' doesnt work,taking care of step '1' to '9' should make the virtual keyboard work.Let me know how it went..