OS X V10.6 Snow Leopard :: Character Pallett Repeatedly Opens On Its Own And Crashes

Starting this morning I am being driven crazy by the Character Pallett launching unexpectedly on its own and then crashing almost immediately. Then it attempts to launch again, flashes briefly on screen, and crashes again. My crash log shows the same repeated process.[Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInternalI nconsistencyException', reason: 'Invalid parameter not satisfying: (index >= 0) && (index < [_itemArray count])'] It's pretty impossible to get anything done. I tried reinstalling OSX combo 1.6.8, but the installer would not see my startup drive as being eligable; I then reinstalled Snow Leopard 10.6 and attempted to update to 10.6.8 that way. But this attempt lead to an error that cancled the install. So now I am running 10,6, but with many apps that require 10.6.8. And the Character Pallett keeps poping up and then crashing even with 10.6. I'm beginning to think it may be a hardware problem, either ram or logic board issue; but I lack the diagnostic skills to figure it out. I thought of trying to launch the Character Pallett on purpose, but when I open the System Preferences and click the box that would place the Keybaord icon in the menu bar (which is the only way I know to get to the Character Pallett) the icon doesn't appear. The check mark doesn't even stick.