解:$(1)$根据题意,得$\begin {cases}x = 12\\y = -3\end {cases}$满足方程$5x + by = 42,$
即$5×12 - 3b = 42,$
解得$b = 6;$
$ \begin {cases}x = 2\\y = -1\end {cases}$满足方程$ax - 4y = 10,$
即$2a - 4×(-1) = 10,$解得$a = 3。$
$ $所以$a$的值为$3,$$b$的值为$6。$
$ (2) $根据$ (1),$原方程组可化为$\begin {cases}3x - 4y = 10\\5x + 6y = 42\end {cases},$
解得$\begin {cases}x = 6\\y = 2\end {cases}$
$ $所以原方程组的正确解为$\begin {cases}x = 6\\y = 2\end {cases}$