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MacBook Pro freezing with flickering screen

Help!

My trusty MacBook Pro (MacBookPro4,1) has suddenly started freezing. It seems do it at random times, when I am not doing anything which should be particularly taxing (eg it often freezes when I am sitting reading a web page, and the computer is basically doing nothing).

The symptoms are as follows :
The computer is behaving normally, and then at a seemingly random moment, the screen suddenly starts flickering very rapidly. Sometimes it also has areas with patterns of black, grey, or white squares, each square being about 4x4 pixels.
The computer also freezes completely - except that the pointer will still move, which seems a little odd.
The computer does not react to anything I do except to move the pointer when I move my finger across the trackpad. The pointer moves much faster than usual.
Sometimes, if I wait long enough, the screen will stop flickering, and sometimes the pointer speed will return to normal. But the computer never unfreezes.

Looking at the Console, I see that there is a continuous stream of error messages from com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[277] - three error messages repeating over and over, the whole time the computer is on.
Message 1 : +(org.freedesktop.dbus-session[413]) posix_spawn("/opt/local/bin/dbus-daemon", ...): No such file or directory+
Message 2 : +(org.freedesktop.dbus-session[413]) Exited with exit code: 1+
Message 3 : +(org.freedesktop.dbus-session) Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds+
I have no idea whether these errors are relevant to the freezing/flickering problem, nor whether they were already happening before the problem started to occur three days ago.

The following points may also be worth noting:
* I am running my MBP from a Kensington 12V power supply rather than the Apple 240V brick. But it has been working fine from the Kensington supply for a couple of years now...
* I upgraded the memory when I first bought the machine. IIRC, it is Crucial RAM.
* The freeze has always occurred while Firefox has been open. But that is probably because I always have Firefox open...

Can anyone shed any light on this problem?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.4), MacBookPro4,1

Posted on Nov 27, 2010 11:09 AM

Reply
76 replies

Nov 27, 2010 1:33 PM in response to Caesar Schinas

Hi Caesar

I'd start by uninstalling or at least disabling whatever software installed dbus

it's probably started by a plist file in /Library/LaunchAgents/ but certainly not a standard install.

If you can ose the console messages & still have flickering - I'd run the Apple Hardware test overnight, boot from the original mac DVD holding the D key to access it.

Nov 28, 2010 4:19 AM in response to andyBall_uk

I have exactly the same problem here ... it started for no apparent reason.
Since then I've put a new HDD in, installed the system afresh and even during the installation this problem occurred a couple of times. Now the system is fully installed, it happens every few minutes.

Prior to putting the new HDD in I did no version or hardware upgrades and yet the system started behaving like this.

Any idea how to troubleshoot this problem?

Nov 28, 2010 8:34 AM in response to Caesar Schinas

My MBP exhibits this same problem too: screen flickers and then laptop becomes unresponsive except the trackpad "works" yet I cannot click on anything. The system is essentially frozen, requiring me to hold down power button and reboot.

Has anyone found any other discussions concerning this topic? This is the first I've found regarding it.

I haven't tried any of the fixes listed here. However, I did perform a 'repair permissions' and it turned up more details than usual.........


Permissions differ on "System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Classes/jconsole.ja r", should be lrwxr-xr-x , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Repaired "System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Classes/jconsole.ja r".
User differs on "System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Home/lib", should be 0, user is 95.
Repaired "System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Home/lib".
User differs on "System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Libraries", should be 0, user is 95.
Repaired "System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Libraries".
Permissions differ on "System/Library/Java/Support/Deploy.bundle/Contents/Resources/JavaPluginCocoa.b undle/Contents/Resources/Java/deploy.jar", should be lrwxr-xr-x , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Repaired "System/Library/Java/Support/Deploy.bundle/Contents/Resources/JavaPluginCocoa.b undle/Contents/Resources/Java/deploy.jar".
Permissions differ on "System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6.0/Classes/jconsole.jar ", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Repaired "System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6.0/Classes/jconsole.jar ".
User differs on "System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6.0/Home/lib", should be 95, user is 0.
Repaired "System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6.0/Home/lib".
User differs on "System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6.0/Libraries", should be 95, user is 0.
Repaired "System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6.0/Libraries".
Permissions differ on "System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6.0/Resources/JavaPlugin Cocoa.bundle/Contents/Resources/Java/deploy.jar", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Repaired "System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6.0/Resources/JavaPlugin Cocoa.bundle/Contents/Resources/Java/deploy.jar".
Permissions differ on "System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6.0/Resources/JavaPlugin Cocoa.bundle/Contents/Resources/Java/libdeploy.jnilib", should be -rwxr-xr-x , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Repaired "System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6.0/Resources/JavaPlugin Cocoa.bundle/Contents/Resources/Java/libdeploy.jnilib".
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Permissions differ on "private/etc/resolv.conf", should be lrwxr-xr-x , they are -rwxr-xr-x .
Repaired "private/etc/resolv.conf".

Nov 28, 2010 9:58 AM in response to andyBall_uk

Thanks for your response Andy.

I have no idea what software installed dbus. There is a plist for it in /Library/LaunchAgents. Should I just delete the plist (or move it out of that directory)? Or will that break things?
If there are dbus files missing, can I just repair it by reinstalling dbus, regardless of where it originally came from?

Running the Hardware Test overnight might be challenging - I live on a boat and have very little power (it's not very sunny where I am at the moment and all my power comes from solar panels). Even running the computer for half an hour is a strain on my electrical resources at the moment... 😟
I'll see what I can do though!

Nov 28, 2010 10:12 AM in response to Caesar Schinas

moving the plist will disable it after a restart, yes. I'd suggest finding out where it came from, if possible - only so that any other possible culprits can be eliminated.
a little about it & link to the site here : http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-644048.html

Solar power eh - I lived on a boat for a while, but had the luxury of mains electricity, or a 750AH battery bank when anchored.

Nov 28, 2010 10:35 AM in response to andyBall_uk

Ok, well I have stopped the console messages by moving the plist. I don't know how to find out which app installed it though... I looked through the forum thread you linked to, but didn't find anything which helped me identify the culprit.

Anyway, I'll see if the problem persists now that the console messages have stopped. I'll report back once I've had time to tell whether the freezing has stopped!

Nov 28, 2010 12:34 PM in response to Caesar Schinas

I ran the test, it took less then 2h... not sure if that was the right test now reading it should run the whole night... but either way, no error spotted in the hardware.

Thinking back now, at first I had no flickering (it would just freeze), not until I upgraded to Snow leopard. Since then I started getting flickering and freezing. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.
Since then I put a brand new HDD in, fresh install ... but it froze while it run first lot of updates, then it from again through the second lot of updates too... every time when it had to run the updates scripts. Again, not sure if it froze because of the updates, or it just happened it did.
Oh and I too have the plist error thingy in the console log. What is that?

Nov 28, 2010 2:41 PM in response to smokisa

Hello, I'm new to this forum, but the exact same issue was presented today with my Macbook pro 15". The only solution was to hold down the power button for a force shutdown. I was reading the rest of this treath but it was a bit confusing for me.

Is there really a fix for this issue??

I'm currently running Mac OS X version 10.6.5

Any ideas anyone.

Nov 29, 2010 3:36 AM in response to Caesar Schinas

That's hopeful, Caesar - do let us know.

@ smokisa - if the freezing happened during updates, rather than when started from the DVD - then of course it might be software... you need to gather information from Console & any crash/panic logs, then start a new topic with all the details.
At least you know the hardware test showed ok - 2hrs is fine, I say all night because it's far from a sit & wait thing 🙂

Nov 29, 2010 9:34 AM in response to Caesar Schinas

No other ideas?

Sure - if it freezes frequently enough, starting in Safe mode will disable many kernel extensions,
which may indicate if one is the cause.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1455
most any non-apple kernel extension could be to blame, assuming hardware checks out.Using Pacifist from http://charlessoft.com/ & the menu command Pacifist-Display Kernel Extension Report
gives a nice easy list including an 'apple provided' column.

The apple hardware test doesn't seem all that accurate at detecting memory issues - http://www.kelleycomputing.net/rember/ is meant to be better.


If nothing jumps out, it's usually an erase/install to see if the problem persists then. Sometimes the latest combo update is reported to fix things.

MacBook Pro freezing with flickering screen

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