Weird black square with holes and crash?

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Weird black square with holes and crash?

My 13" macbook pro running OSX 10.6.8 has just recently started freezing with a strange black square on the bottom left of my screen leaving me no choice but to force it off. It just happened for the second time today. I believe it is the 2010 model. Here's a photo:

I know iPhoto isn't the cause since it was off the previous time this happened. Any idea why this is happening?

On a side note: my macbook pro takes around 30 minutes to boot up. very annoying.

Any help at all is much appreciated!

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010), Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jul 16, 2012 1:08 AM

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Answer 1

WZZZ

Level 6

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Jul 16, 2012 4:59 AM in response to Its23

Open Console in Utilites and look for any messsages, particularly anything graphics, from around the time of the freezes.

Run the Hardware Test in Extended. A pass will not necessarily be very meaningful, since it's not a great tool, but an error of some kind will be accurate.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1509

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Answer 2

Its23 Author

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Jul 16, 2012 5:50 AM in response to WZZZ

The Console pretty much lagged the computer so much every few seconds for a couple minutes that it took half an hour!

But the entire log was just filled with:

Jul 15 17:30:04 localhost com.apple.launchd[1] (com.line6.l6ksettingmgr[67509]): Bug: launchd_core_logic.c:4194 (24498):2

Jul 15 17:30:04 localhost com.apple.launchd[1] (com.line6.l6ksettingmgr[67509]): posix_spawn("/System/Library/Extensions/Line6Audio.kext/Contents/Resources/L6KS ettingMgr", ...): No such file or directory

Jul 15 17:30:04 localhost com.apple.launchd[1] (com.line6.l6ksettingmgr[67509]): Exited with exit code: 1

Jul 15 17:30:04 localhost com.apple.launchd[1] (com.line6.l6ksettingmgr): Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds

Jul 15 17:30:14 localhost com.apple.launchd[1] (com.line6.l6ksettingmgr[67534]): Bug: launchd_core_logic.c:4194 (24498):2

Jul 15 17:30:14 localhost com.apple.launchd[1] (com.line6.l6ksettingmgr[67534]): posix_spawn("/System/Library/Extensions/Line6Audio.kext/Contents/Resources/L6KS ettingMgr", ...): No such file or directory

Jul 15 17:30:14 localhost com.apple.launchd[1] (com.line6.l6ksettingmgr[67534]): Exited with exit code: 1

Jul 15 17:30:14 localhost com.apple.launchd[1] (com.line6.l6ksettingmgr): Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds

Jul 15 17:30:24 localhost com.apple.launchd[1] (com.line6.l6ksettingmgr[67566]): Bug: launchd_core_logic.c:4194 (24498):2

Jul 15 17:30:24 localhost com.apple.launchd[1] (com.line6.l6ksettingmgr[67566]): posix_spawn("/System/Library/Extensions/Line6Audio.kext/Contents/Resources/L6KS ettingMgr", ...): No such file or directory

Jul 15 17:30:24 localhost com.apple.launchd[1] (com.line6.l6ksettingmgr[67566]): Exited with exit code: 1

That goes on forever and is still happening as well. Is there an equivalent of a Windows registery cleaner for Mac?

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Answer 3

Its23 Author

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Jul 16, 2012 5:51 AM in response to WZZZ

I will run the hardware test tonight and hopefully get some good results in the morning.

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Answer 4

WZZZ

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Jul 16, 2012 6:49 AM in response to Its23

As best I can tell, you are getting those messages from a LaunchDaemon which is not properly loading from Line6 (com.line6.l6ksettingmgr) which is a third party audio program, maybe PodXT ?, which I don't know anything about.

You'll probably find it in /Library/LaunchDaemons. That's in the HD Library. You can stop it trying to load using the following command from Terminal in Utilities. It might also be a LaunchAgent.

sudo launchctl unload -w

Important, leave a space then drag the file into Terminal, which will populate the window with the full path. Then hit return, after which you will be prompted for your admin password. You won't see it on the screen as you type it in. Then hit return again (after getting a warning about using sudo) and it will unload that LaunchDaemon.

To reverse, substitute load for unload.

I have no idea if that program might be responsible for the screen artifacts, but it might.

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Answer 5

Its23 Author

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Jul 16, 2012 7:03 AM in response to WZZZ

Thanks that stopped my console from being flooded. Hopefully I won't have another strange box crash thing.

I'll post again if it does. Thanks for the help!

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Answer 6

Jul 18, 2012 4:05 PM in response to Its23

I am using a 15" MBP from late 2010. I am having the exact same probelm it seems. I can see from the picture it has happened while scrolling on tumblr on Chrome. This is the same for me and has happened around 10 times now, leaving me now other option but to force shutdown. Although I itunes still plays music and the mouse still can be moved around the screen unable click anything and the volume buttons work from what I can remember.

This has been happening since around March-April 2012. It seems if I scroll down for long enough on tumblr it will eventually crash. I am no expert but since this seems to happen almost exclusivly on tumblr (often with just itunes and mail running, sometimes neither just Chrome) I'm suspicious it's either a just problem with Google Chrome when scrolling on tumblr or a hardware issue but this is just a guess.

I'm sure this will keep happening so if anyone knows anything I could do to that might help it would be great.

I may try switching to Firefox for a while and see if using tumblr on it causes the same problem.

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Answer 7

Its23 Author

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Jul 18, 2012 7:13 PM in response to Sam's Gran's Got Corned Beef Legs

Yea it was on Tumblr. I think it has to do with the heavy load of gifs and pictures that builds up as you scroll down a lot.

If you hit reblog then cancel it, it will take you to a fresh new page but you can continue scrolling where you left off.

This will lessen the load of pictures and gifs. Hopefully it will stop the crashes too... semes Chrome can't handle too much of Tumblr!

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Answer 8

Jul 19, 2012 7:00 AM in response to Its23

I am having this exact same issue with my 2010 MacBook Pro running 10.6.8. It started not long after updating to 10.6.8, and happens nearly everyday. It seems more likely to happen after the OS switches over to the GT 330M from the integrated Intel HD graphics when under heavy graphic load. Previously I was having the black screen of death as described in this bulletin http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4088 but now after the last update I am only getting the square block lockup.

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