My Macbook Pro is stuttering like George VI in The King's Speech

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My Macbook Pro is stuttering like George VI in The King's Speech

Hello fellow dwellers,

My Macbook Pro (OS X 10.6.8) is experiencing some difficulties, like freezing up after being asked to do the most mundane tasks. The poor thing stutters when going through e-mails and has a complete mental breakdown when trying to open a downloaded video of a bunch of adorable kitties. I sent it to get some therapy (last software update 19-9-2013) but it didn't help. Anyway, before this story gets away from me completely, I'll list what happened after that

At startup, I get a weird white screen (where if you look closely you can see horizontal lines run through it) with the apple logo. It makes the customary gong noise and then progresses to a throroughly white screen. No mouse,no keyboard activity. Sometimes it snaps out of it and I get a blue screen, followed by some kind of pixelated, abstract illustration that is reminscent of MS Paint (oh, the good ol' days). Sometimes the blue screen leads me straight to my desktop. Those are good days.

When it doesn't snap out of the white screen, it just stays that way until I get fed up with it and shut it down. Sometimes, pressing and holding CMD+alt+P+R and letting it restart two times helps getting me to my desktop (not in the regular way, but I've found out that seeing the bright blue screen means there's a good chance at getting through). Sometimes it does't make a difference at all. Same goes for the safe boot (Shift + CMD + V). I tried CMD+S at startup and then typed fsck -fy (for fsck's sake). At the end I get two messages: “The volume [name] appears to be OK” and “FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED.” After booting I still have the same problems.

I ran disk utility to scan the HD. Nothing appears to be wrong with it. Just incase, I copied the entire contents to an external HD using SuperDuper. I deleted all the stuff I didn't need (I now have 400GB out of 500GB free on the HD).

Sometimes, when I reach m desktop it almosts seems like everything is back to normal. Then I try to run a simple application and the whole thing crashes again.Things like reading a simple pdf file..The most recent development? Finder crashing all the time. I'll force it to stop (or restart, because you can't actually stop finder) and it'll freeze two seconds after opening. Rinse, repeat. Internet also crashes regularly. Chrome is a whiny ******* compared to Firefox when it comes to that, but they both eventually crash.

Anyway, I have no clue what to do now, short of throwing money at a geeky looking Apple employee. Thanks for reading through this undoubtly boring post. I tried to be a bit entertaining, but one can only use so many euphemisms and metaphors before it gets old.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Sep 24, 2013 10:34 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 24, 2013 10:41 AM in response to tiilia

Can you share...

...which model MacBook Pro you have (e.g., "15-inch Late 2011" or "8,2")?

...and can you post your most recent kernel panic -> http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2546?

Clinton

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Answer 2

tiilia Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 24, 2013 11:05 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

Model: 17-inch (bought march 2011). As for the Kernel Panic, I couldnt find the log the regular way so I used the terminal to get the info:

--------------------------------------------------

pleUSBMultitouchDriver::checkStatus - received Status Packet, Payload 2: device was reinitialized

IOThunderboltSwitch::i2cWriteDWord - status = 0xe00002ed

IOThunderboltSwitch::i2cWriteDWord - status = 0x00000000

IOThunderboltSwitch::i2cWriteDWord - status = 0xe00002ed

hfs: Removed 1 orphaned / unlinked files and 0 directories

BCM5701Enet: Ethernet address 10:9a:dd:6f:13:e5

AirPort_Brcm4331: Ethernet address e0:f8:47:27:1e:e2

IO80211Controller::dataLinkLayerAttachComplete(): adding AppleEFINVRAM notification

IO80211Interface::efiNVRAMPublished():

systemShutdown false

Waiting for DSMOS...

AGC: 2.10.6, HW version=1.9.23, flags:0, features:20600

Previous Shutdown Cause: 3

DSMOS has arrived

** Device in slot: SLOT--1 **

AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).

en1: 802.11d country code set to 'DE'.

en1: Supported channels 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 100 104 108 112 116 120 124 128 132 136 140

MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:1d:68:e2:8b:bb MAC AUTH succeeded

AirPort: Link Up on en1

CODE SIGNING: cs_invalid_page(0x1000): p=120[GoogleSoftwareUp] clearing CS_VALID

CODE SIGNING: cs_invalid_page(0x1000): p=138[ksadmin] clearing CS_VALID

CODE SIGNING: cs_invalid_page(0x1000): p=147[ksadmin] clearing CS_VALID

CODE SIGNING: cs_invalid_page(0x1000): p=245[GoogleSoftwareUp] clearing CS_VALID

hibernate image path: /var/vm/sleepimage

sizeof(IOHibernateImageHeader) == 512

Opened file /var/vm/sleepimage, size 4294967296, partition base 0xc805000, maxio 400000 ssd 0

hibernate image major 14, minor 2, blocksize 512, pollers 5

hibernate_alloc_pages flags 00000000, gobbling 0 pages

hibernate_setup(0) took 0 ms

AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).

IOThunderboltSwitch::i2cWriteDWord - status = 0xe00002ed

IOThunderboltSwitch::i2cWriteDWord - status = 0x00000000

IOThunderboltSwitch::i2cWriteDWord - status = 0xe00002ed

0 [Time 1380027998] [Message System SafeSleep

IOThunderboltSwitch::i2cWriteDWord - status = 0x00000000

IOThunderboltSwitch::i2cWriteDWord - status = 0xe00002ed

hibernate_page_list_setall start 0xffffff804b656000, 0xffffff804b676000

hibernate_page_list_setall time: 151 ms

pages 656594, wire 244046, act 131678, inact 84, spec 75, zf 22, throt 0, could discard act 51000 inact 46684 purgeable 3330 spec 179675

hibernate_page_list_setall found pageCount 375905

IOHibernatePollerOpen, ml_get_interrupts_enabled 0

IOHibernatePollerOpen(0)

IOPolledInterface::checkForWork[5] 0xe00002eb

PMStats: Hibernate write took 46 ms

all time: 46 ms, comp time: 0 ms, deco time: 0 ms,

image 0, uncompressed 0 (0), compressed 0 (0%), sum1 29c53e3e, sum2 0

wired_pages_encrypted 0, wired_pages_clear 0, dirty_pages_encrypted 0

hibernate_write_image done(e00002eb)

sleep

Wake reason = EC.LidOpen

System Wake

Previous Sleep Cause: 5

en1: 802.11d country code set to 'X3'.

en1: Supported channels 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 100 104 108 112 116 120 124 128 132 136 140

IOThunderboltSwitch::i2cWriteDWord - status = 0xe00002ed

IOThunderboltSwitch::i2cWriteDWord - status = 0x00000000

IOThunderboltSwitch::i2cWriteDWord - status = 0xe00002ed

MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:1d:68:e2:8b:bb MAC AUTH succeeded

AirPort: Link Up on en1

CODE SIGNING: cs_invalid_page(0x1000): p=319[GoogleSoftwareUp] clearing CS_VALID

CODE SIGNING: cs_invalid_page(0x1000): p=393[GoogleSoftwareUp] clearing CS_VALID

USBMSC Identifier (non-unique): 67Q9DQ1NQ5GPRRY4 0x8564 0x1000 0x1100

CODE SIGNING: cs_invalid_page(0x1000): p=476[GoogleSoftwareUp] clearing CS_VALID

CODE SIGNING: cs_invalid_page(0x1000): p=526[GoogleSoftwareUp] clearing CS_VALID

MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:1d:68:e2:8b:bb MAC AUTH succeeded

CODE SIGNING: cs_invalid_page(0x1000): p=561[GoogleSoftwareUp] clearing CS_VALID

unknown-e0-f8-47-27-1e-e2:~ tilia$

unknown-e0-f8-47-27-1e-e2:~ tilia$</quote>

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Answer 3

Sep 24, 2013 11:08 AM in response to tiilia

Do you have any Thunderbolt devices attached to your machine? I'm pretty good with 'real' kernel panic logs, but only see a few red flags in what you've posted.

Were you unable to find a kernel panic log?

Clinton

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Answer 4

tiilia Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 24, 2013 11:11 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

Nope, no thunderbolt devices.

Um, I'll be honest with you, I just don't know where to look. In the link you shared it says you have to look in the Library folder but I don't have one on my mac.

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Answer 5

Sep 24, 2013 11:18 AM in response to tiilia

The panic logs are in your ROOT (highest level on your disk named "Macintosh HD" - or whatever you've named your hard drive) Library>Logs>DiagnosticReports.

See if you see a kernel panic log in there. DON'T post a crash report.

Clinton

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Answer 6

Sep 24, 2013 11:54 AM in response to tiilia

You are running OS 10.6.8? If you have the OS DVD you can boot from it, run Disk Utility and have it repair the hard drive.

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Answer 7

tiilia Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 24, 2013 12:02 PM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

Thanks! Here's the latest Kernel panic log:

-------------------------------

Tue Sep 24 13:06:11 2013

panic(cpu 0 caller 0xffffff80002d1208): Kernel trap at 0xffffff8000225778, type 14=page fault, registers:

CR0: 0x000000008001003b, CR2: 0xffffff8060106000, CR3: 0x00000000074a7000, CR4: 0x0000000000040660

RAX: 0xffffff8060106000, RBX: 0x0000000100400000, RCX: 0x000000000000c6b3, RDX: 0xfffeffffffffffff

RSP: 0xffffff80601938d0, RBP: 0xffffff80601938d0, RSI: 0x0000000100400000, RDI: 0xffffff800b771280

R8: 0xffffff80008436e0, R9: 0x0000000000000001, R10: 0x0000000000000000, R11: 0x0000000000000000

R12: 0xffffff80084c6660, R13: 0x0000000100400000, R14: 0xffffff80084c6660, R15: 0xffffff800b771280

RFL: 0x0000000000010286, RIP: 0xffffff8000225778, CS: 0x0000000000000008, SS: 0x0000000000000010

Error code: 0x0000000000000000

Backtrace (CPU 0), Frame : Return Address

0xffffff8060193570 : 0xffffff8000204d15

0xffffff8060193670 : 0xffffff80002d1208

0xffffff80601937c0 : 0xffffff80002e3f4a

0xffffff80601937d0 : 0xffffff8000225778

0xffffff80601938d0 : 0xffffff80002257dc

0xffffff80601938f0 : 0xffffff80002268be

0xffffff8060193970 : 0xffffff8000226109

0xffffff8060193990 : 0xffffff800021039d

0xffffff80601939d0 : 0xffffff8000210b70

0xffffff8060193c10 : 0xffffff8000210ffe

0xffffff8060193c80 : 0xffffff8000250cf4

0xffffff8060193ca0 : 0xffffff80002381d0

0xffffff8060193cf0 : 0xffffff80002383e8

0xffffff8060193d30 : 0xffffff80002fd78c

0xffffff8060193db0 : 0xffffff80003075d5

0xffffff8060193e00 : 0xffffff80002fa64d

0xffffff8060193e20 : 0xffffff8000485e0c

0xffffff8060193ec0 : 0xffffff800048f6d8

0xffffff8060193f40 : 0xffffff80004e8168

0xffffff8060193fa0 : 0xffffff80002e4874

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: launchd

Mac OS version:

10K549

Kernel version:

Darwin Kernel Version 10.8.0: Tue Jun 7 16:32:41 PDT 2011; root:xnu-1504.15.3~1/RELEASE_X86_64

System model name: MacBookPro8,2 (Mac-94245A3940C91C80)

System uptime in nanoseconds: 2316513977110

unloaded kexts:

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBUHCI 4.2.0 (addr 0xffffff7f8131a000, size 0x65536) - last unloaded 135213470126

loaded kexts:

com.apple.filesystems.exfat 1.0.2 - last loaded 200648490193

com.apple.driver.AGPM 100.12.31

com.apple.filesystems.autofs 2.1.0

com.apple.driver.AppleHWSensor 1.9.3d0

com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyHIDDriver 1.2.0

com.apple.driver.AppleHDA 2.0.5f14

com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyDriver 2.0.5f14

com.apple.driver.AudioAUUC 1.57

com.apple.kext.ATIFramebuffer 6.3.6

com.apple.driver.AppleUpstreamUserClient 3.5.7

com.apple.driver.AppleMCCSControl 1.0.20

com.apple.Dont_Steal_Mac_OS_X 7.0.0

com.apple.driver.AudioIPCDriver 1.1.6

com.apple.driver.ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin 4.7.0a1

com.apple.driver.AppleLPC 1.5.1

com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsControl 2.10.6

com.apple.kext.AppleSMCLMU 1.5.2d10

com.apple.ATIRadeonX3000 6.3.6

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHDGraphics 6.3.6

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelSNBGraphicsFB 6.3.6

com.apple.driver.SMCMotionSensor 3.0.1d2

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBTCButtons 201.6

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBTCKeyboard 201.6

com.apple.driver.AppleIRController 303.8

com.apple.iokit.SCSITaskUserClient 2.6.8

com.apple.BootCache 31.1

com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib 1.0.0d1

com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage 1.6.4

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHub 4.2.4

com.apple.driver.AppleFWOHCI 4.7.3

com.apple.driver.AirPort.Brcm4331 433.11.5

com.apple.driver.AppleSDXC 1.0.3

com.apple.iokit.AppleBCM5701Ethernet 3.0.5b8

com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM 1.4.0

com.apple.driver.AppleSmartBatteryManager 160.0.0

com.apple.driver.AppleAHCIPort 2.1.7

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBEHCI 4.2.4

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons 1.3.6

com.apple.driver.AppleRTC 1.3.1

com.apple.driver.AppleHPET 1.5

com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS 1.7

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC 1.3.6

com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC 1.4

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient 142.6.0

com.apple.security.sandbox 1

com.apple.security.quarantine 0

com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall 2.1.14

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement 142.6.0

com.apple.driver.AppleProfileReadCounterAction 17

com.apple.driver.DspFuncLib 2.0.5f14

com.apple.driver.AppleProfileTimestampAction 10

com.apple.driver.AppleProfileThreadInfoAction 14

com.apple.driver.AppleProfileRegisterStateAction 10

com.apple.driver.AppleProfileKEventAction 10

com.apple.driver.AppleProfileCallstackAction 20

com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusController 1.0.10d0

com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireIP 2.0.3

com.apple.iokit.IOSurface 74.2

com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothSerialManager 2.4.5f3

com.apple.iokit.IOSerialFamily 10.0.3

com.apple.driver.AppleHDAController 2.0.5f14

com.apple.iokit.IOHDAFamily 2.0.5f14

com.apple.iokit.IOAudioFamily 1.8.3fc2

com.apple.kext.OSvKernDSPLib 1.3

com.apple.iokit.AppleProfileFamily 41

com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginFamily 4.7.0a1

com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusPCI 1.0.10d0

com.apple.driver.AppleBacklightExpert 1.0.1

com.apple.kext.ATI6000Controller 6.3.6

com.apple.kext.ATISupport 6.3.6

com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport 2.2.1

com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily 2.2.1

com.apple.driver.AppleSMC 3.1.0d5

com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIBlockCommandsDevice 2.6.8

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPOutAdapter 1.3.2

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPInAdapter 1.3.2

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPAdapterFamily 1.3.2

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter 1.1.6

com.apple.driver.BroadcomUSBBluetoothHCIController 2.4.5f3

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBBluetoothHCIController 2.4.5f3

com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothFamily 2.4.5f3

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBMassStorageClass 2.6.7

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBMultitouch 207.7

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHIDDriver 4.2.0

com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIMultimediaCommandsDevice 2.6.8

com.apple.iokit.IOBDStorageFamily 1.6

com.apple.iokit.IODVDStorageFamily 1.6

com.apple.iokit.IOCDStorageFamily 1.6.1

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBMergeNub 4.2.4

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBComposite 3.9.0

com.apple.driver.XsanFilter 402.1

com.apple.iokit.IOAHCISerialATAPI 1.2.6

com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily 2.6.8

com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltNHI 1.2.6

com.apple.iokit.IOThunderboltFamily 1.4.9

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBUserClient 4.2.4

com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireFamily 4.2.6

com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family 320.1

com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily 1.10

com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily 2.0.6

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily 4.2.4

com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime 1.4.0

com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily 1.6.6

com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily 1.1

com.apple.kext.AppleMatch 1.0.0d1

com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet 6

com.apple.driver.DiskImages 289

com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily 1.6.3

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform 1.3.6

com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily 2.6.5

com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily 1.3.0

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Answer 8

tiilia Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 24, 2013 12:04 PM in response to Eustace Mendis

Eustace Mendis wrote:

You are running OS 10.6.8? If you have the OS DVD you can boot from it, run Disk Utility and have it repair the hard drive.

Well, that's the weird part. Disk utility says my HD is fine. I also don't have the OS DVD. It was pre-installed on the notebook.

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Answer 9

tiilia Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 27, 2013 3:37 AM in response to tiilia

Okay guys, I took it to an Apple service center today and after some testing they determined that the videocard was to blame. Problem is, the videocard is located in the motherboard (or mainboard or systemboard, whatever you want to call it) and can't be extracted independently. So....I have to get the whole thing (=the motherboard) replaced. And this is going to cost me approx. $900. But, our brainy apple guy told me it went with a 3 month warranty on the new stuff. Well, just fantastic. (I hope you guys can detect the sarcasm here).

Anyway I'm pretty disappointed. I've had my Macbook pro for 2,5 years now and it broke down on the part it's supposed to excell at. I'm going to get it repaired because I paid a lot upon purchase, but if I ever need a new computer after this it's definitely not going to be an Apple. Even my dirt cheap packard bell laptop had a longer shelf life.

I'll send an update when I get my Mac back, to see if the replacement really solved this problem. Good luck to others who are experiencing the same issues.

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