Graphics Corruption at Lock Screen

Adam,

I'm not 100% sure but I have some ideas that might help.

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Have you tried Repairing Disk and Disk Permissions?

To repair Disk and Disk permissions you have to start your Computer in Recovery Mode.

Restart your mac -> Hold down ( Command ) and ( R ) keys at startup.

Choose ( Disk Utility ) -> Select your Hard Drive ( Macintosh HD ) [*Note if you have FileVault turned on you have to enter your password to unlock it.] -> Select ( Repair Disk ) -> Wait a moment until it finishes -> Select ( Repair Disk Permissions ).

Supporting Articles

About Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions feature

OS X: About OS X Recovery

Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck

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Also Booting into Safe Mode can fix somethings.

Start your computer in Safe Mode.

Restart your Mac -> Hold down the ( Shift ) key at startup. Release when you see the apple logo.

Login to your user then shutdown. Safe boot does a few things in the supporting article you can read about them more. It has been know to help some people with strange issues.

Supporting Articlese

OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode?

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Reset System Management Controller ( SMC )

Before you do this it recommended that you Shutdown your computer and unplug it for several seconds. On portables with a removable battery, remove the battery and unplug for several seconds. Then see if your errors are still happening.

For Portables with Removable Battery.

Shut Down Computer -> Disconnect from Power Adapter -> Remove battery -> Press and hold power button for 5 seconds -> Release -> Reconnect Battery and Power Adapter -> Turn on computer.

For Portables with Battery you shouldn't remove.

Shut Down -> Plug in Power Adapter if not plugged in -> Press on the left side of built in keyboard ( Shift ) ( Control ) ( Option ) keys and the ( Power ) Button at the same time. -> Release at the same time -> Turn on Computer.

For other Macs.

Shut Down -> Unplug Power Cord -> Wait 15 Seconds -> Plug Power Cord back in -> Wait 5 Seconds -> Turn on Computer

Supporting Articles

Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

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Reset Parameter Random-Access Memory ( PRAM )

Shut Down -> Turn on Mac -> Immediately press and hold ( Option ) ( Command ) ( P ) ( R ) Keys -> Hold till you hear the startup sound for the second time. -> Release keys.

Supporting Articles

OS X Mavericks: Reset your computer’s PRAM

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And last I would run Apples Hardware Test

How you do such can vary.

Turn Computer on -> Hold the ( D ) Key down -> Follow the onscreen prompts.

If your computer came with restore CDs you have to load in one of them and try again. Using Apple Hardware Test explains.

Supporting Articles

 MacBook Pro 2011: HardWare Test 

Using Apple Hardware Test

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Hope that helps,

Weston

I am having the same problem (screen cap #2) on start up after long periods of rest. If the computer locks for only a short period I don't have the problem and I haven't had any trouble from a cold start up. I haven't seen screen cap #1, either. I'm going to try the methods mentioned by Weston and see what happens. I hope we can get this resolved quickly.

I'm also running a 2011 MBP, 2 GHz i7, 4 G 1333 DDR3. I have pretty low RAM and I just recently filled up all my hard drive space (only 6.6% free!) with photos from several other (upgradeable) phones in the house; I'm not sure if either of these instances are similar for you. I've also heard a lot that there is a general graphical problem with 2011 MBP in general and, while I haven't had much trouble with that yet (only ONE blue spinning ball!), I wonder if this is just one more thing making that issue more prominent.

I was having the same problem after I upgraded my Early 2011 MacBook Pro to Yosemite. I'm now on 10.10.1. My screen saver was set to kick in at 20 minutes, then my Energy Saver display sleep was set for 25 minutes. I tried the following, which didn't fix the issue:

booting in recovery mode and repairing the disk and disk permissions (only one minor disk permission problem fixed)

booting into safe mode, logging in, and rebooting (one Finder window opened with corrupted graphics but then fixed itself)

Having failed at that, I looked at the last line in System Preferences, where the user-installed preferences live. I control clicked on several I no longer need and removed them. Then I reset the System Management Controller, which on my non-removable-battery MacBook Pro is done by shutting down, holding down the left shift, control, and option keys together with the power key with the power adapter connected, then starting up.

Success! Either removing the old Preference panes or resetting the SMC seems to have done the trick.

Rats! It's not fixed. I just came back to my MacBook Pro after an hour and the graphics corruption is back on the lock screen.

Backup.

Then try going to ~/Library/Preferences and move the file" com.apple.loginwindow" to the desktop, reboot and test

2011 MacBook Pro and Discrete Graphics Card

This will keep you reading for a long time.

I'd trash the one from /Library/Preferences, too, if trying this.

Imp68, this appears to have done the trick, at least for now. I was unable to move the file from /Library/Preferences in the Finder, which brought up the little green "+" indicating a copy rather than a move. So I did this:

sudo mv /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist ~/Desktop/com.apple.loginwindow.plist.1

sudo mv ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist ~/Desktop/com.apple.loginwindow.plist.2

and rebooted. Two hours later, when I clicked on the locked screen, I got a non-corrupted unlock window.

For my purposes, with a MacBook Pro that normally runs all the time, I can always use the workaround to immediately lock the screen using control-shift-eject.

It was more 213JB's idea, but I'm glad it helped.

I'm personally skeptical this is real problem, though.

Thanks, then, to 213JB. As of this morning the problem is still fixed.

I have also had this problem since updating to 10.10.

213JB's suggestion is working for me. (Touch wood!)

Didn't need to re-start but still ok after re-start.

Thank you very much.

I tried this on a friend's computer and it seemed to kill the issue for about a week, but it has now returned. Has anyone had any luck trying anything else? It is a 2011 15"

Worked great for about a week then came back with a vengeance. On one day the screen just kept going black repeatedly. I've given up now. Apple really are going down fast.

I was getting the same as Screen Cap #2 at login for a few weeks after upgrading to Yosemite. Soon after I got graphics corruption and complete loss of functionality while logged in (my suspicion then was that the two phenomena were related). I wound up taking my early 2011 MBP into the Apple Store where they diagnosed a bad logic board and sent it away on the flat-rate repair.

The same day I got the machine back with a new logic board the login graphic corruption persisted. So I figure odds are whatever this is isn't hardware. I'll give 213JB's suggestion a try now, too.