Color lines/bars on screen

M

mrcarson2

Registered
I have a macbook pro (2.0 CD) running 10.5.3 my problem is that a few times a day, a bar or line appears on my screen with random color pixels. They go away after a few minutes or if they appear on the desktop, a simple killall Finder command clears them away. Sometimes they appear on apps and will minimize/maximize with them. They also appear on the menubar quite frequently. I have restarted many times, but eventually they always come back. This has been happening since at least 10.5.2 has anyone ever experienced this or know what is causing it?
 
Try these steps.

1. Throw out the finder preference file in /YourHardDrive/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preference/com.apple.finder.plist. Then log out or restart.

2. Go a day without the third party menu bar item for a day and see if the same thing happens (to eliminate any third part menu application).

Please report back and good luck
 
Well try to make a test user and try it for a while and see if the same thing happens. This way you can tell if it is user or system wide.
 
OK, disabling startup items had no effect. Disabled all widgets and it seemed to fix the problem! I ran it for a couple of days and I never saw any colored lines! Now I just have to try and figure out which widget was causing it.
 
Update: The problem came back a few days running with the programs off startup and widgets gone. I ended up upgrading my hard drive and did a complete reinstall of 10.5 and upgraded. As soon as the desktop loaded after installation, the problem arose again. Now I am thinking it is a hardware issue. Could it be the memory? I hope this is all it is because I do not have applecare anymore. The computer is freezing once in a while, I ran it nonstop for 2 days without issue, and then today it just went to a white screen while listening to a podcast and the audio started looping/skipping and I had to force a reboot. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
 
Hi,
I have a similar problem: my macbook pro started displaying some strange lines and after a while it freezes. I think it's either a RAM or Video card issue. I live in Poland and I'm not sure how do they deal with apple 1yr warranty...

Alex
 
alexandruv said:
Hi,
I have a similar problem: my macbook pro started displaying some strange lines and after a while it freezes. I think it's either a RAM or Video card issue. I live in Poland and I'm not sure how do they deal with apple 1yr warranty...

Alex
Click to expand...



My warranty has expired as of February 2008. I have since installed 10.4 tiger on an external hard drive and am experimenting with it. I have been running it for about a week with no incidents. Are you running 10.5 Leopard or 10.4 tiger?

Alexandruv, can you provide a model number or serial number of your macbook pro? Mine is YD6311P6VWW and is a 2.0 Core duo model with 128 radeon x1600 graphics. I ugraded to 2GB of corsair mac memory about 9 months ago.
 
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Guys, if you have the X1600 card you most likely have a failing logic board/GPU. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but have a look at the Apple forums (do a search on X1600 +lines + freeze). You can delay the impending death of your Mac by using smcFanControl to keep your machine cooler. It will however eventually die. Apple are well aware of this issue but refuse to instigate any extended repair program. Also Google "x1600 investigation" and you'll find a US law firm looking into the matter. They need all the info they can get. This affects both the MacBooks and the iMacs.
 
Sorry for bumping this 9 month old thread, but I'd just like to note that I have this problem, too. I've been searching around for a while for people who have the same problem as me, and most people have a problem with vertical bars appearing—well, I have horizontal bars appearing; they are never vertical. I'm glad I came upon this thread because I have the same problem as what is shown in the screenshots. I have always suspected that the problem was the graphics card and am glad to have my suspicions confirmed here. Of course, my AppleCare expired last year, but at least I finally know what the problem is, now.
 
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