Pixilated screen at startup????

[lonesdav000]

I own an early 2008 iMac running Snow Leopard.
A few months ago, it started getting a little buggy and running slow, you know, things you would expect from a computer thats now 2 years old... but then it started freezing and giving me "kernel panics".

Of course, the first thing I did was install VirusBarrier and remove any and all viruses it could find, and I repaired the disk and disk permissions and ran all the diagnostic tests from the install DVD. Then I left it unplugged for a day, upgraded the memory from 2 GB to 4 GB, and did everything a second time. After all that, everything seemed to work just fine. Now it seems to be starting all over again!!!

This time the virus scan only picked up a few Windows viruses on an old external hard drive and repairing the disk, disk permissions, and running diagnostics turned up nothing. I've done everything I know to do, short of taking the thing back to Apple!

Right now, the main issue is this bug at startup thats really just freaking me out. Linked is a video of what happens. The apps that run at startup are BumpTop, HughesNet Status Meter (as of last month), and Brother Printer Utility.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14131544/VIDEO.MOV

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[spinnerlys]

As the video takes quite a while to load to see what actually happens (you can trim videos in QT X and MPEG Streamclip), I just start by saying there are no viruses for Mac OS X, just some malware, but it shouldn't cause any pixelation errors. Maybe using that AV software removed some important files?

Mac Virus/Malware Info

What about doing a clean install of Mac OS X if you have the capability to store your data on an external HDD? Or trying another (temporary) account and see if the problem still occurs?

Clean Install of OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

It looks more like a GPU error or it can be a GPU driver error. Have you tried running the Apple Hardware Test yet?

 

[SXR]

Actually it seems like a GPU driver issue , the computer itself seems to work fine. Its just the pictualated startup....

I'd say just take it into an Apple Store.

 

[rkaufmann87]

I own an early 2008 iMac running Snow Leopard.
A few months ago, it started getting a little buggy and running slow, you know, things you would expect from a computer thats now 2 years old... but then it started freezing and giving me "kernel panics".

Of course, the first thing I did was install VirusBarrier and remove any and all viruses it could find, and I repaired the disk and disk permissions and ran all the diagnostic tests from the install DVD. Then I left it unplugged for a day, upgraded the memory from 2 GB to 4 GB, and did everything a second time. After all that, everything seemed to work just fine. Now it seems to be starting all over again!!!

This time the virus scan only picked up a few Windows viruses on an old external hard drive and repairing the disk, disk permissions, and running diagnostics turned up nothing. I've done everything I know to do, short of taking the thing back to Apple!

Right now, the main issue is this bug at startup thats really just freaking me out. Linked is a video of what happens. The apps that run at startup are BumpTop, HughesNet Status Meter (as of last month), and Brother Printer Utility.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14131544/VIDEO.MOV

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

I would also recommend taking it to an Apple Store to be looked at. Running a machine that continually Kernel Panic's can damage the OS. Also remove the anti virus software from your computer, it's a total waste of resources as there are NO, NONE, ZERO virus's that run on OS X. The virus's it found as you stated are Window's virus's, if you are in the habit of sending files you know nothing about to Windows users then I'd recommend change that activity.

I also suspect it's a issue with your graphics card or it's related to it.

Also, it sounds like you may be in the habit of turning off your computer regularly. This is NOT what Apple recommends, in your owners manual it will state you should leave it on unless you will not be using it for several days. When it's not being used, use the sleep function.

 

[lonesdav000]

Also, it sounds like you may be in the habit of turning off your computer regularly.

No, I only shut down the computer for updates or other situations that require it. Such as this situation.

I should also point out that the first time I DID have a virus (or malware of some kind) and it did do damage. (I'm not the only one that uses this computer and viruses for the Mac DO exit out there.) After I thought I fixed that issue, I removed the virus protection and only recently reinstalled it for this issue. ...and since that first issue, kernel panics haven't been a problem.

 

[spinnerlys]

No, I only shut down the computer for updates or other situations that require it. Such as this situation.

I should also point out that the first time I DID have a virus (or malware of some kind) and it did do damage. (I'm not the only one that uses this computer and viruses for the Mac DO exit out there.) After I thought I fixed that issue, I removed the virus protection and only recently reinstalled it for this issue. ...and since that first issue, kernel panics haven't been a problem.

There are NO/ZERO/NADA/NULL/нуль/walang halaga/נאַל/تهی VIRUSES for Mac OS X out there. There are only a couple of trojans, spyware and other malware for Mac OS X, but you need to manually install them via entering your password.

Mac Virus/Malware Info

And have you tried the Apple Hardware Test yet?

 

[lonesdav000]

There are NO/ZERO/NADA/NULL/нуль/walang halaga/נאַל/تهی VIRUSES for Mac OS X out there. There are only a couple of trojans, spyware and other malware for Mac OS X, but you need to manually install them via entering your password.



And have you tried the Apple Hardware Test yet?

Like I said, I'm not the only one using this computer. Lets just say for the sake of argument that someone in this house accidentally downloaded the wrong thing, I don't know how it got there. How ever you want to word it, SOME KIND OF MALWARE was at fault the first time I had problems with this machine.

...and yes, I have run the "Apple Hardware Test" (I just called it "diagnostics" for some reason). Running both normal and extended tests several times showed no hardware issues.

 

[spinnerlys]

Like I said, I'm not the only one using this computer. Lets just say for the sake of argument that someone in this house accidentally downloaded the wrong thing, I don't know how it got there. How ever you want to word it, SOME KIND OF MALWARE was at fault the first time I had problems with this machine.

...and yes, I have run the "Apple Hardware Test" (I just called it "diagnostics" for some reason). Running both normal and extended tests several times showed no hardware issues.

I was just mentioning, that there are no viruses for Mac OS X, because you were saying:

viruses for the Mac DO exit out there.

and as viruses need no user interaction, it would be unwise to call other malware viruses too.

Anyway, do you still have Apple Care?

 

[lonesdav000]

As the video takes quite a while to load to see what actually happens (you can trim videos in QT X and MPEG Streamclip) . . .

Well, part of the point in posting such a long video was to show the full boot time, so...

 

[lonesdav000]

Anyway, do you still have Apple Care?

Unfortunately, no. But like spinnerlys said, I might try a fresh install of the OS. All my files are backed up and everything, it's just it seems like a last resort.

Hopefully, if no more issues come up, I could just live with it. I've been doing so for a while apparently and it doesn't happen every time. It's just kind of freaky...

 

[skyvueone]

I had a similar problem , check my post Snow leopard crashes; it also gave me a multi-color screen at times.
after trying all I know and having apple check my computer for almost 2 weeks
I re- installed leopard not snow. and even if it s been only 24 hres since it runs as smoothly as it did the first day I got it in 2007.

just wanted to let you know.
good luck