Something weird going on with my MBP

[Magritte]

This happens periodically when I'm using my 2.2GHz MBP. I'm running 10.4.9.

It's not exactly a freeze, but it's like a sudden stutter. I can still open and run programs, but when I click on a menu, it opens and the selection bar jumps all over the place wildly. And a sound plays over and over like an error alert that just won't stop. Also at this point the Dock locks up and I can't add icons to it or open anything from it. Basically it's like the whole system goes into permanent stutter mode and only restarting the machine helps.

Disk Utility has verified the disk and permissions are repaired. Seems like a software problem to me but if something is corrupted, I don't know what it would be. I never have this problem on my desktop. I haven't been able to pinpoint when this happens but it *might* be Dock-related.

 

[Jestered]

archive and install

 

[iBookG4user]

When this happens, try opening Terminal and typing in the following command:

sudo killall Dock

And then type in your password after you hit return. See if that fixes the Dock, it should.

archive and install

I wouldn't try that just yet.

 

[Magritte]

archive and install

Okay, but why? This computer is brand new and I've hardly used it that much yet.

When this happens...

I appreciate the instructions that will keep me from having to restart. But I'm also interested in why this is happening or at least how I can keep it from happening in the first place. I suspect my computer shouldn't be doing this on a semi-regular basis.

 

[Jestered]

Okay, but why? This computer is brand new and I've hardly used it that much yet.

Because you probably have a software issue. You can spend hours trying to figure out what is causing it, or you can spend 30 minutes and fix it.

As far as the killall command... that may get the computer working again for the moment, but it is not going to fix anything.

 

[fr4c]

did you install/update any software recently that caused the problem to start?

 

[iBookG4user]

Now that I think about it, why don't you try installing the 10.4.10 update? It might fix your problem.

 

[Magritte]

did you install/update any software recently that caused the problem to start?

No, it started happening during a session where everything was the same as the previous one. Also I don't have any software on this computer that isn't on my iMac, and it never happens on the desktop.

Now that I think about it, why don't you try installing the 10.4.10 update? It might fix your problem.

I'm leery about 10.4.10 for two reasons: the whole Airport issue (which I know *might* have been fixed by the subsequent updates) and also reported problems some people are having with 10.4.10 and WoW. I have an "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mentality about updating; the problem is something does seem to be broke here but I don't want to break anything else with that upgrade.

That said, you're probably right.