I apologize for just diving in here, because I can't even really follow the discussion, but I've been having horrendous problems too, since installing the 10.6.8 update. My screen started ever more frequently decomposing into pixelated, off-set. dots, dashes and slashes, then freezing me out and going 2/3rds black and 1/3 solid white.
I was more successful working in safe mode, but problems returned, and when I subsequently tried starting up with the install disk (via the option key), the disk would sound like it was spinning up, but then eject itself! I finally did manage to start up from the optical drive, although I'm not quite sure how, in order to run the disk utility.
Permission repairs all along the way repeatedly generated copious numbers of Java and Airport errors. Shutting down USB connections made no difference.
I managed to download and install the latest (Java fixer?) update, and after trashing my Photoshop CS5 preferences last weekend, all seemed well! Unfortunately, the slash/dot screen resurfaced again tonight. I have a sense that there's a problem running Safari/Airport and Photoshop/Bridge at the same time, and/or a problem precipitated by my Wacom monitor & drivers, but I'm current on all my software.
I did eventually get a kernel attack at startup, and was able to copy the following, before even that screen decomposed past the point of deciphering text (I may have confused some zeroes and eights):
panic ( cpu Ø caller 8x558271): "unable to find driver for this platform: \ACPI\".\n"@\SourceCache/xnu/xnu-1504.3.12/iokit/Kernel/IOPlatformExpert.cpp: 1389
Debugger called <panic>
Backtrace (CPU Ø), Frame: Return Address (4 [potential args on stack)
Øx96bebda8: 8x2lb499 (Ø5ce420 Øx96bebddc Øx2238a5 ØxØ)
Øx96bebdf8: Ø558271 (Øx5d7d4c Øx2854d4dØ Ø [screen went haywire could only make out the following…}
ØSD process name corresponding to current thread: Unknown
Mac OS version
Not yet set
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 10 Fri. Feb
A couple of the system profiler logs seem to indicate problems. I'm not sure if any of them are relevant, (or what they all mean), but I could post anything that might be useful, if I can figure out how much personalized info it might be wise to obscure.
They include what are apparently parsing errors, sleep failure codes, airport links down, system shut downs for various numerical causes, NVDA problems (like "Display-B: Not usable" or "system sleep prevented by PXS1"). Wacom's tablet monitors have always had sleep prevention problems, but none which made everything go haywire in the past.
Alas, I'm deathly afraid of opening up the Terminal window, so I guess I'm really just posting to let ryck and others know that new system 10.6.8 problems may not be unique to his set-up, or his hardware. My current Big Plan is to confine multi-tasking to my laptop till Apple issues its next update.
