Totally strange problem - after a while no programs will start

[Kasakka]

I got this problem after I figured out how to have both my PCIe and PCI graphics cards running at the same time. What happens is that after a while no programs will start! This is apparently also possible on real Macs because I found a forum thread about the same problem.

 

What happens is that programs will just jump on the dock for a while (longer than they would normally starting) and then die. I can't even open things like Disk Utility or Terminal. For some reason this doesn't happen instantly, only after using the OS for a while.

 

I also seem to be getting some weird program specific display corruption on the monitor connected to the second graphics card (which is recognized just fine, memory and all) - for example Linkinus would start showing randomly placed black lines on it. These persisted even after quitting the program and starting it again, even moved with the screen.

 

I've tried repairing permissions and flushing the extension cache but the problem is still there.

 

System: Abit IP35, GF 8800GT & 6200, 4 GB RAM, OSX Leopard 10.5.4.

 

Any ideas?

 

Console shows:

 

6/9/08 00:14:15 com.apple.launchd[105] (0x10b680.Locum[173]) Exited: Terminated

6/9/08 00:14:36 com.apple.launchd[105] (0x10b510.Locum[176]) Exited: Terminated

6/9/08 00:19:49 com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.SecurityServer[30]) Exited abnormally: Bus error

6/9/08 00:19:52 com.apple.launchd[1] (0x109e40.mdworker[181]) Exited abnormally: Abort trap

6/9/08 00:19:52 com.apple.launchd[1] (0x109e40.mdworker) Failed to check-in!

 

Apparently something causes launchd to crash. But what?

[Kasakka]

No launchd crash so far. It might be a certain program that causes it (in my case possibly NetNewsWire, which worked just fine earlier). I do have some problems with display corruption on my second monitor so there might be something deeper under this.

[Fjtorsol]

I had the same problem under Tiger i fixed by replacing AppleSMBIOS, but in Leopard it doesn't happen to me.

[Kasakka]

Interesting. Now I've plotted out that it was indeed NetNewsWire causing it for some reason (worked fine for many many months before), specifically the NewsGator syncing makes something break. NetNewsWire also instantly corrupts the output of my 2nd graphics card (GF6200 PCI). If I drag the app to the 3rd monitor (only one connected to the 2nd graphics card) then everything can start becoming garbled or just not updated on that screen. It's mind boggling that only a certain app would cause this.