MacBook Pro Crashing A Lot...

Question

Hi guys
It's about time I've tried to figure this problem out, I guess I haven't previously because I'm scared of what the specialists will say, but here goes...
I have a MacBook Pro, from around last 2006 I believe and over the last 6 months or so, I've had problems with it crashing. It has this tendency to do it, sometimes without any warning, when it's doing something graphical, for example sometimes when I go into the dock and it increases in size, the computer will crash...it's strange because although it has crashed I can still move the mouse cursor around the screen usually, I just can't click anything or nothing responds to the cursor moving over it. This can be whether I have one program on, or having Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver open all at the same time, it really is that random.
It also crashes a lot, nearly ever time, when I play a game called Peggle when I'm on a break from my design work.
I've also noticed sometimes, random lines or distorted colours appearing on the screen sometimes and also sometimes a corner or a part of the application that I am in will distort and elongate itself, if that makes sense (this is cured when I move the window off screen and back on again).
Also, and I don't know if this has anything to do with it, I have some blotches appearing at the top of the screen and some down the left and right side, however I get the feeling this might be because it once got a little wet when I was out and about with it in my laptop bag (it was raining heavily).
I hope someone can help me. I'm sorry if I've waffled on, or even if this topic is in the wrong section, but I really hope someone can help.
Thanks again.
Steve.

Answer 1

Hi Jason
I don't think it happens in a specific program as such, it tends to happen when I am doing certain things or have other things open for example. I mean, if I have iTunes open, which has quite a large 25GB library within it, then I'm pretty sure it's more likely to happen. Not saying that it's down to iTunes, I think I'm more saying it's likely to happen if something bulky is open, and yet, when I have Photoshop open along with a couple of other applications, it seems to happen a lot less, which kind of contradicts that point. But something I forgot to mention, is that it also tends to happen when I open up my stacks. Not all the time, but occasionally that can be the cause of it, and also something else is when I would scroll down a page in the browser, sometimes with some speed, it might trip it, but as for specific programs, I can't name just one or two, but it does happen a lot with that game I was talking about at some point during play, which makes me wonder if it's a problem 'graphically'. I'm not technical at all, but I think you get the gist of what I am saying.
Regarding your second point, I actually reinstalled Leopard after this was happening with a fresh start and it was doing the same things without some of my programs that I like to use installed on it yet. Also, I installed Snow Leopard yesterday and the problems are still there and to be honest, it seems slightly worse to me as SL seems a little glitchy right now.
Regarding your third point, I'll give that a try. I'll create a new user and see if the problem persists.
I just find it strange that seemingly no-one has encountered this problem from my searching, with the graphical distortions and the random crashings and the watery texture at the top of the screen (again this could be from me getting it slightly wet).
Thanks for your help. if this has suggested anything more that you know, then please let me know.
Steve.