< Back

Tecplot 360 does not finish opening on Mac OS X10.5.7, OS X 10.8.2, after security updates are applied


Note:  With the release of Tecplot 360 EX for Mac the use of an X server is not needed.  Tecplot is now native to the Mac so this is no longer an issue with Tecplot 360 EX. Download the latest release or get a free trial.

Problem:

When opening Tecplot 360, the initial Tecplot window appears, however, Tecplot appears to “hang/freeze” on a grey screen.

Solution:

Apple is no longer supporting X11 (Apple’s version of the X server).  Thus when you start Tecplot the application seems to freeze on a grey screen.  In order to solve this issue, we have found a couple of solutions.

  1. The first solution to this problem is to run Tecplot in –mesa mode via a Terminal window.  This will, of course, exclude the use of your graphics card.
  2. The second option is to download the latest version of XQuartz (2.7.4).  Once this is done you will need to either remove X11 from your system or set XQuartz as the default application (this is asked during install).  Once the install is complete you will most likely need to restart your computer or log out and log back in before the changes take effect.

Apple has recently posted on their support page some more information on the reason for the change.

The latest version of XQuartz can be found here:
https://xquartz.macosforge.org/landing/