Leopard Screen Artifacts, and GPU Temp (is this too hot?)

So I was having screen artifacts, and randomly my screen would just go black. The computer was still running, because any Music I was listening to etc..., would keep playing but I couldn't see the screen. I replaced my RAM about a month ago (was upgrading anyway), and both problems seemed to go away, until recently. I way doing a screen sharing session with a friend about a week ago, and my screen went black, we were still connected, and he said that all he saw on my screen was a mess of lines and static etc.... Im also getting the artifacts again, and some windows are getting distorted when dragging. Im assuming that the artifacts, and the black screens are related. I don't know why it started happening again, but Im getting kinda annoyed! The computer has also froze 2x today while moving the mouse around in the dock/stacks kinda fast, I didn't get the black screen this time just freezing. I've been reading the discussion on Apples site, and people are saying Leopard is frying the Graphics Cards. Im just trying to figure out exactly what is to blame here?

Is my Graphics card dying, which I think is unlikely since so many people are having the artifacts

Is it just a driver issue with Leopard

Or is Leopard (specifically Core Animation) just pushing my Graphics card too much and causing it to overheat?

Right now my GPU temp is 76C 169F, with nothing graphics intensive running, just OS X it-self. Is that too hot? What temps are you guys getting with your X1600s?

I have a 1.83Ghz Core Duo iMac with an X1600

Here are some screenshots. Am I correct in assuming if it was actually Hardware related that I wouldn't be able to see the artifacts in screen shots?

Sorry for the long post, Im just getting really annoyed I was hoping 10.5.2, and the Graphics Update would fix this, but apparently not!

EDIT: I tried to minimize this thread, and it froze again 1/2 through minimizing, I had to turn it off, and back on then it froze again! Seems to be working for right now, but this is annoying!

EDIT 2: It just did it again with a stack

P.S. w00t Im a 65816 One Thousand Posts! Yay!

Any other thoughts?

pastrychef said:

Yes, my guess would be faulty video card, too.

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Yea but Im not the only one with this problem. And Like I said if it was the card, they wouldn't show up in the screen shots.

Thanks, I saw smcFanControl while reading the tread, I just grabbed it, and set it to your settings, we shal see what happens. I shut the comp down for an hour just to let everything cool off, and start fresh. What machine do you have BTW? and what GPU?

Well it's been almost a hour now, and my GPU temp is hovering around 63C for normal use, must better then 76+, and so far no artifacts! One small question though, is there anyway to have smcFanControl NOT show in the menu bar? I noticed that I can quit it and the fan speeds still stay set. I already have iStat Menus, and don't really need/want another monitor in my Menu. Not a huge deal, but would be nice.

I don't feel like restarting now, but would checking the "hide" box in Login Items work? Im assuming not.

Well this is interesting. I just installed Tiger on an External HD just for troubleshooting, and the default fan speeds in Tiger are the same as Leopard, and my GPU is running at 76 in Tiger too. I also got some artifacts right after I installed Tiger. I don't exactally know what to make of this.


EDIT: Well Im back in Leopard, and Im at 62C with the fans turned up, which is good. Still kinda confused, but hey if ti works Im happy.

thesheets said:

I'm on a 24" iMac (Fall 2006) NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT w/ 256MB VRAM.

From what I read on that discussion page (wish I had the link) they said the fan speeds where lowered. But if they weren't I don't know what to tell you. 'Cause ever since I started using smcFanControl I haven't had the problem. Maybe the overall fan settings are too low in general or something.

As for getting rid of it in the menu bar, go to the preferences and set the Menubar icon option to icon only and save. The next time it launches it will just leave a hazard symbol (like for burning a disc). But I'm sure there's a way you could write an Apple Script to launch the app then close it. Sorry I don't know any scripting.

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Yeah I could write an Apple Script if I wanted to, but I kinda like the Hazard Symbol. I don't really know why, but somehow it seems to be cooperating now thet I turned the fans up. Hopefully it's not just a coincedence. I turned the fans up a little more, and the GPU is staying at 60-61C. With no artifacts so far. We'll give it a few days and see what happens.

SaSaSushi said:

That looks exactly like the artifacts I saw on my 20" Core Duo iMac when the logic board failed. Actually, it may have been the GPU that failed but the only repair Apple does in such a situation is total replacement of the logic board to which the GPU is attached. Someone suggested at the time that excessive heat may have caused the GPU to work free and lose it's proper connection to the logic board. I have no idea since Apple never tells you what the problem is. They just do the replacement.

I started seeing those lines on the desktop right after startup and then the machine started freezing. Eventually it got so bad I couldn't get the machine to boot into OS X at all. Strangely, Boot Camp XP worked fine.

The worst part was the machine was 6 weeks out of the one year warranty and I had passed on Apple Care (never again!) and I ended up shelling out $500 for the new logic board.

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Don't Say That!!!!! I can't afford a new Logic Board right now (or for quite a while TBH) So far smcFanControl seems to be doing the trick, lets hope it stays that way.

Just thought I'd post another update. So far so good, no artifacts since turning up the fans. Also I tried playing Return To Castle Wolfenstein yesterday before I installed smcFanControl, and I was getting all kinds of flashing, and weird graphic glitches. I just played it for about and hour, and it was fine, It froze momentarily every once in a while, but I chalk that up to Rosetta. I checked my GPU temp after the game, and it was only up to 58C. Right now it's back down to 52C.