Video artifacts

[emac kinda guy]

I'm suddenly get a lot of strange dots in my display. Letters missing pixels. Miscellaneous dots on the screen. My kids game was dropping polynominals.

Does this mean that my video card is going? Could it be something else.

I'm running 10.3.9 on a 1.25 GHz G4 e-mac.

[Foxglove9]

Usually artifacts tend to come from ram issues on the video card. Have you installed any new programs or done anything different since it started?

One possible solution is the basics. Repairing permissions, repairing disk, resetting PRAM, and resetting firmware. When I was overclocking an older video card I ran into problems like that. Resetting the firmware worked.

Or it could be other things that's causing your problems...

[emac kinda guy]

We just installed World of Warcraft and have had many crashes. Have reset permissions and repaired the disk. I'll try the PRAM. Not sure how to reset firmware - but I'll look

Thanks

Originally Posted by Foxglove9

Usually artifacts tend to come from ram issues on the video card. Have you installed any new programs or done anything different since it started?

One possible solution is the basics. Repairing permissions, repairing disk, resetting PRAM, and resetting firmware. When I was overclocking an older video card I ran into problems like that. Resetting the firmware worked.

Or it could be other things that's causing your problems...

[disconap]

WoW may be too much for your machine. But you can try downloading ATIccelerator and seeing if bringing down the RAM or GPU speed gets rid of the artifacts...

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/15849

[longofest]

bad news man!!!

http://macintouch.com/readerreports/...116.html#mar02

http://discussions.apple.com/thread....&tstart=0%3Cbr

Will be a news story on this issue soon.

[babble]

WoW will run fine on your eMac. I've got two of them at home and played my fair share of it.

I had some problem with my screen on one of the eMac, and got the motherboard replaced on AppleCare. Don'T know if it was related to the capacitors or not.

[longofest]

It appears as though a significant number of 1.25 Ghz eMac users are suffering from logic board breakdowns that cause video to become distorted. Although Apple's included diagnostic utilities indicate that all hardware is operating normally, opening up the machines reveals bulging and cracked capacitors.

Most of the issues are occurring out of the eMac's 1-year standard warranty, and Apple has yet to set up any sort of extended repair service (although some are having limited success getting their machines repaired for free by noting the Apple discussion thread).

Raw Data:
Apple Discussion Board
Macintouch User Reports

[iriejedi]

Probably the same capacitors Dell uses. At our company our Optiplex GX270s and other models were suffering from many blown and buldging capacitors. Dell claimed it was a bad lot and fixed many monther boards in 24 hours, a few on site.

So I guess there is a new QC manager position opening at Capacitor Corp!

[longofest]

Originally Posted by iriejedi

Probably the same capacitors Dell uses. At our company our Optiplex GX270s and other models were suffering from many blown and buldging capacitors. Dell claimed it was a bad lot and fixed many monther boards in 24 hours, a few on site.

So I guess there is a new QC manager position opening at Capacitor Corp!

Yeah, this kind of thing is to be expected with the lower-end units of any manufacturer. However, to this point Apple isn't (on a large scale) accepting back the eMacs and fixing the logic boards. At least Dell acknowledged the problem. It looks like it is the same problem here (other people aren't having issues as well, so it was a bad lot off the assembly line it looks like).

[nagromme]

I won't argue against it being non-insignificant, but Apple has often in the past stepped up to create a program for post-warranty repairs when such an issue emerges. Hopefully they will do the same in this case.

Also "significant numbers" is hard to quantify: if even 1% of owners had a problem, they'd still flood forums seeking solutions. (And still deserve solutions.)

[Marble]

I *just* sent in a 1ghz TiBook that was experiencing this "gibber." Usually, the effect could be reduced by squeezing the corner of the PB by the left screen hinge, but eventually it became unmanagable and I took the $320 hit to repair it. The (very green) tech told me it might be a faulty inverter or a problem with the video card. Sounds similar to what's been happening here.

[lilstewart]

I don't think Apple will do anything about it, that's just my feeling.

A shame, really.

[emac kinda guy]

Originally Posted by longofest

Yeah, this kind of thing is to be expected with the lower-end units of any manufacturer. However, to this point Apple isn't (on a large scale) accepting back the eMacs and fixing the logic boards. At least Dell acknowledged the problem. It looks like it is the same problem here (other people aren't having issues as well, so it was a bad lot off the assembly line it looks like).

Excuse me. To be expected?

[emac kinda guy]

Originally Posted by disconap

WoW may be too much for your machine. But you can try downloading ATIccelerator and seeing if bringing down the RAM or GPU speed gets rid of the artifacts...

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/15849

This made a significant difference in the display. Much less artifacts. But still some.

The rest of this thread has me quite concerned though. Apple shareholders voted down a resolution about being responsible for the products they make last week.

I may be reevaluating my computing preferences.

Backing data up now.

[longofest]

Originally Posted by emac kinda guy

Excuse me. To be expected?

I think you might be taking my point wrong. The fact that every hardware manufacturer ends up having its lower-end lines having higher percentage of defects would make one expect that even Apple would be susceptible to this phenonmenon. That being said, it does not excuse a manufacturer from dealing with the issue when it becomes more than simply an isolated case here and there, as these situations seem to becoming with the eMac.

Apple doesn't get off the hook. You have a perfectly reasonable expectation that your computer should be still running just fine, and if it isn't then it is Apple's fault.

[Wellander]

Hi,
Is this the same type of issue that the imac g5 had?
Sorry for the off topic stuff.

[longofest]

Originally Posted by Wellander

Hi,
Is this the same type of issue that the imac g5 had?
Sorry for the off topic stuff.

With the fans? or power supply?

Either way, this is a bit worse because this is happening outside of most users' 1 year warranty. Most of those iMac G5's were still under the 1 year warranty. However, you are correct in noting that this is not the first time that Apple has had a large number of units ship with some kind of issue.

[Wellander]

Hi,
The bad caps issue.
Like http://www.apple.com/support/imac/re...ensionprogram/
This issue?

[amdp]

Originally Posted by Marble

I *just* sent in a 1ghz TiBook that was experiencing this "gibber." Usually, the effect could be reduced by squeezing the corner of the PB by the left screen hinge, but eventually it became unmanagable and I took the $320 hit to repair it. The (very green) tech told me it might be a faulty inverter or a problem with the video card. Sounds similar to what's been happening here.

Marble, I dealt with a 1 GHz TiBook last year that had the same problem. When we pinched the corner of the casing, the effect decreased. I was in a laboratory and we were able to zoom in with a photo microscope to some connector pins on the logic board that were becoming loose-- pushing down on them solved the problem. A collegue of mine had the skill and equipment to solder the pins back onto the board. It worked for a while... until the pins separated from the board again after the system heated up.

I actually also had one of the eMacs with the problem capacitors. It's very easy to diagnose: The computer freezes A LOT, and I'm not talking modern-day freezes, I mean old-school where you have to hold the power button to turn the system off. When you inspect capactors they are leaky or bulgy. I was able to take my eMac into the Apple Store and explain to them what was shared on the eMac forum at Apple support and Apple replaced the logic board free of charge even though it was out of warranty. My situation seemed to have been an abnormality as far as Apple being so willing to fix it though.

[Marble]

Originally Posted by amdp

Marble, I dealt with a 1 GHz TiBook last year that had the same problem. When we pinched the corner of the casing, the effect decreased. I was in a laboratory and we were able to zoom in with a photo microscope to some connector pins on the logic board that were becoming loose-- pushing down on them solved the problem. A collegue of mine had the skill and equipment to solder the pins back onto the board. It worked for a while... until the pins separated from the board again after the system heated up.

Hmm. Something about being in Tucson, AZ .

I hope the folks at Apple are as savvy as you were in identifying the problem. It sounds like they may have to replace the board to really solve it.

[swingerofbirch]

I don't remember what language we can use here, so I'll just say, Apple really fudged this one up.

I have an eMac as well that has had its share of problems and I am now concerned about this as my warranty will expire soon.

I went through the iBook logic board "me to Apple there is a systemic problem Apple to me it's all in your head Me no it's not Apple Ok you were right it's a logic board defect but we're gonna screw you over anyway and claim water damage" fiasco and I don't wanna again.

Does Apple have spotty quality worse than other PC makers, or do we just bring it to the light cos we have a community?

[ipodml]

i remember my emac - it was my first mac that i had - to be honest it was better than the pc before it but it sure was loud - in fact i had to switch it off before 12 so people could sleep in my flat - they did a petition for that and i had the superdrive replaced over 10 times. Now my friend has an emac which is his first mac and that has these video artifacts - the tried taking to apple in regent street and they don't care. So i went there with him and got it sorted. We got it fixed and it still seems to show the artifacts on the screen.

[Scarlet Fever]

Originally Posted by emac kinda guy

I'm suddenly get a lot of strange dots in my display. Letters missing pixels. Miscellaneous dots on the screen. My kids game was dropping polynominals.
Does this mean that my video card is going? Could it be something else.
I'm running 10.3.9 on a 1.25 GHz G4 e-mac.

bet you never thought a problem with the display on your eMac would become Page 2 news, hey

This doesn't sound like a good situation for Apple to be in. From my past experiences with Apple and other computers, when a logic board gets replaced, there are never ending problems after that. I think they should be replacing logic boards for free, or at least for a discount, seeing that it is a manufacturing defect.

[edenwaith]

I have a 1.25 GHz eMac I bought in 2004, and I haven't had any problems with it yet!

[zelman]

Originally Posted by nagromme

I won't argue against it being non-insignificant, but Apple has often in the past stepped up to create a program for post-warranty repairs when such an issue emerges. Hopefully they will do the same in this case.

Also "significant numbers" is hard to quantify: if even 1% of owners had a problem, they'd still flood forums seeking solutions. (And still deserve solutions.)

Not really "when such an issue emerges." More like a year or so later. I had my iBook G3 logic board replaced 3 times before they extended the logic board warranty, and by the second replacement it was a known problem on message boards.