Screen artifact when resuming from sleep?

[terraphantm]

Lately if my macbook (retina 15" mid 2012) has been asleep for a couple hours, it briefly displays a completely garbled screen for a few seconds when waking up. It looks like white noise, except with some colored "snow" on top of that. After that split second everything goes back to normal and everything appears to function properly. I haven't really benchmarked the laptop, but both GPUs appear to work

Any thoughts as to what the problem could be (if it is indeed a problem)?

I'll try to get a picture of it. It happens so briefly that I usually can't get one in time

 

[liya1201]

Had a similar problem on my 2012 cMBP before. The only way to resolve this problem was to reboot it into safe mode. But this problem usually came back when my cMBP was booted normally and awoke from deep sleep.

Mysteriously, this problem was gone when I upgraded to Mavericks...

 

[terraphantm]

I had this problem with mavericks and still have it with Yosemite. Starting to think it may be hardware, but there are no other apparent issues, even when stressing the graphics

 

[maflynn]

In older models, i.e., 2011, 2010 and 2008 MBPs, that was a sign of a failing GPU. If the issue occurs regardless of upgrading the OS, then it is most likely related to the hardware but I cannot be sure. Its not a good sign though

 

[laurihoefs]

I've had the same issue on a 2012 rMBP since Mavericks, and still have it in Yosemite. I really don't think it is anything to worry about.

It's just a brief flash of coloured noise before the desktop comes up. I've seen similar issues with many PCs with NVIDIA GPUs, usually when Windows loads the graphics driver and/or when screen resolution is set/changed.

No ther glitches or issues ever appear at any other occasion, not even under extremely heavy load, so a GPU failure would be a very, very unlikely explanation.

 

[terraphantm]

In older models, i.e., 2011, 2010 and 2008 MBPs, that was a sign of a failing GPU. If the issue occurs regardless of upgrading the OS, then it is most likely related to the hardware but I cannot be sure. Its not a good sign though

That's exactly what I'm worried about. I still have about a year left on my AppleCare so hopefully it shows some "real" symptoms if the GPU truly is failing.

I've had the same issue on a 2012 rMBP since Mavericks, and still have it in Yosemite. I really don't think it is anything to worry about.

It's just a brief flash of coloured noise before the desktop comes up. I've seen similar issues with many PCs with NVIDIA GPUs, usually when Windows loads the graphics driver and/or when screen resolution is set/changed.

No ther glitches or issues ever appear at any other occasion, not even under extremely heavy load, so a GPU failure would be a very, very unlikely explanation.

Does make me somewhat more comfortable knowing there's someone else out there with identical symptoms. In my own experience, I've only seen similar issues on PCs when I overclocked too much. But I do agree that the lack of issue when playing games or doing anything else graphically intensive is a good sign.

 

[Robotti]

I have the exact same thing happening with my 15" rMBP Mid 2012. Absolutely no other problems regarding display, so I'm also thinking it's a software issue. From what I remember, it also started with some SW update, not sure though. Anyway, it has been there for more than a year, and as I said, no other problems.

 

[maflynn]

I have the exact same thing happening with my 15" rMBP Mid 2012. Absolutely no other problems regarding display, so I'm also thinking it's a software issue. From what I remember, it also started with some SW update, not sure though. Anyway, it has been there for more than a year, and as I said, no other problems.

There was an update that caused safari to show weird artifacts on the screen, so I'm hoping you're right

Only time will tell, though I am a bit sensitive to this issue since I'm out of warranty and I really wanted to get a few more years out of the computer.

 

[cjmillsnun]

Does it freeze up?

Mine didn't to start with, then froze about once a week (kernel panic), then twice a week, then once a day.

It was something failing on the logic board.

 

[terraphantm]

Does it freeze up?

Mine didn't to start with, then froze about once a week (kernel panic), then twice a week, then once a day.

It was something failing on the logic board.

I did have a couple freezes this past week, but I attributed it to Yosemite. Though come to think of it, some of the freezes seemed to happen when launching an app that triggers the GPU switch..

 

[Robotti]

I forgot to mention that while the "white noise" artifact is showing, the mouse cursor can be seen on top of it, and it looks just like it should. So I'm definitely leaning towards a software problem.