Screen "tearing" on external display of brand new 13" MBP

[BlueRevolution]

I have a 1024x1280 display connected to my 3-day-old 13" MacBook Pro, and when I scroll up and down in windows on the connected display, I see a tearing effect about 2 cm from the right edge of the screen. It's especially evident with smooth scrolling enabled, but it's visible with it disabled as well.

This isn't a particular inconvenience at the moment, but should I be concerned for the possibility of further graphics problems down the road? Should I have someone look at it?

 

[Relznuk]

Does it also happen in OSX? If it happens to in Win, but not OSX, it's a software problem, and something that drivers will have to fix.

 

[Azathoth]

Analog or digital connection?

 

[BlueRevolution]

Does it also happen in OSX? If it happens to in Win, but not OSX, it's a software problem, and something that drivers will have to fix.

This happens in OS X. I have installed Windows but haven't used it yet. I was referring to small-w windows in my post above, ie. the boxy window-shaped things that appear when you open an application.

Analog or digital connection?

DVI. I should note that I've been using the same display and cable with my early 2008 iMac with no problems, albeit with a different adaptor (Mini DVI to DVI not Mini DisplayPort to DVI).

Edit: I just tried to record the effect with ScreenFlow, and the recording looks perfectly fine. I also tried watching video on the display, and there's a slight tearing there too.

 

[Azathoth]

Do you have the option to set different refresh rates. e.g. go from 60 to 50Hz or vice versa?

 

[BlueRevolution]

I changed the refresh rate from 60 Hz to 75 Hz (the only other option), and the tearing is no longer noticeable while scrolling, but it's definitely still there when playing HD video.

 

[Ash9414]

I changed the refresh rate from 60 Hz to 75 Hz (the only other option), and the tearing is no longer noticeable while scrolling, but it's definitely still there when playing HD video.

Just out of interest, what MacBook Pro 13" do you have?

 

[BlueRevolution]

2.4 GHz Mid 2010

 

[Kadman]

Dumb question: Have you pressed the "Auto" button or otherwise chosen an auto synch from a menu system on the display? Sometimes it's able to detect and adjust for small synch issues this way.

 

[drambuie]

This happens in OS X. I have installed Windows but haven't used it yet. I was referring to small-w windows in my post above, ie. the boxy window-shaped things that appear when you open an application.



DVI. I should note that I've been using the same display and cable with my early 2008 iMac with no problems, albeit with a different adaptor (Mini DVI to DVI not Mini DisplayPort to DVI).

Edit: I just tried to record the effect with ScreenFlow, and the recording looks perfectly fine. I also tried watching video on the display, and there's a slight tearing there too.

You haven't said if you're doing video mirroring, using an extended desktop, or using the external display only. The external 1280 x 1024 is almost square at a 5:4 ratio. There could be an issue with the nVidia 320M driver in translating to the 5:4 ratio. The best thing is to try another monitor, preferrably a 16:10 one. If it does not exhibit the scrolling problem, the video driver is probably at fault. In the PC world, video issues like this are usually due to faulty, or incorrect video drivers.

 

[BlueRevolution]

Dumb question: Have you pressed the "Auto" button or otherwise chosen an auto synch from a menu system on the display? Sometimes it's able to detect and adjust for small synch issues this way.

Done; no change.

You haven't said if you're doing video mirroring, using an extended desktop, or using the external display only.

Sorry, it's an extended desktop. Both displays are operating at their native resolutions, and the Dell is rotated 90º, hence 1024x1280 rather than 1280x1024.

The best thing is to try another monitor, preferrably a 16:10 one.

I'm going to try it out with my friend's 1920x1200 display on Tuesday.

If it does not exhibit the scrolling problem, the video driver is probably at fault. In the PC world, video issues like this are usually due to faulty, or incorrect video drivers.

This is the Mac world. Apple should ship drivers that actually work with the products they sell.

 

[BlueRevolution]

Update: This only seems to happen while the display is rotated in System Preferences. It looks the same when set to 90º, 180º, or 270º. There's no visible tearing when rotation is set to standard.

I should also add that the right side of the display as I look at it would normally be at the top if I didn't have it physically turned.

 

[N3ox]

Just curious, what is your MBP 13" pannel ?

 

[BlueRevolution]

LP133WX3-TLA4

I don't see any details on the panel on Google, but by looking at it, it's clearly not IPS.

 

[drambuie]

Update: This only seems to happen while the display is rotated in System Preferences. It looks the same when set to 90º, 180º, or 270º. There's no visible tearing when rotation is set to standard.

I should also add that the right side of the display as I look at it would normally be at the top if I didn't have it physically turned.

It looks like an nVidia driver issue. Apparently, the 320 chip is a custom design for Apple, and maybe in the rush to get them out the door, display rotation on a 1280 x 1024 screen was missed during testing, or maybe rotation wasn't tested at all. What happens if you rotate the display on the MPB's screen?

 

[BlueRevolution]

I thought of that yesterday, but no can do.

So long as it's a driver issue I don't mind; I'm just extra-sensitive because the computer is brand-new and I know that small hardware problems have a tendency to turn into big problems over time.

 

[whawhat]

i'm having the same problem with my brand new 2.66 13" MBP that i got this week. I have it connected to a 23" apple studio display. when i am working on an application on my 23" display and have video streaming on my 13" i get the white "tearing" effect you speak about. the 13" display is fine when i'm not hooked up to my external. i was hoping a simple firmware update would fix it.

 

[BlueRevolution]

You see it on your external display? Is it rotated as well?

The effect for me isn't a colour, it's just that the right/top side of the screen is lagging very slightly behind the rest.

 

[whawhat]

You see it on your external display? Is it rotated as well?

The effect for me isn't a colour, it's just that the right/top side of the screen is lagging very slightly behind the rest.

only with the 13" MBP screen / not the 23" display. i guess it could be lagging. not sure if it's worth visiting the genius bar over this. otherwise loving the new MBP

 

[drambuie]

It's looking like the 320 is being taxed when outputting to two displays, and with the extra load of rotating the pixel map, or live streaming, it can't keep up with changing data. I'm sure the hardware itself must be capable, so it could still be a driver or firmware issue.

 

[BlueRevolution]

If the 320 can't handle that, God forbid I should try to play games.

 

[Bill Gates]

Be sure to contact Apple with your findings. That will increase the likelihood of there actually being a fix.

 

[BlueRevolution]

Will do. Here's a clip of the problem, although it isn't particularly clear because the framerate playing HD video and recording at the same time rather sucks. I've isolated and attached a frame where it's particularly visible, on the left side because Photo Booth flipped the video.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/68829/tearing.mov

And no, I wouldn't normally play 16:9 video at 4:5; just wanted to fill the screen to better illustrate the problem.

Edit:

Be sure to contact Apple with your findings. That will increase the likelihood of there actually being a fix.

Done.

 

[BlueRevolution]

I just had the computer in to the shop on an unrelated matter, so I asked them to look into it. Predictably, they were unable to reproduce the problem.