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Apple Acknowledges Video Problems in New MacBooks

jav6454

jav6454

macrumors Core
Original poster
Nov 14, 2007
22,303
6,270
1 Geostationary Tower Plaza
Well, what you read is what this thread is about. To give more of a background here is what is happening.

When you play a game on your new late '08 MacBook you may get a black screen and the sound of the game repeating in a loop. Some people get that, but still have their mouse pointer visible. Others can force quite the game and relaunch. The time it may take to happen to you will vary alot.

Anyway its a problem. Yes, it has happened to me while I was playing Rise of Nations. Other games reported include but are not limited to Call of Duty 4, WoW, Age of Empires 3 and Spore. Apple has said they don't know if its a software or hardware glitch. But what is thought that it's the graphics card, it seems to overload up to a point where it shuts itself down to protect itself; however, it also freezes the system and causes the sound loop previously described. Apple think it maybe a thermal issue.

Another issue that has arisen is the fact that web pages with HD video content on it get distorted. It seems this distortion is linked to the graphics chip also.

Both previously described issues happen under Windows or OS X. So switching between them does not help.

Apple has said that further investigations have started. They advice not to exchange laptops because they still don't know what is really going on. Apple has promised a patch to fix all issues.

Ok, so that's it for all this. Any MacRumors members experiencing their problems? Please share and see if we can track down a pattern. Keep discussions civil, no flame wars.

Edit - Here are the links

Link to the article: Here
Link to Apple Forums about Issue #1: Here
Link to Apple Forums about Issue #2: Here
Gizmodo Article: Here
The Inquirer Article: Here
 
On my aluminum MacBook (2GHz), I've played several games in Windows testing out the GPU.

Fallout 3, Unreal Tournament 3, Call of Duty 4 and World at War, GRID, Gears of War, the Half-Life 2 series.

I've played HD video on this system in Windows and OS X. DVDs. I've watched plenty of embedded video as well other Flash content.

Not a single video problem.

To my surprise, the GeForce 9400M in this has outperformed the GeForce 8400M GS in my PC notebook.

Not a problem at all.
 
mosx said:
On my aluminum MacBook (2GHz), I've played several games in Windows testing out the GPU.

Fallout 3, Unreal Tournament 3, Call of Duty 4 and World at War, GRID, Gears of War, the Half-Life 2 series.

I've played HD video on this system in Windows and OS X. DVDs. I've watched plenty of embedded video as well other Flash content.

Not a single video problem.

To my surprise, the GeForce 9400M in this has outperformed the GeForce 8400M GS in my PC notebook.

Not a problem at all.
Click to expand...

Well, its an issue Apple says is there. It may or may not happen, thats why its making Apple so confiused... they still can't isolate the malfunction.
 
I could use a link. I know my L4D has been crashing with the audio looping, but it also happened with my older computer…
 
Hey can someone post a couple of website links that this happens on?
Thx.
 
jav6454 said:
Ok, so that's it for all this. Any MacRumors members experiencing their problems? Please share and see if we can track down a pattern. Keep discussions civil, no flame wars.
Click to expand...

1. Game issue I can't comment on as I have yet to play any games on my Macbook (I use my PC desktop for games instead).

2. HD video content "web" issue I can't comment on as I'm not sure if I've been to any HD web sites yet. If anybody can provide some links to some HD web pages I will check it out and post my findings. However, outside of the web, I have used my unibody Macbook on a lot of HD encoded video and have experienced no graphic issues at all. Xvid, DivX, H.264 and various other content has played fine through both Quicktime and VLC.

3. Hooking up an external 24 inch Dell 2407 monitor results in static with an approximately 3 second "blink" cycle between the static and the desktop screen sometimes when the computer comes out of sleep. This issue has been documented pretty well by other users. My current workaround is to resleep the computer and bring it out of sleep again until the static and blinking goes away. Other users pull out the external monitor plug and replug it until it goes away. This problem doesn't happen on Windows under bootcamp, so looks like an OSX issue with the graphic drivers, maybe. Under windows bootcamp instead of the static sometimes the screen refuses to wake up and only solution seems to be a forced reboot. But the drivers apple provides for Windows are terrible at the moment and the wireless, sound, and trackpad all have issues too so the drivers in general seem immature and rushed.
 
VSMacOne said:
no I mean a couple of the sites that you have gone to, in order to test the issue...
Click to expand...

The only issue that can be tested online is the issue where HD content gets distorted while viewing in a website. I have no Netflix or like-wise membership, but someone that has can try.

The games issues is more like something people have to report on as it varies per machine.

Also, viewing YouTube won't cut it...
 
jav6454 said:
Link to the article: Here
Link to Apple Forums about Issue #1: Here
Link to Apple Forums about Issue #2: Here
Gizmodo Article: Here
Click to expand...

I saw all of that after I posted here last. I looked it up myself.

Apple hasn't confirmed anything.

You basically have a couple of people on forums saying they spoke to someone at Apple and some unnamed person at Apple said "Oh yeah we're having problems with that".

Sounds like a lot of "he said she said" stuff to me. The people at Apple's support forums need to just have their systems replaced because they have faulty motherboards. Simple.
 
Re: HD video on websites

Our graphic designer has a new macbook, and we've been watching the HD videos on our site http://www.howcast.com without any problem. Not all our videos are HD, but some are - there have been no issues with either the regular or HD versions. Now all our videos are only 2-3 minuts long, so maybe there is something to be said for full length movies, but no HD issues on our end.
 
mosx said:
I saw all of that after I posted here last. I looked it up myself.

Apple hasn't confirmed anything.

You basically have a couple of people on forums saying they spoke to someone at Apple and some unnamed person at Apple said "Oh yeah we're having problems with that".

Sounds like a lot of "he said she said" stuff to me. The people at Apple's support forums need to just have their systems replaced because they have faulty motherboards. Simple.
Click to expand...

Maybe so, but normally all that is required to know something is wrong is that someone (even if unnamed) at a company accepts it so and has a leading position in the company. In this case Apple UK.
 
jav6454 said:
Maybe so, but normally all that is required to know something is wrong is that someone (even if unnamed) at a company accepts it so and has a leading position in the company. In this case Apple UK.
Click to expand...

What person had a leading position?

You had one person (with 6 posts) say they spoke to AppleCare UK and that the person they spoke to supposedly confirmed the issue.

You had another person say they spoke to an floor salesman who went into the back room and then came back saying they supposedly spoke to an Engineer who confirmed it.

So you have two people who supposedly spoke to two people with another one of those people supposedly speaking to yet another person.

I don't see any "leading positions" or anything that might even hint at a real confirmation or acknowledgment by anyone really.
 
If it is a thermal problem, you may probably be able to solve this problem by adjusting the fan speeds with the SmcFancontrol?
 
In any case if its official or non official, people from Apple (regardless who they were) acknowledged the problem. Users have had the symptoms described, so for me its good enough information to say something is wrong.

May not affect everyone. But I for once, had the gaming issue happen on me. So did it happen to a friend of mine. Others will follow. Not everyone though
 
jav6454 said:
The Inquirer has posted and article about this also. Seems it is actually the nVdia chipset... again.
Click to expand...

Not the first time nVidia has had issues with a mobile GPU! Currently many HP laptops - my first real laptop presently - has many models affected by various uses of Mobile GPU's. Mine, 1.5yr HP DV2404cam, has already been sent back for repairs where they just replaced the GPU. My mobile chipset is an NVidia 430 + GeForce 6150 (not the PUMA platform) but not much older than the current one's used in MacBooks. Sure you guys get SERIOUS perfomance vs my machine, however nVidia currently is being taken to court by a few manufacturers for expenses in repairs and faulty gpu chipsets. a MAJOR recall was already done this summer - something that surprised me that Apple went with them instead of ATi which also has Hybrid mobile chipsets.
 
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