Apple Shares New Support Document Addressing Distorted Screen Issue on Macs Running Windows 10

[MacRumors]

Apple yesterday published a new support document detailing fixes for an issue where the right side of a user's Mac screen may be distorted when running Windows 10.

Some Mac models with AMD Radeon graphics may be experiencing an issue where the right side of the screen flickers and is distorted when running Windows 10. On external displays, this distortion may affect the entire screen.

Alternately, the Windows 10 installer may say that the Mac isn't ready for this version of Windows 10 because it has an old AMD graphics driver.

To fix the problem, Apple encourages users to install updated AMD graphics drivers for Windows.

If updated AMD graphics drivers aren't yet available, Apple offers a workaround when using an external display by instructing users to reduce the resolution. Apple notes that, while this step should work on most external displays, it will not work on the Apple Pro Display XDR and the LG UltraFine 4K and 5K displays.

Article Link: Apple Shares New Support Document Addressing Distorted Screen Issue on Macs Running Windows 10

 

[MyMacintosh]

Was having this issue and thought it was just me or a faulty cable/glitch/etc. Good to know it wasn't.

 

[bulbousnub]

Anyone have any blue screen on boot issues with Bootcamp? 2017 27" iMac will blue screen on boot unless I unplug all USB-C devices (in this case a Monitor and USB hub) before booting into Windows.

 

[0924487]

__Question__

If macOS automatic graphics switching is currently using integrated GPU, does it still use the dedicated AMD graphics memory?

For me, the system info shows two sets of graphics memories, I am confused as to when either is used and how they transition between memories if any.

Radeon Pro 560X 4 GB
Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB

 

[MauiPa]

One of the many reasons I don’t use Windows any more. Shouldn’t windows update the driver itself, or god forbid, do a systems check before installing? I can’t begin to count the times when the installer would almost complete and then go “oops, found a problem”. So many hours wasted over the years

 

[casperes1996]

__Question__

If macOS automatic graphics switching is currently using integrated GPU, does it still use the dedicated AMD graphics memory?

For me, the system info shows two sets of graphics memories, I am confused as to when either is used and how they transition between memories if any.

Radeon Pro 560X 4 GB
Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB

The Intel chip does not have its own dedicated memory. The 1536MB listed is part of the main system memory that can dynamically be allocated or deallocated as video memory. The video memory in the dGPU will only be used when it is active or if an application specifically uses it. You can programmatically control where the memory is stored so in part it's up to the developer. In theory I could write a program that runs on the dGPU but stores everything in main memory... It'd be slow but can be done. - The iGPU does not have access to the dGPU's VRAM, only system memory, but the dGPU has access to both its own and system memory.
Did that answer your question?

One of the many reasons I don’t use Windows any more. Shouldn’t windows update the driver itself, or god forbid, do a systems check before installing? I can’t begin to count the times when the installer would almost complete and then go “oops, found a problem”. So many hours wasted over the years

I'm a huge Apple person, and don't like using Windows myself, but this isn't Windows' fault. This is on Apple. AMD has shipped drivers and Windows does automatically install them... But not on Bootcamp Macs where Apple wants to be in control of the driver situation and ship their Bootcamp driver packages rather than just using AMD generic drivers.
Hence why there is bootcampdrivers.com

 

[MattMJB0188]

That's why you run Windows 7 instead.

 

[MauiPa]

The Intel chip does not have its own dedicated memory. The 1536MB listed is part of the main system memory that can dynamically be allocated or deallocated as video memory. The video memory in the dGPU will only be used when it is active or if an application specifically uses it. You can programmatically control where the memory is stored so in part it's up to the developer. In theory I could write a program that runs on the dGPU but stores everything in main memory... It'd be slow but can be done. - The iGPU does not have access to the dGPU's VRAM, only system memory, but the dGPU has access to both its own and system memory.
Did that answer your question?



I'm a huge Apple person, and don't like using Windows myself, but this isn't Windows' fault. This is on Apple. AMD has shipped drivers and Windows does automatically install them... But not on Bootcamp Macs where Apple wants to be in control of the driver situation and ship their Bootcamp driver packages rather than just using AMD generic drivers.
Hence why there is bootcampdrivers.com

Disagree. It’s on windows. If windows was installing on a non Apple with outdated drivers, same problem. Hey windows, check first before you waste time installing

 

[AustinIllini]

"Recovery: use a real operating system"

 

[iTech23]

I hope they fix the issue with the MacBook Pro 16-inch when using an external monitor.

 

[Eorlas]

One of the many reasons I don’t use Windows any more. Shouldn’t windows update the driver itself, or god forbid, do a systems check before installing? I can’t begin to count the times when the installer would almost complete and then go “oops, found a problem”. So many hours wasted over the years

Nice try. This has very little to do with Windows, as Apple controls the driver situation on a bootcamp install as well.

A potential proper workaround to this situation is to visit bootcampdrivers.com ; it's one guy who essentially takes the latest AMD drivers and works to make them compatible with W10 installed on BootCamp, rather than relying on Apple's archaic GPU drivers for Windows.

More importantly what people should be asking is: why doesn't Apple just let the part manufacturer produce their own driver, as they are already equipped to do? AMD and NVIDIA are much, much better at making drivers for their display adapters.

 

[GeoStructural]

"Recovery: use a real operating system"

I don’t know what your job is but in my line of work you need Windows to get things done. At some point we had to use virtual machines on Mac and everything was so slow it was frustrating.

For academic tasks we use mostly Linux, for professional Engineering is Windows hands down. For gaming Windows wins as well.

 

[casperes1996]

Nice try. This has very little to do with Windows, as Apple controls the driver situation on a bootcamp install as well.

A potential proper workaround to this situation is to visit bootcampdrivers.com ; it's one guy who essentially takes the latest AMD drivers and works to make them compatible with W10 installed on BootCamp, rather than relying on Apple's archaic GPU drivers for Windows.

More importantly what people should be asking is: why doesn't Apple just let the part manufacturer produce their own driver, as they are already equipped to do? AMD and NVIDIA are much, much better at making drivers for their display adapters.

That man at bootcampdrivers is a hero as well.

That said, for macOS specifically I do understand why Apple wants control of the drivers. The drivers still come from the manufacturers, but Apple customise them for enhanced security and use the insight into the workings to optimise performance for their applications. On Windows though there's no customisation of the AMD drivers from Apple's side. They're just super slow to release them. All they do is put their GPUs in the signed list of eligible GPUs for the driver.

 

[insited]

BootCampDrivers.com: Turbo-charged AMD graphics drivers for Mac BootCamp users.

www.bootcampdrivers.com

 

[0924487]

The Intel chip does not have its own dedicated memory. The 1536MB listed is part of the main system memory that can dynamically be allocated or deallocated as video memory. The video memory in the dGPU will only be used when it is active or if an application specifically uses it. You can programmatically control where the memory is stored so in part it's up to the developer. In theory I could write a program that runs on the dGPU but stores everything in main memory... It'd be slow but can be done. - The iGPU does not have access to the dGPU's VRAM, only system memory, but the dGPU has access to both its own and system memory.
Did that answer your question?

Thank you for your thorough explanation. So, when macOS RAM pressure is high, even when graphics demand is within the capability of the iGPU, it would still be beneficial to turn off automatic graphics switching and let macOS to use dGPU exclusively to take advantage of the dedicated VRAM, right? As that isn't a part of the system memory.

 

[Freeangel1]

Parallels desktop.

Run Windows on Mac with a virtual machine | Parallels Desktop

Download Parallels Desktop virtual machine to run Windows on Mac without rebooting or slowing down your Mac, plus get over 200,000 Windows apps.

www.parallels.com

 

[Tech198]

Ya, i guess Virtualization side-by-side would be an option, but Bootcamp is more straight forward as being the default in any latest MacOS.

 

[casperes1996]

Thank you for your thorough explanation. So, when macOS RAM pressure is high, even when graphics demand is within the capability of the iGPU, it would still be beneficial to turn off automatic graphics switching and let macOS to use dGPU exclusively to take advantage of the dedicated VRAM, right? As that isn't a part of the system memory.

I actually imagine that even when the dGPU is active, Apple also tries to keep all display resources in system memory such that when you do switch back to the iGPU it can do the switch fast and fluently.
I don’t know for certain though, but I’d imagine Apple’s automatic switching system does take things like memory load into account for how to handle things. It’s also worth noting that while it may say you have 1536MB for video memory, it’s actually rather dynamic, and if you’re not chugging games or other high VRAM using tasks at it, it’ll dedicate less to VRAM and more to general system memory.

I don’t think it’d make a big difference, if any at all, to be toggling GPU switching just to try and free system memory. I don’t think it’d actually free it anyway, and if it does it probably only does so by pushing it to compressed pages, which still uses RAM. Otherwise I think the time it’d take to switch back to the iGPU when necessary would be too long for Apple to consider acceptable.

 

[AxiomaticRubric]

Running Windows 10 on a Mac is a terrible idea. I had to remove it from a 2016 MacBook Pro due to constant overheating issues. I had similar experiences with Windows on older MacBook Pros too.

 

[the-msa]

One of the many reasons I don’t use Windows any more. Shouldn’t windows update the driver itself, or god forbid, do a systems check before installing? I can’t begin to count the times when the installer would almost complete and then go “oops, found a problem”. So many hours wasted over the years

nice try troll - apple controls the drive side for windows on a mac.

 

[maflynn]

Shouldn’t windows update the driver itself, or god forbid, do a systems check before installing?

Don't blame MS on this, Apple is the one who's producing the drivers, I've always had issues with apple drivers in windows, Apple's track record of supporting windows is rather low. I understand why, they want Mac owners to use MacOS as that's where Apple will make their money, as that keeps them in the ecosystem.

 

[vkd]

I was in W10 BootCamp yesterday doing a spot of gaming and a dialog popped up to update Apple Bootcamp items. There were 3 items, Wifi, BootCamp services and something else, can't remember what it was, sorry. Anyway I of course updated and rebooted and its all working nicely now. The mouse pointer was pretty sticky previously and thats been fixed, it moves normally now.

 

[Swift]

To get my seldom-used Bootcamp volume ready for working at home full-time, I put on some new programs and updated, it seemed like, everything one after another, as a Windows file will yell at you if you haven't used it in the last two weeks. One of the things that did pop up, after I updated Bootcamp, was new AMD graphics for Windows. It worked okay before, and it works okay now too. But it was good to see. I also got the latest Parallels, and it's fantastic to run my bootcamp volume from my Mac Applications folder. It's really working very well, with some funky Windows apps I use only for work, and everything is working just fine.