Graphic problem in Leopard?

[Brymo]

Just got home, and started it up. I love it, a lot.

But one thing I noticed. I get weird graphical issues when opening, closing, scrolling, anything that involves movement on the screen.

I know it can't be just Leopard, perhaps my gfxs card is dieing?

here is a photo.

http://i23.tinypic.com/zumjxx.png

another shot:

http://i21.tinypic.com/2zyixkg.png

 

[Brymo]

No one else eh?

I will have to call Apple tomorrow, I am sure I will have to be sent a new gfxs card.

 

[Lh'owon]

Wow, that does look like a gfx card problem. I can't think of anything else that would cause that.

It does seem weird that it would just start with Leopard though...

 

[doctorwells]

I have the same problem, ever since upgrading to Leopard lastnight.

I'm using a NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 with 30" Cinema Display at 2560 x 1600.

The problem goes away if I drop the resolution.

 

[doctorwells]

Actually, the problem persists even at lower resolution.

 

[arn]

I had some weird graphics abnormalities that started happening on my Mac Pro, which got worse after Leopard.

I think it was heat related. I opened by Mac Pro and took off a lot of dust from the intake on the X1900 ATI card. And it is now better.

I had mostly garbage lines that would appear randomly, but weren't screen-shotable. I did also get occasional blocks of purple color. The symptoms went mostly away right after removing the dust buildup from the card. and by an hour later went completely away.

arn

 

[Kernow]

I am getting graphics glitches too - only started after I installed Leopard.

It works absolutely fine on my MBP - no issues at all - but on my PowerMac G5 with ATI Radeon 9600 Pro, I now have all kinds of problems. Bits of buttons remain on the screen, the cursor disappears and flickers, and when scrolling, little bits of lines remain on the screen.

I will try cleaning off the card, but it seems odd that it was absolutely fine in Tiger and only started with Leopard.

 

[flopticalcube]

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=376003

 

[Kernow]

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=376003

Nice one, thanks.

Looks like it is a problem with some ATI cards and Leopard - guess I will go back to Tiger on the G5 until they sort this out.

At least I can still use Leopard on my MBP.

 

[doctorwells]

I don't think it's a hardware problem since it never happened before Leopard and the fact that I'm able to capture it with a screen shot.

Also, I've got an nVidia card, so it's not just ATI.

The glitches I'm seeing look worse than the other samples I've seen. It seems to happen mostly in the foreground window when there's scrolling or movement. Here's a pic:

 

[ivnj]

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/atiradeonx1900xtfirmwareupdate.html

 

[Cooknn]

I've got a Dual 2Ghz Power Mac with X800 XT as well as a 23-inch Cinema HD Display. Upon upgrading to Leopard I'm getting "sparkles" that start out small then grow to take over my screen. If I reboot they go away - for a while... I haven't been on-line yet this weekend. Has anyone else reported this?

[EDIT] It was a coincidence. The fan on my graphics card was too dusty and not spinning. Got hot.

 

[arn]

I don't think it's coincidence. Leopard is more GPU intensive than Tiger.

Did anyone else try cleaning off their ATI cards?

arn

 

[Rank Xerox]

I have similar gfx-issues when scrolling in Firefox on my iMac 2.8GHz/3GB memory with an ATI-card. This happens every now and then.

 

[Kernow]

I don't think it's coincidence. Leopard is more GPU intensive than Tiger.

Did anyone else try cleaning off their ATI cards?

arn

My card was pretty new, but I took it out and checked it - no dust at all.

I re-installed Tiger, and the issues went away. Just to test, I then did another erase and install of Leopard and the issues came back, so I think it must be to do with Leopard.

I have gone back to Tiger for the moment, until a fix is found.

 

[Wayfarer]

Yeah... that is almost certainly a graphic card problem. I would get it checked out right away.

 

[Cooknn]

I don't think it's coincidence. Leopard is more GPU intensive than Tiger.

I think the increased GPU intensity brought out the fact that my video cards fan was stuck. My son said he smelled burning plastic, but I didn't think much of it at the time. Later that day I took the side panel off my Power Mac and saw that it was caked with dust. So, I blew on it, then tapped it - too hard I guess cause I freaking killed it. Never put your hands in a computer when it's turned on. Learn from my stupidity.

Just placed an order for an ATI Radeon 9600 Pro PC / MAC Edition 256MB AGP. $175. It's no X800 XT, but I'm not dropping another $300

 

[Kernow]

Just placed an order for an ATI Radeon 9600 Pro PC / MAC Edition 256MB AGP. $175. It's no X800 XT, but I'm not dropping another $300

That is what I am using at the moment - still getting problems.

 

[Cooknn]

That is what I am using at the moment - still getting problems.

Well, I don't have much of a choice, so if the issue comes up again for me I'll just go back to Tiger...

[EDIT] There's a nice little aftermarket cooling solution that works with ATI (and nVidia) cards. It's a CoolViva Pro SE. I'm thinking of installing one on my forthcoming Radeon 9600 Pro. It even comes with memory heatsinks. Thoughts?

Here's a pic.

 

[dragonisation]

Zonkedragon

I have the same problem. The graphic quality of movie clips also deteriorated for me. Scary. Need to call Apple Support myself.

 

[ghiangelo]

I have the same problem. The graphic quality of movie clips also deteriorated for me. Scary. Need to call Apple Support myself.

this issue is appearing in Leopard press reviews now

not a great way to launch your next gen Os... especially when the issue dwarfs anything Vista had at launch.

didn't the beta testers see this?

 

[Amdahl]

this issue is appearing in Leopard press reviews now

not a great way to launch your next gen Os... especially when the issue dwarfs anything Vista had at launch.

didn't the beta testers see this?

Vista shipped with many more serious bugs, some data destroying. I think Leopard and Vista were in about the same condition January 2007, except Microsoft shipped. Wow.

 

[Cooknn]

Okay, I may have a solution. I found this on the Apple Support Forums. Not sure if it applies to any other ATI cards other than the Radeon 9600 though...

"There is a missing extension in System/Library/Extensions/AppleNDRV(folder).

For those who have Ati Radeon 9600 PC and Mac Edition, ATI ROM Xtender is missing in Leopard causing sleep and display problems. The AppleNDVR folder contain only two extensions (AtiDriver.bundle and ATIRuntimeDriver.bundle). You need ATI ROM Xtender from Tiger to have a correct display. Just put it in the folder and restart."

 

[Kernow]

Interesting. Not going to be able to try this until after the weekend, but hopefully this will sort the problem out.

 

[Kernow]

Quick update - tried the above solution with the ATI ROM Xtender, and so far it appears to be working.