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Graphics card on the fritz ??

M

mattmac

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 9, 2008
23
0
Now on my second 2008 MP 2.8 octo and this keeps happening to my screen. I assume its a problem with the standard ATI 2600 graphics card. Anybody experience the same problem, happens with many different apps. Have done all updates, all Apple said was reset the PRAM:mad:

My first MP died after a couple of weeks, logic board and both processors failed. Couldn't get replacements as Apple were still waiting for Intel to increase production so I ended up with a new MP.

Here we go again.:(:mad::eek:

http://att.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=110363&stc=1&d=1207073528
 

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It seems your card merely has a penchant and appreciation for abstract art. Sit back and enjoy!

Oh, right, you need to like, do stuff. Hmm.

That's really weird. I've never seen graphical distortions quite like that. Normally when it comes to buggy images, I'd recommend underclocking your VRAM, but in this case, it really doesn't look like the results of memory that's running too hot. You could always try it, though.

Are you sure all the connections are good and tightly fit? Recheck the DVI connection and make sure the PCI-E card is seated properly. That's really all I can think of. If you have another PCI-E card lying around... I guess you could try it. Might have to flash it for Mac first though, lol.
 
Those are called artifacts.

Artifacts are usually caused by the GPU overheating, or a faulty GPU core.

Did you overclock the graphics card?

Try taking it out and putting it back in firmly.
 
It's funny, I had the same thing happen after installing the EFI update.

It happened one time caused by Mathematica and has never happened since.

It's artifacting- it doesn't MEAN (with certainty) that the card is faulty.

I'm holding tight for a little while since it only happened that one time and other than that things are pretty great.
 
Salavat23 said:
Those are called artifacts.

Artifacts are usually caused by the GPU overheating, or a faulty GPU core.

Did you overclock the graphics card?
Click to expand...

Wrong. Those aren't artifacts, that's complete distortion, and it's not even traditional distortion. To be honest it looks like vector art.

GPUs clocked too high results in your system locking up. Memory clocked too high results in visual anomalies; you'll notice in games that you'll have little white dots (which... would be pixels) here and there, worsening as you clock higher or time goes on and it heats up more.

This is not that.
 
I'll send the screenshots I took when I get a second. Mine are not all quite the same as yours.

I always find it strange you can screenshot anomalies.
 
The standard ATI 2600 has not been clocked or tampered with in any way.

I run smcFanControl, now increased by 100rpm to - CPU@900 Exhaust@1000
It only happens in the evening after a full days work so I am wondering if it might be heat related. Is possible to read GPU temp, Istat and Temperature Monitor dont seem to have the GPU option.
 
is it just in that program, i mean if there was artifacts wouldnt the entire screen be like that? could be low amount of memory?

It just seems weird to able to screengrab "artifacting" if just that is and not the entire screen itself.


perhaps the card is not faulty, just cannot handle that type of application?
 
It starts off in my most used app which is a 3D app called Strata CX but the artifacts remain when I switch to all other apps.

I have 10GB - 2x1GB apple and 4x2GB OWC
Memory temps never go above 56c/133f
CPU A temp never goes above 35c/95f

I am hoping that by increasing fan speed it might stop, I might really crank up fan speed when it happens to see if it has any effect.
 
I have a 2006 Mac Pro with an X1900 video card and this happened to me the other day. My screen looked exactly like yours. As I recall, I was watching a video on youtube when it happened.

It started corrupting safari and then seemed to spread to the top menu and dock. I basically had to reboot the computer to get it working again. I have never had that happen before, and I was not doing anything that would have taxed the video card. My video card was replaced last year because of the overheating problems and I have not had any trouble with it so far.

I wonder if this has something to do with the latest version of Safari?
 
I have the exact same problem with a BFG 8800GT (PC) card on vista, after I've played WoW for a while. I've looked it up, updated the firmware, and monitored the temps, everything looks good there; I suspect there were just a few bad batches of GPUs that got away from QC.
 
ThirteenXIII said:
is it just in that program, i mean if there was artifacts wouldnt the entire screen be like that? could be low amount of memory?

It just seems weird to able to screengrab "artifacting" if just that is and not the entire screen itself.


perhaps the card is not faulty, just cannot handle that type of application?
Click to expand...

For me, the dock started artifacting and the menubar as well.

I thought the same thing as you but sure enough I did screenshot the artifacts.
 
Last night I had a scare. I was working in iDVD and it crapped out on me. (My fault though. I accidentally deleted some of the assets I was using thinking that I was done with them.) Anyway, I noticed a short time after that I had yellow pixels all on the desktop. I then noticed that there is a certain color in images that has been swapped out to yellow. If I scroll the image, the yellow pixels move with it. So it was a color problem, as in the yellow pixels were not stuck in place. I thought my graphics card took a dump. I took a screenshot of it. And it showed. I rebooted and it went away. And it doesn't show up on the screenshot after the reboot either. Very weird.
 
krye said:
Last night I had a scare. I was working in iDVD and it crapped out on me. (My fault though. I accidentally deleted some of the assets I was using thinking that I was done with them.) Anyway, I noticed a short time after that I had yellow pixels all on the desktop. I then noticed that there is a certain color in images that has been swapped out to yellow. If I scroll the image, the yellow pixels move with it. So it was a color problem, as in the yellow pixels were not stuck in place. I thought my graphics card took a dump. I took a screenshot of it. And it showed. I rebooted and it went away. And it doesn't show up on the screenshot after the reboot either. Very weird.
Click to expand...

I'd forward that screenshot to applecare's forensics department, immediately ...


;)

It's confusing trying reason through the screenshot logic. If it shows up in screenshot (that other people can see) is that more or less likely to be software/hardware.

Anyway, I'm glad you could join the party. I had scoffed at your earlier post but now you're one of us! ;)
 
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