Intel Macs on macOS Sequoia - Graphics Glitching and Bugs

[Miles Fu]

Thank you！I may consider to upgrade later, my 2019 MBP still running Sonoma

I can confirm that over the last 24 hours, the issue has not reappeared. I've consistently forced the system to run on discrete graphics and have not observed any red artifacts when switching tabs, using desktop widgets, or anywhere else in the system. Based on this, I'm fairly confident the issue has been resolved, though there is no official mention of it in the release notes. I've reached out to Apple to get confirmation from their engineers on whether the bug was officially addressed.

I’d love for others here to update and check for themselves if they are still experiencing the issue after the update!

 

[freshj]

How do I get the "RC"? Do I just have to click Beta Updates > Public Beta?

 

[Lk52461]

How do I get the "RC"? Do I just have to click Beta Updates > Public Beta?

Yep long as says macOS 15.4 Release Candidate then it’s right version Public and Developer should offer both.

 

[ufukty]

I'm on Sonoma right now. In case you want to compare driver versions, here is my dump for System Information > Graphics/Displays

Chipset Model: Radeon Pro 560X
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x8
VRAM (Total): 4 GB
Vendor: AMD (0x1002)
Device ID:
Revision ID:
ROM Revision:
VBIOS Version: 113-C97501U-005
EFI Driver Version: 01.A1.075
Automatic Graphics Switching: Supported
gMux Version: 5.0.0
Metal Support: Metal 3

 

[Lk52461]

Since our graphics card models differ, there is few differences yours is a 560X. However, if you compare mine side by side, there doesn’t appear to be any significant difference on Sequoia and Sonoma so no idea how they fixed it 😂

AMD Radeon Pro 5500M on macOS 14.6 Sonoma

Chipset Model: AMD Radeon Pro 5500M
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 4 GB
Vendor: AMD (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x7340
Revision ID: 0x0040
ROM Revision: 113-D3220E-190
VBIOS Version: 113-D32206U1-020
Option ROM Version: 113-D32206U1-020
EFI Driver Version: 01.A1.190
Automatic Graphics Switching: Supported
gMux Version: 5.0.0
Metal Support: Metal 3

AMD Radeon Pro 5500M on macOS 15.4 RC

Chipset Model: AMD Radeon Pro 5500M
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 4 GB
Vendor: AMD (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x7340
Revision ID: 0x0040
ROM Revision: 113-D3220E-190
VBIOS Version: 113-D32206U1-020
Option ROM Version: 113-D32206U1-020
EFI Driver Version: 01.A1.190
Automatic Graphics Switching: Supported
gMux Version: 5.0.0
Metal Support: Metal 3

 

[Lk52461]

I'm on Sonoma right now. In case you want to compare driver versions, here is my dump for System Information > Graphics/Displays

Chipset Model: Radeon Pro 560X
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x8
VRAM (Total): 4 GB
Vendor: AMD (0x1002)
Device ID:
Revision ID:
ROM Revision:
VBIOS Version: 113-C97501U-005
EFI Driver Version: 01.A1.075
Automatic Graphics Switching: Supported
gMux Version: 5.0.0
Metal Support: Metal 3

You could try updating to see if it fixes the issue, or if you don't want to risk it on your main system, you can create a separate volume on macOS and install 15.4 RC to test it out. That’s how I’ve been running my tests! 😂

 

[ufukty]

yes. they are exact same. maybe they have updated AMD kext files.

it took 8 months for them to fix. but i never believed they will ever do. you managed a miracle.

 

[Lk52461]

yes. they are exact same. maybe they have updated AMD kext files.

it took 8 months for them to fix. but i never believed they will ever do. you managed a miracle.

Yeah, that was my first thought. I checked the Driver versions to see if they had updated, but it doesn’t seem like they have. I wonder how they addressed the issue. As long as it doesn’t come back, maybe the release notes will be updated on the public release with a mention of them fixing the issue, but there’s a slim chance.

 

[elptdbi3lYI]

I haven't confirmed if the issue went away for me but if it wasn't driver then my guess it's either fix in Metal or in how it was used(misused), perhaps they were too aggressive in purging the textures.

 

[freshj]

i haven't had the issue on an iMac Pro since I installed that beta a week ago. Impressed. How did you get Apple to fix this?

 

[Lk52461]

Not sure if I played a part in getting it fixed 🙂 maybe I did. I was definitely persistent about it. But the issue only affected a small number of users, and since it's an older Mac, I don’t think it was high on Apple’s priority list it probably ended up at the bottom of the pile. Still, it looks like it’s finally been sorted.

 

[Lk52461]

i've noticed something else, though it might be another bug that cropped up after they fixed the graphics glitching issue, unless it's all tied to Metal. When the discrete graphics are active for an extended period (about an hour or more), and you're watching a video, the playback becomes incredibly choppy. The only temporary fix is to relaunch the app, but the issue eventually comes back.

 

[ufukty]

@Lk52461 are you sure it is not because of thermals, fans can't cooldown the GPU? and it was not occurring before the OS update?

i am getting similar situation here in a MBP, Safari 18, Sonoma 14.7 and while integrated graphics active. Maybe for couple months. I always assumed it is thermals or latest Safari update contains a bug in memory management.

 

[Lk52461]

@Lk52461 are you sure it is not because of thermals, fans can't cooldown the GPU? and it was not occurring before the OS update?

i am getting similar situation here in a MBP, Safari 18, Sonoma 14.7 and while integrated graphics active. Maybe for couple months. I always assumed it is thermals or latest Safari update contains a bug in memory management.

I don’t think this issue was happening before the update, but I’ve just cleaned the internals to rule out any thermal limitations applied new thermal paste and all. If it still happens after that, I’ll log another case with Apple. Honestly, I thought this MacBook Pro would age well, but it seems like being the last Intel model means it’s not getting much attention anymore.