Is my graphics card on its deathbed?

[smartalic34]

I have a 2006 MacBook Pro, with an ATI X1600 (128MB VRAM), and today I had an ASIC Hang:

10/6/10 2:34:01 PM kernel ATIRadeon::wait_for_rb_space: Overflowed block waiting for FIFO space. Have 0, need 5. RBBM_STATUS 0x10000140
10/6/10 2:34:14 PM kernel ** ASIC Hang Log Start **
10/6/10 2:34:14 PM kernel 0x010171c5 00040100 00000000 20080100
10/6/10 2:34:14 PM kernel 0x10000c03 80000004 00000002 00000008
10/6/10 2:34:14 PM kernel 0x00000040 00000000 00000000 10000140
10/6/10 2:34:14 PM kernel 0x00080000 00000000 00000001 00000000
10/6/10 2:34:14 PM kernel 0x40000000 00000000 00000000 00800000
10/6/10 2:34:14 PM kernel 0x00000000 0000444f 10040100
10/6/10 2:34:14 PM kernel 0:0x9c5dc533
10/6/10 2:34:14 PM kernel 1:0x9af6f242
10/6/10 2:34:14 PM kernel 2:0xc7ffa9d5
10/6/10 2:34:14 PM kernel 3:0xed3508be
***many more lines***
10/6/10 2:34:25 PM kernel 1018:0x84208240
10/6/10 2:34:25 PM kernel 1019:0x0662409a

I did a bit of research and found out that an ASIC Hang is GPU related, but I couldn't find specific enough information... does it mean my GPU is dying? Or just that it couldn't handle something? I was watching a 5 minute video clip full-screen and called up Dashboard when the freeze happened...

 

[Animalk]

Not necessarily.

I would forward the error to Apple with a description of the event and see what their engineers come back with.

It takes several weeks to get a response but once you have their attention they will debug it with you and see what's wrong.

I've done it before concerning an issue with AirPort.

 

[smartalic34]

What have you found to be the most successful avenue for contacting Apple? Email? If so, what address?

 

[Animalk]

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

It really works if you're patient.

 

[smartalic34]

Thanks, I sent them a report. We'll see if they get back to me

In the interim, has anyone had an ASIC Hang?

Also, the past few days, artifacts such as the one that conveniently appeared while writing this (screenshot attached), have been appearing, mostly while using Safari. Is this further evidence of a dying GPU?