Problems with graphics card? Square distortion in the center of screen.

[Don Nguyen]

My two previous older macs have been perfect to me, but this new MBP I5 model is giving so many issues lately.

Every once in a while, my computer's graphics (I am assuming) goes crazy, and I get this pixelated distortion that's right in the middle of my screen that's about 2"x5" on my 17" screen.

This happened just earlier, while I was using Safari. However, even after closing all of the Safari windows down, the distortion will still be there, and will stay there regardless of what I have or don't have open.

Logging in and out will fixes the problem, and everything goes back to normal for the mean time.

Any one ever experience similar problems or know what I could do to see what's going or fix it? I may really just have to bring it into the apple store.

-Don

 

[Don Nguyen]

Was able to capture a picture of it. This is the biggest I could get. Anything bigger would make the picture capture be a complete black out.

-Don

 

[Viktor Vaughn]

Same here on new MBPro 15...Bump

 

[Viktor Vaughn]

Don,

Did the problem go away? What did you do about it?

 

[BSears]

same problem here

I'm a relative noob to Macs, having been a slave to MS OS for years. I just recently started having the same problem - unfortunately, it doesn't look like anyone has offered a solution or identified the root of the problem. I get the same screen pixelation when trying to reply to gmail emails - only mine covers the entire screen, not just a small section like in Don's post. Logging out and restarting fixes it but it has reoccurred.

Oh, I've got the MB Pro 15 also with hi res screen, if that matters. Thanks!

Edit: Mine has the NVIDIA Ge Force 330 graphics card (I assume for a auxiliary monitor) and built in bus for the Intel HD Graphics card.

 

[drambuie]

What you have is display corruption, either with the GPU or graphics RAM, most likely with the RAM. When you log out and in, the graphics subsystem is reset, which temporarily clears the issue.

Contact Apple about this. It looks like a logic board replacement will be the solution. The fact that you can get a screenshot of the corruption confirms that it's a logic board problem, and not related to the LCD screen.

 

[BSears]

What you have is display corruption, either with the GPU or graphics RAM, most likely with the RAM. When you log out and in, the graphics subsystem is reset, which temporarily clears the issue.

Contact Apple about this. It looks like a logic board replacement will be the solution. The fact that you can get a screenshot of the corruption confirms that it's a logic board problem, and not related to the LCD screen.

stupid question, but is there a keyboard shortcut for capturing the screen when it does this so that I can take it to a local Apple Service Center? Thanks

 

[drambuie]

stupid question, but is there a keyboard shortcut for capturing the screen when it does this so that I can take it to a local Apple Service Center? Thanks

Try: Shift-Command-3 to grab the whole screen. It will put it on the desktop as a png file. Shift-Command-4 can capture a selected area.

 

[Raggy]

This happens to me at times, but often only when I have a few safari windows open. Does it only happen when you're surfing the net - or at other times?

 

[BSears]

This happens to me at times, but often only when I have a few safari windows open. Does it only happen when you're surfing the net - or at other times?

I've only noticed it when using Safari - and I did have multiple safari windows open.