Radeon 9000 problems on dp-867

[MarkW19]

Hi guys,

Been a regular reader of the site for ages, just never actually registered! Anyway...

I took delivery of my Dual 867 G4 last week, with 768 RAM, and the ATI Radeon 9000 to order.

Everything flies - games etc. in OS 9 (Quake/Unreal Tournament) are stunning - speed in 9 is blistering, and overall speed in 10 is excellent, which means I now use 10 as my primary OS.

But there's one seemingly glaring problem - when I do anything in the finder (I'm using the word "finder" as in the OS-9 understanding of it - sorry!), even when I first start up, with no progs running, and I drag a window around or something, the window movement is "jagged" - it kind of glitches approx. every second. This happens with window drags, dock scrolling with magnification on, doing the selection box around files on the desktop, dragging HD icons around on the desktop - almost everything, including sometimes minimizing using the genie effect. Dragging web-browser windows, itunes, and every other app's windows also does the same. Also (not really important) - when the apps I'm loading bounce in the dock as they're opening, sometimes the bouncing animation glitches too. But strangely, scrolls in programs such as Photoshop and other graphically-intensive apps are as smooth as anything. As are screensavers (and games) that are accessing the card using OpenGL etc. It only seems to be standard finder/desktop stuff. Video/DVD playback is also fine.

The most annoying thing is, I was installing 10.2 on a new 700mhz iMac we got in at my work today - and, even though it only had 256 in it, and the 32mb Geforce4 instead of the 64mb 9000 I have, the window drags and EVERYTHING I've mentioned, were as smooth as anything - albeit my machine is faster and more continuous, with less "submarining" as the windows drag etc - more instantaneous - but, the iMac (and 2 other dual 867s with the Geforce4 in them and less RAM I've tested) was smooth - resulting in a system that felt more responsive - even though speed was probably faster on mine, but doesn't feel it because of the glitching.

Has anyone any ideas to help me with this please? Is it maybe a driver compatibility problem of some sort, and I should just wait for an update to 10.2 and/or the ATI radeon 9000 drivers?

Please help!

Thanks in anticipation,
Mark

 

[G5orbust]

ok. *cracks knuckles*

First off, the apple OSX finder is called Aqua, just for your personal referrence. I know exactly what your problem is. I got that same thing when i was running limewire, AIM and itunes at the same time. Any finder window dragged across a window would produce a white area and large jaggies. I fixed this by getting mroe RAM. Now it does it only a few times instead of everytime. I suspect that i was ust getting bogged down by having too many memory hoggers on at the same time.

Then again, since your vid card is new (like brand spanking new), you should expect some problems until ATI comes out w/ something taht will help you. Continually check mac osx web page and click on drivers. Look for anything related to you vid card and downlaod it. It may help you.

 

[Choppaface]

i believe the OSX finder is still called "finder." i.e., you can quit the finder, not aqua.

have you tried doing a fresh install of 10.2? it's a pain, but it might fix things

 

[sparkleytone]

768 RAM should be absolutely plenty.

Make sure all your display settings are optimal, such as colors and refresh rate. Also, being that the drivers are no doubt very new, try another resolution and see if you get the same problem. Sometimes a driver just doesnt like certain resolutions, especially if they are an odd one like 1152.768 and such.

 

[MarkW19]

Thanks guys,

It seems we all kind of agree that it's a driver issue, of some sort. I will try switching resolution to see if that helps, but obviously a £830 monitor wants to be able to run 100% at it's top native resolution so, I guess it seems it's a waiting game until an updated ATI driver comes out

As for the RAM thing - this happens when NO other programs AT ALL are running, straight after startup, and it's not kind of "delaying" like it would with a slow machine with not enough RAM - it's not even sluggish - it just "jumps" - speed still remains excellent - it's just the movements aren't 100% constant.

And, I too was under the impression it's still called the Finder - isn't "Aqua" just the collective name for all of the interface elements (pulsating blue buttons, etc.) that currently make up the default OS10 "Finder"?

Thanks again guys,
Mark

 

[MarkW19]

sparkleytone -

Just tried my monitor (Studio Display 17") at all resolutions, and even down at thousands of colours - and even at the very lowest setting (and every one in between) it's still the same.

Oh well - *taps fingers on desk*