Weird Graphics Issue (Pic)

[dordal]

My MBP (Early 2008) model is having a strange graphics issue (see attached pic).

Portions of the screen will jump around... for example, half of my dock icons are at the top of the screen, and I have two menu bars on the right hand side. It does this when I'm moving a window or scrolling, and then it jumps back to being OK. The other weird thing is that it ONLY does this on the internal screen... external monitors are fine.

I'm pretty sure its not hardware because:
1) If I boot from this HD in another MBP, it shows the same symptoms
2) My MBP has been tested for (and passed) the NVIDIA graphics test, so it's not a defective gfx chip.

So I think it's software... but what?

 

[Relznuk]

Reset PRAM and report back to us.

 

[dordal]

Reset PRAM and report back to us.

tried that ages ago... :-(

 

[cluthz]

Dies it only happen with certain apps?

 

[dordal]

No, it seems to happen with most any app. I know I've seen it with Preview, the Finder, Terminal & other Apple apps, so I don't think it is app specific.

 

[DoFoT9]

you seem to have answered your own question..

reinstall from scratch and see how you go.

 

[maflynn]

Could be a hardware issue.

I'd recommend taking it to an apple store and let the geniuses take a look.

 

[NC MacGuy]

You've got an awful lot of stuff open. Does it scramble even with only one-three app windows open?

 

[dordal]

You've got an awful lot of stuff open. Does it scramble even with only one-three app windows open?

Thats a good question; I'll have to test that.

maflynn, good suggestion, but didn't help. I did take it to the store; they ran diagnostics on it and it came back clean. The genius suggested I reinstall the OS.

I guess that's my next step... didn't want to go there, but I'm not sure what else to try.

 

[seisend]

Thats a good question; I'll have to test that.

maflynn, good suggestion, but didn't help. I did take it to the store; they ran diagnostics on it and it came back clean. The genius suggested I reinstall the OS.

I guess that's my next step... didn't want to go there, but I'm not sure what else to try.

Is it working now?

 

[chrfr]

2) My MBP has been tested for (and passed) the NVIDIA graphics test, so it's not a defective gfx chip.

That certainly is a defective graphics chip, but Apple's diagnostic isn't all that comprehensive. It will fail at some point soon, I'm sure.

 

[DoFoT9]

That certainly is a defective graphics chip, but Apple's diagnostic isn't all that comprehensive. It will fail at some point soon, I'm sure.

that is my opinion aswell.