Have you called them yet?
I just had another freeze, no garbled screen though, just everything frozen except the cursor.
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Weird Mac Pro screen issue....help
- Thread starter peejack
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I just had another freeze, no garbled screen though, just everything frozen except the cursor.
Exactly the same problem many times a day here with a 3.0 GHZ 8 core and ATI Radeon.
After many calls to the inutile technical service at Apple Store ("Unplug and plug the computer..., repair permissions..., Reset PRAM....") I asked for a new computer. After two weeks some days ago I received another new one... with the same problem again (see photo).
I have been working profesionally as a Graphic Designer and photographer with Macs from 1982 and never had a so bad product from Apple. Lots of Mac forums have the same problem in Spain, Germany, Australia, USA... It seems Apple has lost his traditional quality control.
After many calls to the inutile technical service at Apple Store ("Unplug and plug the computer..., repair permissions..., Reset PRAM....") I asked for a new computer. After two weeks some days ago I received another new one... with the same problem again (see photo).
I have been working profesionally as a Graphic Designer and photographer with Macs from 1982 and never had a so bad product from Apple. Lots of Mac forums have the same problem in Spain, Germany, Australia, USA... It seems Apple has lost his traditional quality control.
Replacement Card Arrived and Installed
Well, I got my replacement card this afternoon. Identical card, looks like.
I had trouble installing it, because the slot the card comes in from the factory is flush up against an internal wall in the machine. After several tries I gave up and put the card in the middle slot (fortunately all other slots are empty).
What I'm wondering, though, if whether there may be a design issue here: if the standard placement for the card leads to a heat buildup?? Certainly, in the middle slot the card gets a lot more air circulation.
Whatever, now it's wait and see whether I experience more freezing. Since it was freezing several times a day I should have at least some idea of the comparison fairly soon.
Well, I got my replacement card this afternoon. Identical card, looks like.
I had trouble installing it, because the slot the card comes in from the factory is flush up against an internal wall in the machine. After several tries I gave up and put the card in the middle slot (fortunately all other slots are empty).
What I'm wondering, though, if whether there may be a design issue here: if the standard placement for the card leads to a heat buildup?? Certainly, in the middle slot the card gets a lot more air circulation.
Whatever, now it's wait and see whether I experience more freezing. Since it was freezing several times a day I should have at least some idea of the comparison fairly soon.
Keep us updated...mine shipped today so hopefully I should get the card tomorrow.
Well, they gave me a choice:
*exchange the machine (which will ship AFTER they confirm mine's on the way, meaning no machine for 2-3 days)
or
*send me a new graphics card, in which case the machine exchange is taken off the table and I'm forced to go the repair route if the card doesn't fix it.
I told him I was going to wait and see how people do with their new cards and exchanges.
Any suggestions? What would you do in this situation?
*exchange the machine (which will ship AFTER they confirm mine's on the way, meaning no machine for 2-3 days)
or
*send me a new graphics card, in which case the machine exchange is taken off the table and I'm forced to go the repair route if the card doesn't fix it.
I told him I was going to wait and see how people do with their new cards and exchanges.
Any suggestions? What would you do in this situation?
I had the same option too...I went with the new card because I really do think it is the card that is the issue. If it ends up not being the case then I'm just going to either see if they will let me upgrade to the 8800 by paying the difference or if I have to just buy it outright. I was planning on upgrading to the 8800 in a few months anyways.
Eventually got a replacement machine
Not more than an hour after installing a replacement card from Apple Care I got a freeze.
I just finished taking the machine back to the local Apple Store where I bought it and exchanging it. The store manager, however, warned me that if I still have problems I'll have to go through their genius bar before attempting another exchange...
Got everything swapped into the new machine and so far no problems, but am only a few minutes into using it.
My recommendation would be, however, if faced with the choice of either replacing the video card or the machine, opt for the machine.
Not more than an hour after installing a replacement card from Apple Care I got a freeze.
I just finished taking the machine back to the local Apple Store where I bought it and exchanging it. The store manager, however, warned me that if I still have problems I'll have to go through their genius bar before attempting another exchange...
Got everything swapped into the new machine and so far no problems, but am only a few minutes into using it.
My recommendation would be, however, if faced with the choice of either replacing the video card or the machine, opt for the machine.
Well that's disconcerting, my replacement card should be here tomorrow. I'm sure i'll end up having to do something. I didn't buy it from the store and they gave me the repair option since I decided to just go with the card. I should have just gone with the DOA. Keep us updated on the replacement unit please and please post if it happens again within the next day. Maybe if I don't open the replacement card I can still do the DOA.
There is a notion that two-monitor setup do not have this issue. I've almost always had two monitors connected and never had the issue. I've decided to go solo and see what comes out of it. I'd always considered myself lucky as to only have had the issue once. It just so happened to occur when I had only one monitor connected. Anyone experienced this issue with two-monitors connected?
I'll give that a try, I have a VGA input and DVI input modes on my 24" monitor. I tricked it into mirror mode so now there is an output going to the VGA input and an output going to the DVI input.
I think there's something to this. I just had the screen go all f'ed up on me. When i reboot, all i get is a pale blue screen and no desktop. I've plugged in my second monitor and it boots the same...pale blue screen. This ain't good. I tried zapping PRAM and NVRAM, but that did no good. Arg. I did take pics and some video with my cell.
Uh...this is odd, after about 3 minutes of pale blue screen it's up and running...two monitors, I should note.
No. I should've been clearer. I went to one-monitor to see if I'd get the issues to come up frequently. Shortly after disconnecting the second monitor...boom...trouble.
Well i've set up the second output on mine to my VGA input on my monitor, nothing has happened yet so hopefully we are on to something here. I've only had one crash today anyways with just using one monitor.
And funny now that i've set that second input up I was having a ghosting issue in firefox when I selected things from the pull down menus like bookmarks at the top. I'm not having that issue now.
Well, I'm calling Apple Care again tomorrow. I have my video and screen caps ready to send to the support folks.
Yea I have a replacement card on the way but if that one acts up I can live with the dual monitor fix for now.
New Report
I reported earlier on the same common freeze issue on a since-replaced machine. On the new machine, I've had a dancing pixel issues that I haven't seen anyone report here (or I missed). No outright crashes yet though.
I've noticed the following on the new machine and have been able to recreate -- dancing pixels in very dark/black areas of images and desktop backgrounds. It happens most of the time with large black patches on the screen, but not otherwise. I was able to re-create with the default Leopard outer space background, a couple of the mostly black backgrounds in the Black and White folder, and some jpgs blown up to full screen with large black patches. It's quite odd. Has anyone else experienced this? As I mentioned, no outright crashes with the vertical lines (the common one) that I had with the old machine.
Still not pleased that it doesn't "just work."
Running 10.5.2, Graphics Update installed, ATI 2600 stock. I haven't zapped anything, nor reseated the card. Any help, sympathy, Jack Daniel's appreciated.
Edit -- should clarify what I mean by dancing pixels... white/light pixels randomly flickering around the affected area.
I reported earlier on the same common freeze issue on a since-replaced machine. On the new machine, I've had a dancing pixel issues that I haven't seen anyone report here (or I missed). No outright crashes yet though.
I've noticed the following on the new machine and have been able to recreate -- dancing pixels in very dark/black areas of images and desktop backgrounds. It happens most of the time with large black patches on the screen, but not otherwise. I was able to re-create with the default Leopard outer space background, a couple of the mostly black backgrounds in the Black and White folder, and some jpgs blown up to full screen with large black patches. It's quite odd. Has anyone else experienced this? As I mentioned, no outright crashes with the vertical lines (the common one) that I had with the old machine.
Still not pleased that it doesn't "just work."
Running 10.5.2, Graphics Update installed, ATI 2600 stock. I haven't zapped anything, nor reseated the card. Any help, sympathy, Jack Daniel's appreciated.
Edit -- should clarify what I mean by dancing pixels... white/light pixels randomly flickering around the affected area.
Damn it! I hate this apple protocol ****! They would not talk to me unless I'm in front of my macpro, and this is not going to happen since during their office hour, I would be at work!!! And since they cant receive any emails, which mean I can't send them the pictures so that they can see for themselves what the hell is going on, rather than me trying to explain in words on how the screen looks like and what the hell happens to my macpro. And I'm very sure they are well aware what is going on on this forum and apple's dicussion forum regarding this freaking issue. Sorry for my language and my frustration, but damn it! I paid a premium for this piece of technology that crashes about 5~10 times within 2 hrs of minimal usage every single day. Freaking using my wife's powerbook G4 now as my macpro now is just a freaking premium paper weight sitting in my room.
This sounds just like my phone call. My rep was not at all interested in the pictures or video. It was very disappointing.
Well I got my new card and just went ahead and set up both inputs on it, so far so good. I'm not even going to try with the single input if having it set up in a dual monitor config keeps it working for now. I'll keep everyone posted.
As dismayed as I am with my last Apple Care instance I suspect that the issue is that Apple doesn't know how to fix it and not that they won't. The 8800 GT is tempting, but it's not the solution, unless they wnat to knock $200 off the price.
Have any issues with it hooked up to dual monitors? So far so good here with that setup.
Nope, never a single issue with a dual-monitor setup. I think it's a solid, yet perplexing work around. I'm going to keep a single monitor setup in the hopes that the monitor. As sad as this is, I'm now hoping for the error as much as possible, so I may bombard Apple Care with the problem.
I'm rather opposed to sending back the entire computer, without going throught the hassle of wiping the drive of my existence.