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Weird Mac Pro screen issue....help

Hello
Ok guys, I'm gonna be straight forward about it, I wont read 15 pages of posts so forgive me if the question was asked before. So here is my story, I ve bought my MacPro the day after its premiere and it was running super smooth so far, I loved it. However last week the screen froze on my while I was using firefox. It just froze, and there were lines allover it. Anybody that used a windows PC and over clocked the GPU, knows what I'm talking about. But, hey it can happen sometimes, but today while I was using finalCut and took a break and watched some videos on youtube my screen froze again. This time it was completely dark and the sleep light at the right bottom of the screen was flashing like mad (ACD) No response from any keys so I had to restart it and ofcourse lost all the data. I really cant afford that to happen again, I have huge projects on finalcut for my college and I really dont want to fail the class due to my mac. What is the problem, I have a simple Ati2600. Is it a hardware issue, or maybe just a firefox bug?? I really dont want to send my mac to apple as I really need it to work. Anybody with similar issue has fixed it??
Thx in advance
Marek
 
Like I said in the other post if you have a second monitor plug it up to the second DVI input. That seems to be a quick fix for now until Apple gets a fix. If you can't get them to send you a new card which could or could not work.
 
jimithing1 said:
Like I said in the other post if you have a second monitor plug it up to the second DVI input. That seems to be a quick fix for now until Apple gets a fix. If you can't get them to send you a new card which could or could not work.
Click to expand...

So its the Ati gpu :( :( Do users with the nvida card have a similar problem ?? Is apple kind enough to exchange the ati for nvidia card even after some payment? or are the unfortunate guinea pigs stuck with some rubbish ati ?
 
Mastamarek said:
So its the Ati gpu :( :( Do users with the nvida card have a similar problem ?? Is apple kind enough to exchange the ati for nvidia card even after some payment? or are the unfortunate guinea pigs stuck with some rubbish ati ?
Click to expand...
So far, no the nvidia card holders have not. Nope they told me I would have to do a return of the computer, get my money back then purchase a new computer with the Nvidia card, even when I offered to pay the difference for the card. Your choice is to either return it for a new machine, a new card, or return it for a refund and reorder with the Nvidia.
 
But you might want to try with an apple representative yourself and see if they're more agreeable.

The "dual port fakeout" workaround is working for people so far, myself included (about 6 hours now).

My understanding is that the 8800 card represents about 0% benefit for most users for a cost of $200.

Apple will let you trade your 2600 for another, but you might get another dud.

They'll let you swap your computer, but you might get one with the graphics problem and/or the wake from sleep crash problem.

Bottom line: try the dual port trick first if you want the quick and free solution.
 
Mastamarek said:
Whats the dual port solution?
Click to expand...
Have a dual monitor setup. Use both DVI outputs on your card to two separate monitors or hook them both up to one monitor with two inputs. Like mine has a VGA and DVI input so i'm using both of those and everything is fine now with no freezes.
 
I got my replacement 2.8 on Monday (the last day of my 14 day window). With the stock ATI card. I've been editing with Sound Track Pro since then, not pushing it real hard, but not babying it, either. So far no freezes.

On the old new machine, it first froze using STP, but then the freezes started happening with other programs and seemingly randomly.

Hopefully, in the remaining 9 days of my second 14 day window the machine won't freeze up. Two lemons in a row would be terrible. And switching data between machines is a huge pain, not to mention lugging the damn things back and forth to the Apple store.

Even if my problem is resolved, I'd like to see some kind of acknowledgement from Apple that they have had/are having a serious failure with quality control oversight!
 
relbbircs said:
I got my replacement 2.8 on Monday (the last day of my 14 day window). With the stock ATI card. I've been editing with Sound Track Pro since then, not pushing it real hard, but not babying it, either. So far no freezes.

On the old new machine, it first froze using STP, but then the freezes started happening with other programs and seemingly randomly.

Hopefully, in the remaining 9 days of my second 14 day window the machine won't freeze up. Two lemons in a row would be terrible. And switching data between machines is a huge pain, not to mention lugging the damn things back and forth to the Apple store.

Even if my problem is resolved, I'd like to see some kind of acknowledgement from Apple that they have had/are having a serious failure with quality control oversight!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I wouldn't hold your breath on that...
 
I'm having the specking/artifacts issue on my MP too. Tried the 'fake' dual monitor set up using mirroring, but that just made things worse.

Now running a true dual monitor setup until Apple get their finger out and get it sorted.
 
triotary said:
Using the Dual monitor setup as temp fix too. Now waiting for Apple to fix this @#$%!
Click to expand...

How exactly does this work? My monitor can handle 2 digital and 1 analog inputs for being able to use several computers on one screen.. could i connect both outputs from my mac to my monitor and switch to get rid of the freezing?
 
CortexRock said:
I'm having the specking/artifacts issue on my MP too. Tried the 'fake' dual monitor set up using mirroring, but that just made things worse.

Now running a true dual monitor setup until Apple get their finger out and get it sorted.
Click to expand...

Posters, correct me if I'm wrong, but my following of this says that the "dual monitor fix" is for the freezing, not the speckling. I chime in again, because I've had the speckling on my *new* unit, but not the freezing. The freezing led me to return my first MP. This new one is doing fine on freezing, but occasionally shows the speckling. From reading some other research, the speckling appears to be caused by video card overheat, which seems to be a separate issue from the freezing issues people are having. I'm considering the 8800 so I can be done with this.
 
Sepharial said:
How exactly does this work? My monitor can handle 2 digital and 1 analog inputs for being able to use several computers on one screen.. could i connect both outputs from my mac to my monitor and switch to get rid of the freezing?
Click to expand...
That's right, I have one going into DVI and the other going to the VGA input on my monitor and I just mirror the monitors.
 
Second monitor setup is not an option for me and IMO is a lame excuse for Apple to just sit back on this.
 
4God said:
Any suggestions at this point would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Ask Apple if they will exchange it for a 8800 (you will probably have to pay the difference and may have to return the entire machine not just the card). If they refuse, then maybe you could get a cheap pc 8800 with the correct chip and flash it to save some money. It certainly seems that a 8800 is the only way for you to get peace of mind without using the dual output trick.
 
4God said:
Well, guess what, after using my replacement machine for a little over 3 weeks now I just got the graphics/freeze issue again. Checked the logs and it's the same dang GPU dump as before. I'm at a loss for words, I can't even describe how pissed I am right now.

Second monitor setup is not an option for me and IMO is a lame excuse for Apple to just sit back on this. I don't even know what to do now, I'm gonna have to walk away for a little while to cool off. Any suggestions at this point would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

It was bound to happen. They never fixed the issue, it's still not fixed. Every new 2600XT machine still has the problem. My buddies graphics firm in Hawaii is returning 12 Mac Pro's they just got because of the issue.

Can you still return it and get the 8800GT? That's your only option, do not get another 2600XT. It will happen again.
 
Firefly2002 said:
The pictures are all dead. What exactly is the problem...?
Click to expand...

Random white lines and pixels across the screen and/or graphics freeze/lockup where the mouse moves but everything else is locked up. You can't click anything and have to do a hard restart.
 
4God said:
Random white lines and pixels across the screen and/or graphics freeze/lockup where the mouse moves but everything else is locked up. You can't click anything and have to do a hard restart.
Click to expand...

with resignation... MacMall rep just said they expect a shipment of 8800s on March 5. vs. 5-7 weeks advertised by Apple Store. $349 vs. $200 price difference had we ordered it at the start, but I'm starting to view this as a sunk cost. The saved hours of frustration and the anguish of working while wondering in the back of your mind if the hardware is going to hold up (even worse, in my opinion, than an outright crash) -- I think I'm going to put myself on the list.

Just don't take mine! ;)
 
jsdc said:
with resignation... MacMall rep just said they expect a shipment of 8800s on March 5. vs. 5-7 weeks advertised by Apple Store. $349 vs. $200 price difference had we ordered it at the start, but I'm starting to view this as a sunk cost. The saved hours of frustration and the anguish of working while wondering in the back of your mind if the hardware is going to hold up (even worse, in my opinion, than an outright crash) -- I think I'm going to put myself on the list.

Just don't take mine! ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and go that route as well. You're absolutely right, I need to be able to work with peace of mind and at this point, it's worth a few hundred bucks and call it a small loss.

I'll be sure to leave one behind for ya. ;)
 
4God said:
Random white lines and pixels across the screen and/or graphics freeze/lockup where the mouse moves but everything else is locked up. You can't click anything and have to do a hard restart.
Click to expand...

Have you tried underclocking the video memory? You might have to boot into Windows to do this... I guess ATIccelerator II only supports up to Radeon X1900.. and I don't think even supports Intel.. but it sounds like it could potentially be VRAM set too high (though, it sounds a bit different; this usually only results in visual anomalies that may eventually result in a lock-up; GPU OCing is what usually immediately locks you up).

It's been like 11 pages.. is it fixed yet? Lol.

If it really is mem set too high, you could try putting Cu or Al heatsinks on the memory chips, I guess. Another mounted fan couldn't hurt directly on the card, either, I suppose. Or you could try moving the card into a slot closer to a fan.
 
Firefly2002 said:
Have you tried underclocking the video memory? You might have to boot into Windows to do this... I guess ATIccelerator II only supports up to Radeon X1900.. and I don't think even supports Intel.. but it sounds like it could potentially be VRAM set too high (though, it sounds a bit different; this usually only results in visual anomalies that may eventually result in a lock-up; GPU OCing is what usually immediately locks you up).....
Click to expand...

Good point. I was just viewing the 8800GT EFI64 ROM thread thinking I might just flash an 8800 or something and read one post that talked about the ATI2600 already being severely underclocked. Although, you may be right and the VRAM may still be a little overclocked. Don't know if it's worth looking into doing that or not, I think I'm just gonna go with MacMall's quickly shipping 8800.
 
4God said:
Good point. I was just viewing the 8800GT EFI64 ROM thread thinking I might just flash an 8800 or something and read one post that talked about the ATI2600 already being severely underclocked. Although, you may be right and the VRAM may still be a little overclocked. Don't know if it's worth looking into doing that or not, I think I'm just gonna go with MacMall's quickly shipping 8800.
Click to expand...

MacMall Report -- 8800 status "backordered" as expected, no ship date indicated. I ordered something else on the same bill and they shipped that (will arrive today -- too bad it's not the 8800). I'll report if I get a chance on whether their estimates of 8800 arrival are accurate ("we're getting a shipment on March 5" per my earlier post).
 
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