Q: Graphical glitches after installing mavericks

I have a similar problem with glitches when i reboot my Macbook Pro 13"( mid 2011) while its connected to my benq external monitor via 'mini display to hdmi'. The boot up hangs and I am left with no choice but to force shutdown the laptop. The MBP boots up with no issues as long as the HDMI cable is unplugged. Ive tried even booting up the above mentioned setup while the benq is powered down and the IEC power cable is unplugged, but to no avail. IMO, it is an issue with Mavericks that Apple has not bothered to address for a while, as there seem to be far to many similar complaints on these forums, since the release of osx 10.9.  Any light on this issue would be much appreciated.

I think i have a possible solution to this problem, at least for the MacBook Pro 2010.

To fix it you have to disable compressed memory by typing the following command in the terminal:

sudo nvram boot-args="vm_compressor=1"

and then Restarting your Mac.

I'm guessing that its a bug in the driver of the Intel HD Graphics integrated GPU used in the 2010 MacBook Pro and somehow a part of the graphics RAM is accidentally compressed. I've been testing for a day or so and so far no graphics corruption at all.

If it gets fixed in an OSX update or it doesn't work for you you can use:

sudo nvram -d boot-args

and then Restart to reenable compressed memory.

It might affect other Intel GPUs so its worth a shot if you have a similar problem.

Hi Pehtis,

First of all, thank you for addressing this query. I tried the steps as advised, but still no luck with boot up. The problem persists. Strangely enough the glitch affects only the boot up. If I boot up the MBP with the hdmi cable unplugged, the MBP starts up fine- no glitches. And once i plug the external monitor in after boot up, the external monitor and MBP work flawlessly, until the next time I have to boot up.

Add me to the list of Mavericks victims.  I'm not nearly as tech savvy as the rest of you, but very much interested in a solution.

The nvram-trick resolved my issue at a 2010 15" macbook pro. There are obviously other bugs plaguing other computers, but the nvram-thing resolves this spesific one with "fringes" at the window-shadows.

Disabling compressed memory also worked for me.
In my case, I thought that the case was isolated on Chrome Canary, as I had just suffered the glitches on it.
I´m glad I found Pehtis above suggestion.
This is my system info:

MacBook Pro - 13 inches - late 2011
2,4 Ghz i5

4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3

Intel HD Graphics 3000 384 MB

Thanks everyone!

No way... it didn´t work at all...

Thanks Pehtis,

This worked for me, i have been running my 13retina macbook with regular resolution since installing mavericks because of this annoying bug. After trying your idea with :

sudo nvram boot-args="vm_compressor=1"

The graphical glitches havent been seen since. Good call mate

Pehtis,

This appears to have worked for me too!  Thanks...  Keeping my fingers crossed!

Just had the glitches happen on wakeup after 20min sleep again

Sadly it hasnt helped, although I did notice the overall performance seemed slightly slower than previously. I dont know if thats related though.

Went back to the regular boot-args, and turned display resolution back to best for retina again, I really hope apple does something with this horrible bug. Im on the verge of getting mountain lion again. I mean I wouldnt have bought the rMPB 13 if it wasnt for the option to run at higher resolution. As it is, I could just as well have gotten a macbook air and saved a great deal of cash.

Apparently the victim list keeps getting bigger! I have an iMac (3.1, mid 2011) and a MacBook Pro (2.5, mid 2012), but the glitch seems to reside only on the iMac. Most of the time it appears when I'm browsing in Safari, but I can't really find the pattern to replicate the bug. Surprisingly, this never happens in the MBP, but it could be because I use that less than the iMac so it never got the chance to happen.

My cure so far is to open either Mission Control, Dashboard, or as simple as moving a large enough window over the artefacts to cover it up and "fix" it. Unfortunately, none of the fixes listed here helped. My graphic card is a Radeon, so I think the bug spans on pretty much any card with bad luck.

Everyone,

IMO, the best way to get help for this, and to see that the issue is recognised, is to firstly get a support case opened through AppleCare (even if your computer is out of warranty), and then work with a Senior Advisor to get it resolved (actually ask for a Senior Advisor).

They will probably tell you to go to a Genius Bar, but that needs to be done in order to see if the hardware is faulty. For mine, they replaced lots of parts, and the issue was still there so they then sent some data off to their software engineers. We need to get their Engineers to realise that heaps of people are having this issue.

Tell the Senior Advisor that it started as soon as Mavericks was installed (a Senior Advisor told me that any new OS X versions come with free 90 days support). Tell them that you are hearing of heaps of people with the same issues, who have had hardware replaced but the issue still happens. Actually get their email address, and email them (whilst you are on the phone to them) a screenshot of the issue so that they know exactly what is happening (rather than trying to describe it to them hoping that they understand). Also provide them a link in the email about this thread.

AppleCare is the proper way to get issues like this resolved. Simply putting in bug reports won't be enough because Engineering probably think it's a hardware issue.

It's a long process, but it needs to be done. Posting on this forum won't do anything. The more people that do it the more chance we have of them resolving the issue quicker.

10.9.2 came out today, and I've read somewhere that they actually acknowledged the problem and probably will include a fix for that. However, I don't see anything about that listed here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6114?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US and I haven't got the chance to update.

Anyone installed this yet?

I've installed it. Nothing so far in 8 hours. :)