Chris2saayman

Q: Mac Pro (mid 2012) graphics related crash?

Specs: Mid 2012 Mac Pro (quad core 3.2 Ghz intel Xeon processor) with 8gb ram and ATI Radeon HD5870 graphics card. Using latest version of Adobe CC, running the latest OSX.

 

Been working on Premiere Pro CC and I wanted to render out the footage (via Media Encoder) but the screen gave a grey screen and then a flicker, disappeared for a moment and came back. But the screen now had these "blinking dots" spread over my desktop. The rendering still continues but is riddled with gross encoding issues.

 

I realised that it only happens when a large graphics demanding processes starts. Although, when in normal operation (browsing on safari, text edit etc) I still get a minor flickering of the screen but not as severe as described above and therefore normal operation continues (and no flickering dots).

 

When resetting, the dots disappear and everything appears back to normal but the problem consistently comes back under fairly the same circumstances. Had one instance of a crash resulting in an automatic system restart. This happened when trying to encoding directly out of Premiere Pro.

 

Any ideas? My thoughts immediately went to the Graphics Card being the problem. Are these symptoms of failing graphics hardware?  

Mac Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.5)

Posted on Aug 25, 2016 12:49 AM

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Q: Mac Pro (mid 2012) graphics related crash?

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  • by stuckboss,

    stuckboss stuckboss Aug 25, 2016 1:04 PM in response to Chris2saayman
    Community Specialists
    Aug 25, 2016 1:04 PM in response to Chris2saayman

    Hi, Chris2saayman!

     

    Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. After reading your post, I understand that you are experiencing some display issues including flickering and unexpected dots appearing on the display. I rely on my Mac every day, so I know it's important that everything is working properly, and would be happy to help!

     

    The first thing I would suggest you try is testing to see if the display issues occur in a new user account. The following article will provide you with information on why this can be helpful, as well as instructions on setting up a new user account.

    How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac


    If the flickering and dots continue in a new user, the next thing I would recommend is running an Apple Hardware Test to find out if the issue is, in fact, hardware related. You can get more information on the Apple Hardware Test, including how to run it, in the article linked below.

     Using Apple Hardware Test

     

    Cheers!