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Q: Mac Pro (late 2013) Graphic Issues

Hi everyone

 

I own a Mac Pro from late 2013 and occasionally run into graphic problems. I work on a dual monitor setup, mostly drawing CAD. At times my monitors freeze while background processes continue to run (music etc.). At times I still manage to control the interface,but it's very sluggish. When I open activity monitor I can see that there aren't any processes that could slow down my mac as much, so I'm quite confident, that the graphics card is at fault (also because sometimes my mac even tells me "there was a graphics card problem"). Problem is when I run the hardware check everything seems to be in order.


This is really frustrating and I'm unsure what to do about this. Does anyone else have problems with this?


Kind regards

Mac Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Feb 25, 2015 6:42 AM

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Q: Mac Pro (late 2013) Graphic Issues

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  • by jorenjm,

    jorenjm jorenjm Aug 2, 2016 8:10 AM in response to batmandan
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 2, 2016 8:10 AM in response to batmandan

    In your case the issue only occurred only after stand-by or screensaver? So not always on random moments?

  • by MICHEL0008,

    MICHEL0008 MICHEL0008 Aug 2, 2016 1:10 PM in response to batmandan
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 2, 2016 1:10 PM in response to batmandan

    I don't know if my experience can be of help but, after bying my Mac Pro I transfered my Time Machine backup from my Imac27" (full transfer) using the migration tool (NB: both machines had same OSX version 10.11.2 before migration).

     

    After that, the MacPro showed IO problems on TB ports and on USB ports, each time after the "Eco. mode" was activated. Keyboard did respond, LaCie (on Usb) didn't want to mount (and corrupt the NFS root mounting point = reformat required), the screen connected on TB port using miniDP->DP cable didn't want to wake up (no Display Port signal transferred).

     

    Took me a lot of tests to figure out:

    - the links with "IO problems"

    - & the link with "Eco mode"

    - & the link with the fact that a full transfer using "migration tool" will change some settings from the MacPro hardware to the Source Hardware (in my case Imac27").

    This case was followed by Mac Support level 2.

     

    I finally could solve it by firstly upgrading OSX 10.11.2 to OSX10.11.6 (this part did solve the proble) then reinstalling a full OSX10.11.6 over installes OSX10.11.6.

    This had obviously reset all harware settings to MacPro and since, the baby runs fine.

     

    Hope this can help.

     

    Best regards

     

    Michel0008

  • by jorenjm,

    jorenjm jorenjm Aug 9, 2016 12:04 PM in response to batmandan
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 9, 2016 12:04 PM in response to batmandan

    I'm not an expert in hardware related stuff... I looked those ribbon cables up and if I understand it correctly these are the cables that connect the graphics cards to the logic board? If yes, what was exactly replaced in your case? The cables and connectors?

    Thank you in advance!

  • by batmandan,

    batmandan batmandan Aug 9, 2016 12:11 PM in response to jorenjm
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 9, 2016 12:11 PM in response to jorenjm

    yes the part number is 923-0500.  The actual charge on the invoice was £14 per cable and £24 labour.

  • by batmandan,

    batmandan batmandan Aug 9, 2016 12:13 PM in response to jorenjm
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 9, 2016 12:13 PM in response to jorenjm

    It happened on random moments too, but never when I was hammering the system.

  • by Switch900,

    Switch900 Switch900 Aug 9, 2016 11:06 PM in response to batmandan
    Level 2 (228 points)
    Apple TV
    Aug 9, 2016 11:06 PM in response to batmandan

    I did the same thing also with the purchase of my Mac Pro, I had a 27 inch iMac late 2009 which in the end the graphics card died out and I could not get it fix, apple told me they could not fix it because it was to old. So I decide to go with the Mac Pro. I did a full transfer of my time machine which had the iMac settings and the Mac Pro started to act up, plus I had these screen glitches and that Mac Pro had problems then I got a new replacement and this one is working much better I did what you did, but the problem stay the same

  • by jorenjm,

    jorenjm jorenjm Aug 10, 2016 4:17 PM in response to batmandan
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 10, 2016 4:17 PM in response to batmandan

    Thank you for looking up the part number!

    I can't miss my mac now because I need it for work but if the driver problem still exists within a few weeks, I'll definitely search a moment to get that part replaced. Luckily it seems to be way better since the OS X update in my case... but that can be only coincidence of course if a hardware replacement is the way to solve the problem.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Aug 11, 2016 7:02 AM in response to jorenjm
    Level 9 (60,904 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 11, 2016 7:02 AM in response to jorenjm

    Ribbon cable assembly:

    The "field-replaceable unit" would be the ribbon cable with the connectors installed.

     

    These are simple to manufacture, but too complicated to be repaired in the field -- you want to run them on a cable tester (after manufacture or repair) to check for shorts or crosstalk between signals. That cable tester would be depot or factory equipment.

  • by TJ Newton,

    TJ Newton TJ Newton Aug 18, 2016 3:15 AM in response to if84
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 18, 2016 3:15 AM in response to if84

    I purchased my Mac Pro Late 2013 model exactly one year ago. I've always experienced the display lockups and pinwheel of death, at random and somewhat frequently. This is maddening for a production machine. I've tried every single trick i could manage; thunderbolt bus spanning, disabling spaces, scaling back monitors, pluging peripherals into dif busses to "spread out the load".  Occasionally one of these tricks would appear to work for sometime, but it would always burn me and come back.

     

    I have the Quad Core, Dual D300 GPU, 32GB Ram, currently running 10.11.6. I run an external thunderbolt dock with two internal SSD's, and a UAD Apollo 8 with protools 12.x. It's safe to say that since i've been experiencing this exact issue since 10.10.5, that avid protools is absolutely not to blame here. Scouring the logs i see the same as everyone else with the D300 cards instaled:

     

    First this message:

    8/18/16 12:57:54.794 AM    WindowServer[200]    Surface testing disallowed updates for 10 sequential attempts...

     

    Seems to consistently follow the next ten thousand messages:

    8/18/16 12:58:00.597 AM    WindowServer[200]    GPU Driver appears to be hung (over 5 continuous seconds of unreadiness)

     

    My machine is JUST out of warranty. So instead of bringing it right for possible service, i hit up the online chat. The first person i chatted with needed to send me up a tier, and the lad i got was aware of the problem and set me up with a service exception for this instance so i dont have to pay for it when i bring my machine in.

     

    I will mention the ribbon cable and part numbers mentioned earlier by some users when i drop off my trashcan this afternoon.  I'll keep you all posted on the outcome and any possible resolution to this seemingly common glitch, which has completely ruined several unrecoverable takes at this point.

  • by Ski Montana,

    Ski Montana Ski Montana Aug 26, 2016 5:49 PM in response to jorenjm
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Aug 26, 2016 5:49 PM in response to jorenjm

    So my screen would go black on occasion. I have the 34 inch Dell u3415W.  I was using a display port to windows style display port. Kinda looks like a HDMI but with that right angle on one side. So I switched to a HDMI cable on both ends and now the screen never goes black. Works great.

  • by itwasepic,

    itwasepic itwasepic Sep 10, 2016 9:28 AM in response to if84
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 10, 2016 9:28 AM in response to if84

    D300 Owners should have been part of this recall. Mine crashes daily and the log indicates GPU Driver Hung.

  • by Calabi-Yau,

    Calabi-Yau Calabi-Yau Sep 13, 2016 3:06 PM in response to itwasepic
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 13, 2016 3:06 PM in response to itwasepic

    Hello I have a great tip for you guys if you are going to leave the Mac Pro machine for service.

     

    I have the D300 and had hundreds of Wheel of Death-freezes and a really bad experience with AppleCare.

    Since the 1st of July I have not been able to use my Mac Pro, which had both graphics cards exchanged twice, and logic board once. And it is still broken

     

    I explained that the machine will freeze in average every third day. And was very clear that the frequency is intermittent and not regular. This means the machine could work for seven days, but then it could freeze twice a day.

     

    The service guys said they ran their hardware test for 2 x 24 hours and that it did not fail. Well…

    I told them it could work for one week without any problems, so they ran some graphics tests for 3 days and did not find any problem. Well…

     

    Now I literally forced them to run the hardware test for at least 10 days.

    This is possible by setting the repeat test-parameter for 999 loops

     

    After 6 days and 288 loops it failed Yippie.

     

    At least now I don't have to argue more with the AppleCare guy who still think this could be a software problem. Even after I explained that the hardware test fails.

     

    To be continued...

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