Power Mac G4 having video problems -green dots and pixelated lines

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Level 1

30 points

Power Mac G4 having video problems -green dots and pixelated lines

Yesterday my Power Mac G4 running OS X (10.5.1) started having unusual video problems. I started to notice green dots on the screen where the mouse pointer had been or where application windows had recently been. The severity of the video symptoms seem to vary - from a cluster of green pixels to slight amount of fuzz in text.

I'm thinking that this is a symptom of a problem with the video card starting to fail but I haven't ruled out the Apple Studio Display either. While the Mac was still under Apple Care support, I did have the video card replaced a few years ago due to symptoms that were much more severe than this.

Should I get a new video card? Could it be the display at fault? How expensive would it be to take it in to the local Apple store for diagnosis/repair?

ATI Radeon 9700 Pro:

Chipset Model: ATY,R300
Type: Display
Bus: AGP
Slot: SLOT-1
VRAM (Total): 128 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x4e44
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-A06500-124
Displays:

Apple Studio Display:
Display Type: LCD
Resolution: 1280 x 1024
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Hardware Accelerated
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Rotation: Supported
Display Connector:
Status: No display connected

Dual 1.25 GHz PowerPC G4, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Jul 11, 2008 6:12 AM

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Answer 1

Allan Jones

Level 9

78,422 points

Jul 11, 2008 6:52 AM in response to Erik Cronin

I agree--sounds like a video card problem. I think I'd start with ATI. First, if the card has a fan over the GPU heatsink, make sure it's running. If not, stop using the computer until it's fixed. Lots of reports here of failing fans on ATI cards, and the card gets fried as a result.

Next see if they have an FAQ that covers your video symptoms. I remember one of their older PCI cards doing something like that and was cured with a ROM update. ATI comes with a three-year warranty. If the card is within that period, lean on ATI.

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Answer 2

Erik Cronin Author

Level 1

30 points

Jul 13, 2008 9:02 AM in response to Allan Jones

Thanks for the info. I'm going to check with ATI first and see what I can find.

Here is a screen capture of the symptoms:

http://homepage.mac.com/erikcronin/misc/video_glitch.tiff

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Answer 3

Erik Cronin Author

Level 1

30 points

Jul 29, 2008 3:38 PM in response to Allan Jones

Installed a new video card (ATI Radeon 9600) along with the "Apple DVI to ADC Display Adapter" - seems to be fixed now! Thanks for the advice!

ATI Radeon 9600:

Chipset Model: ATY,RV351
Type: Display
Bus: AGP
Slot: SLOT-1
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x4150
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-A73503-202

Displays:
Apple Studio Display:
Display Type: LCD
Resolution: 1280 x 1024
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Hardware Accelerated
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Display Connector:
Status: No display connected

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Answer 4

Allan Jones

Level 9

78,422 points

Jul 29, 2008 4:15 PM in response to Erik Cronin

Thanks for the follow-up. Did you get any satisfaction from ATI or was the 9700 out of warranty? I'm thinking about the 9600 myself. I need much more VRAM for my flight sim but I don't want a card like the 9800 with a fan that's way too likely to fail. The 9600 is passively cooled as I recall.

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Answer 5

Erik Cronin Author

Level 1

30 points

Aug 5, 2008 2:44 PM in response to Allan Jones

No help from ATI on the 9700.

The ATI Radeon 9600 does not have a fan on it. However, the 9700 did have a fan.

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Answer 6

jphurt

Level 1

8 points

Sep 21, 2008 5:32 AM in response to Erik Cronin

Looking at your pixilated screen shot, I also just developed the screen problem today. My card is a ATI Radeon 9700 Pro. It seemed like this first showed up during a long sleep cycle. What is the preferred card replacement today and what source? My CPU is a MDD FW800.

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