display anomalies

Ian Cheong wrote:

Also interesting that 10.6.8 without ATI won't do screen shots or display a png in Preview, but Safari can display png. 10.5.8 without ATI will happily do both. Neither will run DVD player without ATI. So there is a deep dependence of Apple software on display drivers.

For screenshots, I guess the explanation is in the way Apple changed how the graphics card behaves. Since at least 10.4 and until 10.6 (don't know about 10.7), more graphics routines have moved from the motherboard to the graphics card, including windows (they were rendered in the motherboard and are now rendered by the graphics card). So, starting with 10.6, it seems screenshots are no longer available because of such a change. I'm not sure how the OS handles these new rules (of storing in the graphics card) when the drivers aren't available.

marco...POLLO! wrote:

Im sad to report that after long and heavy use of my MacBook, the issue may have returned. Last night I was watching a TV show via VLC as I often do. About 40 minutes in the screen showed artifacts for a brief moment then returned to normal, except the frame was frozen and I had no usable response form the keyboard and mouse. Just the occasional beachball. The audio continued on just fine. After a reboot I watched two more episodes without an issue. This morning I watched another two and there were no issues. I figured it may just have been a codec issue with the file that caused the crash.

I've had exactly the same symptoms some time ago (I'm running a Mac Pro with a known-defective graphics card). However, since I installed Lion, the display anomalies have no longer appeared back.

When I had these graphics problems and the computer froze like you describe above, I noticed these behaviours:

1: the beachball would show up in "random" places, not related to real windows, but still in rectangular areas

2: after restarting the computer, the console logs would contain something similar (on top of my memory) to:

*** ASIC HANG START ***

1 <dump>

2 <dump>

...

1023 <dump>

*** ASIC HANG END ***

Did you noticed these symptoms?

Hey Guys,

I have been functioning with my 2006 17" imac ati 1600 for the last year by going back to 10.4.11 and removing the ati drivers.

as a separate issue i am having my lcd screen replaced by apple because of the lcd failures ( i managed to get that out of them because i had called and complained previously) they replaced some of these screen under a certain program last year (2010).

while its open i am going to have the tech re-apply the thermal paste on the gpu and i am contemplating having him drill some extra vent holes like i have seen in some of the other fixes pages.

my question is this- if non of these things get me fully functioning with my ati drivers back i was considering using this as a file server only. if i disable the drivers and set the display to sleep after 1 minute( while never sleeping the hard drives or computer will it still have issues? i mean are the issues with overheating the gpu tied to the display? therefore having the cpu work while the display sleeps would remedy the spinning balls of death?

or am i not understanding the way the heating happens?

any info would be great guys.

thanks

You know what I've learn for the months I've followed this thread, and the various hacks to try to remedy it?

Apple is going to do nothing. So why not get some money back while we still can?

I went to http://www.apple.com/recycling/ and got a quote. ~$200 for the useless doorstopper.

Mind you, I don't use the laptop anymore, but recycling is better than letting it collect dust.

As a stop gap measure I've been using SMCFAN at 4408rpm and there hasn't been a crash since.

I've managed to find a replacement logic board for a decent price and as a plus its faster than the current 2Ghz I currently have. For anyone else in this situation with an A1150 MacBook Pro, you can go up to 2.16Ghz and that's the one I have now so at least there's some long term benefit in the replacement.

I'm rather disappointed in the reliability of this machine considering the cost and the emphasis that Apple place in their marketing on providing quality products. If I'd known about this problem in advance I would've steered well clear.

Removing ATI drivers (e.g. ATIRadeonX1000.kext) turns off hardware acceleration and solves the problem for me. I had lockups and horizontal lines before. Though, as it was mentioned by many folks, no more video and games on this machine. All rendering is done by CPU now and watching Youtube is like watching a slide show :-). Thanks for the tip about drivers though!

Hey Ian-

I have been following your posts on these boards today the same issue started arising for my MBP with ATI 1600 during a period of pretty low finances (getting married, moving, etc.) I got a bunch of projects I am trying to complete and I am just trying to limp through.

At first I was noticing the line of pixels glitch with occasional strange display issues on webpages but then began to have frequent issues with the computer locking up - the audio plays, the mouse moves but I can not actually manipulate any of the windows/applications. Periodically the computer with just reboot on it's own. I tried the hardware scanning utility to no avail and I also tried reinstalling the OS. No dice.

In all your efforts thus far, what was the best way to keep trucking with the computer? How do you revert to a previous OS version?

Thank you so much for your help.

~greg

hello greg

open it, warm the main board with a heat gun without burning or melting anything, let it cooldown and start using it again. It will work until you have to do it again (form, every 3-4 month)

worth trying.

At first I was noticing the line of pixels glitch with occasional strange display issues on webpages but then began to have frequent issues with the computer locking up - the audio plays, the mouse moves but I can not actually manipulate any of the windows/applications.

When this lock up happens, you can usually still do things. Remember: only the graphics are concerned (the screen is locked, but not applications). For example, if iTunes is frontmost when this happens, you can usually press the space bar to pause/resume playback (if not, then you have a variant to the one I had, but I don't think they are different).

So, if you have no unsaved documents and know how to shut down the computer (if you have a power button on the keyboard, press it, then press “return”. If you don't have it, either press control-eject to show the shut down dialog and then press “return”. Finally, usually Command-Option-Control-Eject will also quit all applications and shut down).

Always better to shut down a Mac properly ;-)

What has kept my machine behaving near normally for >12 months on 10.5.8 is clearing corrupted system software + deleting ATIRadeonX1000.kext.

See:

Nov 5

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1697470?answerId=12538979022#12538979022

Nov14

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1697470?answerId=12584182022#12584182022

When I get time, still to replace PRAM battery and will see what can be done with GPU solder joints....

Currently have my original OS DVDs then updated to Snow Leopard. Is there anyway to rollback to 10.5 without a leopard DVD?

Thanks again.

May as well update. Since Jan 7th I have been problem free. that was my last post mentioing that I had again reheated the board.

That last time, I really did not hold back and heated it up more than I ever had. Keep in mind, I am using a hairdryer as I have no heat gun.

Been working great ever since. Except now my power cord is falling apart....

I installed fan control and it solved issue for a while, but now it's back. Seems like a lot of people are having issues with the ATI Radeon x1600. Apple should own up!

It's a crappy situation. I'm going to have to find the money for a new top-of-the-line (less crash-prone, I hope) iMac when they're released.

What you can do if force-rebooting is a very bad idea is to put the computer to sleep (I press the power button, can be set up somewhere), which will usually take a while. Let it sleep for a minute or two and power it on again. Voila, your display's back (most of the time).

That's what I do on my 2006 c2d iMac and it usually works, although words can't describe just how annoying it is.

Actually got Genius to replace my frayed power cord for the second time on this legacy machine with new, non T-type magsafe. However, my '06 intel MPB 1,1 was then stolen in an office break-in; so I guess my multi-year odyessy on this vexing problem is now over. (I'm almost relieved). Good luck to you and the rest of the persistent gang here in keeping these ATI X1600 plagued doorstops going!