Small Black Vertical Lines follow my mouse pointer AND surround all ICONS

Curiously I've just been trying to sort the same problem. I have a dual 2.5GHz PowerPC G5 with ATI Radeon 9600XT connected to two 20in Apple LCDs. I am running 10.4.11.

I've had the same display issues - the black lines and whole screen artifacts when running video. I can't say for sure whether the issue arose following a software update or not. Anyhow, I tried re-seating the video card with no affect. The I ran the Apple hardware tests from the CD that came with the machine - expecting to see a video card memory issue. The tests all passed. However, when I booted back into OS X the screen had corrected itself and the problem seems to have gone away (for now at least).

Does the Apple Hardware test program reset anything?

I don't think so. Its just to diagnose problems. But it does put your mac through the ringer so I wouldn't be surprised if it did other things as well.

Hi again Macboyne,

I was worried and wondering about you. 🙂

I'm really glad you got things back to normal. You should call that "Genius" and tell him what you did. Less brave people (ones who don't want to play around inside their macs, like me most times) would have taken his advice and forked out a nice chunk of change for another card even though they didn't need one. Bravo to you.

Thanks for writing back, I think it will help a lot of people here to know they have more options than they think. And thanks for the rating, I appreciate that very much. 🙂

Continued success.

I have just got this issue - it is identical to the screen shot.

Running OS X 10.5.5 on a Dual 2GHz PowerPC G5 with 2.5 GB DDR SDRAM, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, Apple 23" Cinema Display (old style easel version).

Thought "grafx card" instantly but came here for help... will switch off, resit the card and reboot. I'll update here for future goolers who get this issue!

Nope 😟

Will try removing and reinstalling again...

Nope.

Ran hardware test...

got: 2ATI/1/4:113-A14401-117.

methinks the card is dying/dead.

Issue is identical to the one starting this thread except the reinstall has not helped me 😟

If this is the same problem I am having now, after starting to update my g5 core duo from 10.5.1 to 10.5.4 then changing the graphics card ($500+) will not work. This is a real puzzle the problem of small black lines than seem to surround and echo the finder windows, particularly the system preferences window, the finder command bar, and the mouse.
Has anyone found a solution or cause for this problem since the September postings?
SIncerely,
pjk

Macboyme---my wifes brand new 24" iMac has the exact same issues with the small black vertical lines following the mouse pointer...NO clue why. The only think recently that she got was a new iphone....I have the identical iMac downstairs and no issues....very bizarre. Hardware test shows no problems either....let me know if you figure something out....this is driving me nuts!

I have the exact same problem.

It might be interesting to the discussion to note that I just had my video card replaced like a week ago, which I guess means that a) it's probably the video card and b) it's probably not because the video card is getting old =)

(And also, the screensaver with this glitch is fascinating! It creates a whole pattern of lines that stretch toward the center of the screen, and they spin and twirl... Some weird stuff going on.)

I know this question has been answered, but we occasionally have a similar issue where I work. Sometimes one of our Macs will start having the black lines around the mouse pointer and around the icons on the desktop. I couldn't access the images of the problem, but it sounds the same.
Doesn't make any sense that it would cause the black lines, but what is happening on our computers is that the Universal Access Preferences file is getting corrupted.
When that happens, you need to delete the com.apple.universalaccess.plist file in the preferences folder of your user directory
This is located at Users/YOURLOGINNAME/Library/Preferences
Log out and then log in, or you can restart.
Hopefully that fixes your problem.

I'm also having this issue. When I got the PowerMac G5 it was without a video card. I purchased one used from ebay - so I have no way of knowing if the error is a result of the video card or not.

I'm considering replacing the card, and am on a fixed budget - do you guys think that a ATI RADEON 7500 32MB AGP ADC VGA MAC EDITION would be a good fit?