Q: NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception!

I am having same type of problems with my new MBP (about 2 months old) : mainly applications "remains" on the other applications, white pixels on my solid blue background, screen freezing and one crash.
A friend of mine tipped me about a utility K64 which enables the 64bit kernel. When switched to 64 kernel things are far more stable, although occasionally I see the problem with the "remains".

By accident I discover that closing Skype things are very stable, when I am logged in Skype I am getting the "remains" plus the white pixels in my screen.

my feeling is that the NVIDIA drivers is the problem or there is a compatibility issue with the graphics card.

Thodoros


MBP 15 i7 2.66 4Gb 10.6.5

That is good to hear. If I am away from the computer and it happens I know what to expect now.

I have the same issue with my MBP 3.1 / GeForce 8600M GT:

kernel[0]: NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! exception type = 0xd = GR: SW Notify Error

The screen flickering only appears when I am connected to my 30-inch ACD. Especially when I initialize the connection. It began after updating to 10.6.5.

Same here,

MacBookPro3,1
MBP31.0070.B07
1.18f5

GeForce 8600M GT

Flickering randomly, no external connection, app independent.

Bye bye

Hi,

for me after attaching my external monitor (BenQ V2400W) the issue disappeared. Since yesterday I'm working without the external monitor which was the only circumstance where my system freezed and had the flickering screen.

For me the issue is application independent, can occur at any time.

A few things were changed since my last post. I applied the following updates: iTunes 10.1.1, Digital Camera 3.5, AirPort Utility 5.5.2 and iPhoto 9.1.1.

Apple Care told me to reset the PRAM/NVRAM because there may be wrong settings in it and they will be adjusted when the system boots. I did it today after the system freezed again (but without screen flickering!).

Since then I had no problems for hours (no external monitor attached).

See this article how to reset your NVRAM: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

My system is: MacBook Pro 6,2, 15" Hi-Res 1680x1050, 8 GB RAM, Intel i7 2,66 GHz, Intel HD Graphics, NVIDIA GT 330M with 512 MB, Mac OS X 10.6.5

-Ralf

Message was edited by: ralfbn

Good morning,
I m french...
i think that it is a trouble when airport is working.
I cut off airport and use a wire (cable). No freeze no error with
"NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! exception type = 0x6 = Fifo: Parse Error"

It s true that the trouble become after a hot use: when for exemple picassa is working a lot to find person ....
or when a flash is on safari.
I believe to that it s an update which cause this trouble.
And i hope that apple correct rapidly THIS.
please.

Hi Pierre,

I am having trouble with this issue while I'm always connected by cable, not by AirPort.

-Ralf

Hello,
I have open the memory trap (under my mbp) too and i leave it open .....
and since it s ok.

maybe a hot "temp" to the memory ship?????
without this metal stuck, the temp is lower ?
so
Airport + hot temp==> nvidia error due of memory "bug".

in fact i don't know why since month and year Apple don't correct this bug ?

pierre

Leaving the memory door off - that seems an excellent idea. After all they sell memory coolers, so memory temperature should be important.

I wonder how much difference in temperature, leaving the door off would make. +iStat Menus+ can read the temperature of the Memory Controller, but I suppose this would not show the temperature of the actual memory chips.

Richard

I've done some tests:

- external monitor: same issue
- airport disabled: same issue
- reset PRAM and NVRAM: same issue

Now I try with fan at full speed and memory trap opened..

I'm also having these since about 2 weeks on my MBP (mid/late 2007). I think it started after the last updates.

Looks in the log like this:

30.12.10 20:34:00 kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! exception type = 0xd = GR: SW Notify Error

I'm also getting a few of these:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2654072

It happens mostly when viewing videos either in Movist, VLC, EyeTV or even with flash in Safari.

I had similar problems, and with the 10.6.6 update was hoping that things would be better. But it has been a mixed bag. What did help is going back to the 10.6.5 versions of GeForce.kext and GeForceVADriver.bundle in /System/Library/Extensions. YMMV, but since the 10.6.6 update and back revving those two kernel extensions, I haven't had one issue. Of course, it's only been 24 hours but Flash or YouTube would kill the system quickly before. If you try this, don't forget to repair permissions and delete/rebuild the caches before reboot. Caveat Utilitor, all disclaimers apply, take backups, etc.

Apple, nVidia: a plague on both your houses!

+8/1/11 4:36:16 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!+
+8/1/11 4:36:16 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! exception type = 0x6 = Fifo: Parse Error+
+8/1/11 4:36:16 PM kernel 00000069+
+8/1/11 4:41:20 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!+
+8/1/11 4:41:20 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! exception type = 0x6 = Fifo: Parse Error+
+8/1/11 4:41:20 PM kernel 00000069+
+8/1/11 4:41:47 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!+
+8/1/11 4:41:47 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! exception type = 0x6 = Fifo: Parse Error+
+8/1/11 4:41:47 PM kernel 00000069+
+8/1/11 4:42:07 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!+
+8/1/11 4:42:27 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!+
+8/1/11 4:42:47 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!+
+8/1/11 4:43:07 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!+
+8/1/11 4:43:27 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!+
+8/1/11 4:43:47 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!+
+8/1/11 4:44:07 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!+
+8/1/11 4:44:27 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!+

Once again left feedback but that goes to /dev/null, I'm sure. I was using Unison by Panic when this particular nightmare begin, by the way.

When these errors occur I truly hate my iMac and OS X. At least with Windows I can upgrade or downgrade graphics drivers with ease.

This morning my MBP crashed again due to NVDA(OpenGL) .... error but after quite sometime(about 2 weeks) of stable performance.

So I decided to update to 10.6.6 just in case the apple guys took care of the problem..... Well after 5hrs running on the new kernel crashed again!!!! with same error....

It's getting extremely annoying .....

Thodoros

I also get these identical symptoms when trying to use iPhoto '11 on the same model iMac. To be explicit:

I have a 2006 white Intel iMac 24" with 3GB RAM and nVidia 7300 GT, running Snow Leopard (was 10.6.5, now 10.6.6). When I try to use iPhoto '11 (9.1.1), the system freezes quite regularly when performing simple operations like double-clicking a photo for viewing/editing. "Freeze" means the mouse cursor still works, but the user interface is otherwise completely unresponsive for up to a few minutes. Once I get control back, the graphics on screen sometimes appear corrupted. During the time of a freeze (and no other time) there are always Console messages as follows:

1/9/11 8:53:35 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!
1/9/11 8:53:35 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! exception type = 0x6 = Fifo: Parse Error
1/9/11 8:53:35 PM kernel 00000069
1/9/11 8:53:55 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!
1/9/11 8:54:15 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!
1/9/11 8:54:36 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!
1/9/11 8:54:36 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! exception type = 0x6 = Fifo: Parse Error
1/9/11 8:54:36 PM kernel 00000069
1/9/11 8:54:56 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!
1/9/11 8:55:16 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!
1/9/11 8:55:16 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! exception type = 0x6 = Fifo: Parse Error
1/9/11 8:55:16 PM kernel 00000069
1/9/11 8:55:36 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!
1/9/11 8:55:56 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!
1/9/11 8:56:16 PM kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!

I submitted a detailed report using "iPhoto -> Provide iPhoto Feedback", and as promised did not hear anything back.

I'm also in the process of working through Apple tech support. I've been bounced around to several people, all of whom were polite but dismissive when I described the Console messages and the numerous detailed reports on these forums of the identical problem with no cure. They note that there's a lot of negativity and misinformation on user forums, and then ask me to try a series of things like deleting old preferences, creating a new iPhoto library, etc. They've graduated me to senior tech support, and the last thing they had me try was:

Create a brand new partition on my hard drive, install Snow Leopard and iPhoto on it from scratch, and create a tiny iPhoto library by dragging in a dozen images from /Library/Desktop Pictures/.

On that bare-bones setup I've confirmed that iPhoto '11 has lots of freezing, whereas iPhoto '09 works flawlessly. Senior tech support had me capture some system info during one of the freezes, and has sent it to engineers with hopes of hearing something back this week.