Vertical lines that pop up and then disappears

Question

Level 1

5 points

Vertical lines that pop up and then disappears

I was playing a game yesterday. It is set in windowed mode. And randomly, the screen went hazy with vertical lines. I could still see the game behind it and such. It was like a translucent white and then a hazy white. After I moved my game character out of the room it was in, the lines disappeared. This happened again during the game today but my game character was not in a room. The lines went away by itself after a second or two.

Do you think this is a hardware issue or a game issue?

Macbook pro. 8600gt, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Jun 25, 2009 8:50 PM

Reply

Answer 1

wlfpck Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 25, 2009 9:17 PM in response to wlfpck

I am a bit concerned that this is the beginning of a lcd problem.

Reply

Answer 2

S.U.

Level 6

9,601 points

Jun 26, 2009 6:39 PM in response to wlfpck

It's possible that you have the NVIDIA chip issue:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377

If you have access to an Apple Store, I believe that they can test specifically for this. If you have the problem, it will be repaired at no cost to you.

Good luck!

Reply

Answer 3

wlfpck Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 27, 2009 5:08 PM in response to S.U.

Yeah. I'll do that when I get the chance. It hasn't happened again yet. So. We'll see.

Reply

Answer 4

wlfpck Author

Level 1

5 points

Jul 3, 2009 11:44 AM in response to wlfpck

Ok. A couple things. The screen that goes hazy is the entire screen, not just the windowed game screen. It is now occuring a bit more often. And appeared when I was using firefox. I did have 48 tabs open though.

I took it in to the apple store and they did the test on the graphics card and it came back fine.

Any ideas?

Reply

Answer 5

wlfpck Author

Level 1

5 points

Jul 7, 2009 6:25 PM in response to wlfpck

anyone?

Reply

Answer 6

S.U.

Level 6

9,601 points

Jul 7, 2009 7:16 PM in response to wlfpck

Have you tried running the extended version of the Apple Hardware test? It's on one of the gray discs that originally came with your computer. You want to run it when the problem happens, maybe when gaming with 48 windows open. See if you can catch anything in the form of an error code. Heat from intense processor use could be a factor.

Some hardware problems can be intermittent. To catch them, you have to be able to reproduce the conditions that caused them, which in this case may be heavy processor use.

I have even read about someone who took his Mac in and it passed the graphics chip test, but because he reproduced the graphics distortions in front of them, they ultimately decided that the graphics chip did indeed have a problem and replaced his logic board under the NVIDIA program.

If the graphics distortion seem to be associated with intense processor activity, I would be suspicious of the graphics chip. Have you tried an external display? If you still get the distortion, that would also point to a graphics chip problem. If you do not, it could be a display problem instead.

Good luck!

Reply

Answer 7

CMCSK

Level 6

11,452 points

Jul 7, 2009 7:20 PM in response to wlfpck

Are you playing the game from a cd or from your browser? Go to the games manufacturer website to see if you need to update it, check its FAQ and troubleshooting section.

I took it in to the apple store and they did the test on the graphics card and it came back fine.

Did the store employees also play the game and if they did, tell you what is causing the issues?

Reply

Answer 8

wlfpck Author

Level 1

5 points

Jul 7, 2009 7:46 PM in response to CMCSK

well the game is world of warcraft. So it is played off the hard drive. At the time I had 48 tabs open in my browser.

I play with just the game on and no other apps on and the problem seems to not be occuring. So I think it was a strain on either the gpu or the processor. I mean I can understand. With 48 tabs open some of them being various youtube videos and other's being heavy with flash and stuff, I can understand the strain.

I think I will take it in to the apple store at some point and see if they can do a diagnostic test on the entire laptop. Only problem is that I will need it back within a day because as a college student I can't really be without a computer.

Reply

Answer 9

S.U.

Level 6

9,601 points

Jul 7, 2009 8:11 PM in response to wlfpck

Are you under warranty? If so, if the diagnostic shows anything, get a case number and get it fixed at your convenience.

My niece sent her Mac off for repair on a Tuesday at 6:00 PM and got it back on Thursday morning. The turnaround can be very fast.

Good luck!

Reply

Answer 10

wlfpck Author

Level 1

5 points

Jul 7, 2009 8:44 PM in response to S.U.

Yeah. The apple store here in Houston is a little backed up so I'm waiting for when the tech clears up a bit.

I've had my PC's blue screen on me before or the screen freezes/distorts on a desktop before. And that was when I def. overloaded the gpu and processor. I had Crysis running with FLstudios and some video editing stuff in the background.

So I'm hoping it's just that I overloaded it a lot and it hazed, and when the processor and gpu catches up, it returned to normal. Because world of warcraft is online with a enormous amount of people on. So it does strain the GPU and processor in places where there are a lot of people.

But we'll see when I take it in. :P

Reply

Answer 11

CMCSK

Level 6

11,452 points

Jul 8, 2009 4:49 PM in response to wlfpck

Ask Apple Care to authorize a loaner while your computer is being repaired.

Reply

Answer 12

wlfpck Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 28, 2009 1:24 AM in response to CMCSK

Apple would not authorize me a loaner.

Apple said that it was a bad temperature sensor on my GPU. However, when it was sent in for repairs, I got it back and it said that a stick of ram was replaced. It was a bad kernel.

So... pretty much.... I paid them $300 to fix a $30 dollar stick of ram problem. Awesome. Apparently the apple store can diagnose the problem wrong.

And now i'm having problems with getting readings from the GPU diode temperature sensor.

Reply

Answer 13

wlfpck Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 8, 2009 1:53 PM in response to wlfpck

This problem occurs due to the graphics card overheating which is caused by the malfunction of the temperature sensor on the gpu. This is a known issue for all the 8600M GT's that are used in laptops.

Reply

Answer 14

wlfpck Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 8, 2009 1:54 PM in response to wlfpck

Found the answer myself. See my last post.

Reply