Radeon X1900GT PCIe failing?

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Level 1

89 points

Radeon X1900GT PCIe failing?

I recently "gathered" some parts/repair Quad G5s from the 'Bay, and I believe I've gotten a nearly functional Quad now. I say "nearly" because I believe the only video card I acquired-- a Radeon X1900GT w/ 256MB VRAM-- is flakey. I currently get some color artifacting in both YouTube videos and even iPhone ads on the main Apple site. I also get an occasional line across the screen, and the machine seems less stable now, w/ the UI locking up but the G5 still allowing SSH (which shows the machine itself is still operating and not completely crashed). Naturally, this is the ONLY Mac PCIe card I have, so I'm unable to simply swap to a different card to test. Some observations/questions:

1. I didn't notice as bad a problem w/ the X1900 when I was testing one of the Quads w/ just a single processor card installed (so, basically it was a Dual 2.5 at that point), so...
1a. Is there something in the driver or firmware that would cause it to misbehave (or misbehave more) w/ 4 CPUs vs 2?
2. Are these Radeon X1900s commonly problematic?
3. I'm pretty thorough w/ troubleshooting, but any suggestions on tests specifically for this X1900?
4. I've mixed and matched processor cards and all 4 CPUs test out okay. However, is there any chance some odd CPU issue could be the culprit here, rather than the Radeon?

Thanks for any help!
Fred

MacBook Pro i5 2.4GHz, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Jan 31, 2011 2:56 PM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

250,445 points

Jan 31, 2011 2:59 PM in response to Fred Turner

One way to test is to Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup),Quartz & Core Video will be disabled, if you don't get the artifacs there it likely the Video Card/VRAM.

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Answer 2

japamac

Level 7

24,400 points

Jan 31, 2011 3:05 PM in response to Fred Turner

Is there something in the driver or firmware that would cause it to misbehave (or misbehave more) w/ 4 CPUs vs 2?

Those processes (CPU use and GPU acceleration) run from separate kexts; unrelated.

2. Are these Radeon X1900s commonly problematic?

Relatively so.
Dirt build up is a common issue, and the accompanying decrease in cooling function allows components to burn up.
It may be worth disassembling, cleaning and replacing the thermal compound.

There is an update for the card:
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/MacX1900G5updater.aspx

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Answer 3

Fred Turner Author

Level 1

89 points

Feb 2, 2011 8:06 AM in response to japamac

Thanks for the quick and helpful replies, guys! I tried Safe Mode and still had the artifacting, so determined that the Radeon was not at fault. Further testing showed this problem to occur only when Quad #1's lower CPU card was installed. Swapping it out w/ Quad #2's upper CPU card fixed it (see linked thread below for more details).

But now I have more oddities and issues to deal with. Since the Radeon issue is resolved (although it still will show a horizontal line sometimes during QT playback), I've started a new thread:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2741358

Please take a look if you have time and are bored. :-D

japamac wrote:
Dirt build up is a common issue, and the accompanying decrease in cooling function allows components to burn up.
It may be worth disassembling, cleaning and replacing the thermal compound.

Thanks, I will give that a shot.

There is an update for the card:
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/MacX1900G5updater.aspx

I believe this driver is only for 10.4.x Tiger, not Leopard (which I'm running). The 10.5.8 system I'm using has Oct '07 drivers, whereas this link shows Jan '07. Also, I believe I've seen another AMD/ATI page showing that for Leopard systems, you just use the built-in drivers. Am I mistaken?

Thx,
Fred

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Answer 4

BDAqua

Level 10

250,445 points

Feb 2, 2011 3:18 PM in response to Fred Turner

Great news, good work on your part, thanks! 🙂

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