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Lion graphics extremely slow with Radeon HD 2600 Pro 256MB

Made a clean install with Lion and it now turns out that the graphics (Radeon HD 2600 Pro 256MB) on my Core 2 Duo iMac are way to slow (or insufficient VRAM) for the Lion UI.

Especially fullscreen apps animations and opening Launchpad folders are extremely choppy. Not much fun the way it is.

I mean come on, a mac, which can play WoW pretty well should be able to push 2D Graphics around, right?

When booting up the UI is fast, but after letting the iMac on for a while or waking it from sleep the graphics are choppy again.

Anyone else having this problem?

Regards,

Kersten

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Jul 21, 2011 10:23 PM

217 replies

Mike.Bar

Level 1

0 points

Oct 15, 2011 7:47 AM in response to Community User

I've tried to file a bugReporter but it always show me an error, seems that page only works for developer accounts.

0xF4FA

Level 1

4 points

Oct 17, 2011 6:39 AM in response to Mike.Bar

free developer accounts can be created here:

http://developer.apple.com/programs/start/safari/create.php

jermg77

Level 1

0 points

Oct 17, 2011 8:57 AM in response to Community User

I'm also experience very poor graphics performance. I'm on a mid-2009 MBP 5,3. This started with Mission Control animations being laggy and choppy and seems to be spreading system wide to a somewhat laggy UI. This can be easily demonstrated when scrolling from menu to menu on the menu bar.

I have tried a clean install, to no avail.

-jerm!

Harkaitz

Level 1

0 points

Oct 21, 2011 7:37 AM in response to Community User

There is a fix for this problem.

I just load with kext helper, the Snow Leopard Kexts from version 10.6.2 for the Radeon.

End of stutters on laggy animations on any version of lion. Works on 7.1 and 8.1 imacs (at least).

Here the fix:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=11INQM1D

How to use ONLY RADEON 2600 USERS:

execute kext helper

drag and drop this files ONLY:

ATIFramebuffer.kext

ATISupport.kext

ATI2600Controller.kext

put your admin password and click on "easy install". I tooks a while to do the work. When finished, reboot (the kext helper aaaaalways hangs, its normal.

After that reboot your computer wont stutter anymore.

Hope it helps!

Jul 22, 2018 1:08 AM in response to Harkaitz

worked for me! Thanx a lot!

But still very disappointing this wasn't fixed in 10.7.2!

jermg77

Level 1

0 points

Oct 21, 2011 9:00 AM in response to Harkaitz

Any chance there is a similar fix for those of us with NVIDIA GeForce 9400M / 9600 systems?

Thanks!

-jerm!

0xF4FA

Level 1

4 points

Oct 21, 2011 10:14 AM in response to jermg77

but...this issue doesn't occur on NVIDIA systems. if you are also having graphics problems it must be a different problem altogether. my GeForce 9600M is certainly "fine".

jermg77

Level 1

0 points

Oct 21, 2011 11:44 AM in response to 0xF4FA

This very issue has been a problem on my NVIDIA based system. I understand that this thread is in reference to ATI based systems, but I have been searching high and low to resolve it.

Oct 21, 2011 12:09 PM in response to Harkaitz

Hello, excuse me but can you upload the same files from Snow for the ATI 2400 card ?

I've switched back to Lion and am not able to pick up the files.

Harkaitz

Level 1

0 points

Oct 21, 2011 12:23 PM in response to blacksteak

Its included!

Use this files for ati 2400

ATIFramebuffer.kext

ATISupport.kext

ATI2400Controller.kext

Mike.Bar

Level 1

0 points

Oct 21, 2011 12:47 PM in response to Community User

I guess if a nvidia's user have the same issues can experiment with the nvidia kext from a snow leopard installation.

Oct 21, 2011 1:00 PM in response to Harkaitz

Thanks so much !

It works !

Just after a reboot I've seen the Apple bouncing to the welcome (logon) screen.

And now everything is as smooth as it was under Snow Leopard. It's even shocking ! 😉

I'm going to wait a little to see if it works over the time.

But the idea was very simple, and it does the trick.

Thanks again !😊

Oct 21, 2011 1:15 PM in response to blacksteak

What about OpenGL 3.2 support? SL had only 2.1 and that's why driver version have been bumped up by quite a number of revisions in Lion.

It's easy to check: get free OpenGL Extensions viewer from Mac App Store and select 'core' from a drop down menu. After that try running performance tests.

Oct 21, 2011 5:02 PM in response to Harkaitz

Hi all,

I just tried the fix above and it's stuff my mac up entirely. I used the files described and the install went fine. After I rebooted, all **** broke loose. Kernal panic and the computer just crashes. I've managed to log into recovery mode so i can post this. I crossed checked and made sure that i have the same hardware etc.

Anyway of repairing this?

Mike.Bar

Level 1

0 points

Oct 21, 2011 5:40 PM in response to Community User

I have filled a bug report, after a few days, they just send me the next message:

This is a follow up to Bug ID# ********. After further investigation it has been determined that this is a known issue, which is currently being investigated by engineering. This issue has been filed in our bug database under the original Bug ID# 9655749. The original bug number being used to track this duplicate issue can be found in the Related Problem section of your bug report's Problem Detail view.

So.... would be nice if you guys do the same. Maybe it can increase the priority...

https://bugreport.apple.com/

Lion graphics extremely slow with Radeon HD 2600 Pro 256MB