Q: OSX Lion, Graphic Artifacts

OK.

Thank you for your posts.

Hi.

I tried to turn off the three mission control features off.

This is not the solution : when I use the preview for my video and switch using the keyboard arrows, the artifacts appear.

You are correct.  In my case it postponed the inevitable.  I have discovere something else, but cannot find a permanent fix...

I installed the "iStat Nano" widget and discovered the GPU Diode temperatures were high (68 C).  I also discoverd that the CPU fan never went above 1300rpm (the minimum) no matter how hot it got.  I installed SMCFanControl and placed the fan at 1575rpm and have not had any artifacting AT ALL for over 24 hours (GPU Diode is at 43 C).

My theory is something in Lion is preventing the fans from going into higher speeds (since SnowLeopard never had issues).  I dont know where the control would reside (deleting the Power Management preference file and resetting the SMC did nothing).

Same here (iMac 3.4 | 8GB Ram | 10.7.1 )

Hello !

Once again, yesterday, during the wake up, my Mac showed exactly the same screen : squares all over.

I tried to enter my password at the "buggy" screensaver : the screen remains the same in the Finder.

It was really frightening. Exactly like if my graphic card is going to die.

I rebooted (mouse and keyboard were still responsive) and then... No problems at all.

I've called Apple, but no help.

I'm worried as I don't know if it's Lion (I'm on 10.7.1) or my graphic card. I really feel like I can't rely on my Mac anymore. Furthermore, the issue doesn't occur frequently so the diagnostic isn't easy. I don't know what to do...

I suggest trying SMCFanControl first.  I was able to increase the fan speed by only 275rpm and have not had any artifacts for over three days (machine on the whole time).  I think something conflicts with the SMC and temperatures are not passed to it, so it does not increase the fan speed appropriately, then the graphics card overheats and throws artifacts.

Apple probably wont fix it for all Macs, they dont care about older ones (they issued a SMC firmware fix for the 27in iMac, but the rest of us get nothing... they want us to have problems and buy a new one).

I don't see how that's relevant to GPU overheating. Sometimes I run World of Warcraft and other graphics intensive games whole day and get no artifacts, but when I go to youtube and watch some videos (both in html5 and flash), I get artifacts. And I only get them if I switch those videos to fullscreen several times.

hpinohio wrote:

 

Apple probably wont fix it for all Macs, they dont care about older ones (they issued a SMC firmware fix for the 27in iMac, but the rest of us get nothing... they want us to have problems and buy a new one).

When did they issue that? I didn't get anything on my 27in mid-2011 iMac.

There were two... I dont know if they apply to your machine or not:

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1444

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1389

Well, I guess if they did, they would show up in the System/Software Update. In any case, based on the description those addressed hanging, but not artifacts.

So i now have a MacBook Pro (2010 i7) and a 27" iMac (2011 i7) and they both have graphics issues? ***.

Loosing my confidence in there new hardware. My G5 to this day runs perfect.

If anyone from apple with any authority reads these threads then i suggest they get a fix out ASAP either that or start throwing in some free apple care because what are we all supposed to do after the warrenty ends - Buy a new machine becuase it was fautly from the start?

hallo. i have the same problem. i call the apple care but can't help me... any of you know the solution? ao i must wait an apple update?? please help me...

So here is the deal:

Was in contact with Apple Main distribution Center and the technical engineering group:
Their answer:

For the graphic artifacts (not the video freeze) all imac 27  mid2011 are involved!

I got three new imacs all with the same artifacts problem.

The deal is get the money back or wait for an update: they think it is a firmware problem of the graphic card in cooperation with lion. No problems under snow leopard.

They are working on a solution but are not sure if they can solve this.

That was the answer.

I think of getting my money back.

Greetz

Lol, they are not sure... It's not even a rocket science.

so...apple don't know how to resolv it?

the same problem here.... look my snapshot: 

iMac 27''  mid 2011 with  AMD Radeon HD 6970M  1GB   i5 processor