screen suddenly goes color crazy and machine freezes!

Question

screen suddenly goes color crazy and machine freezes!

Hi

Had a strange issue recently, the 2nd of such events which basically rendered my computer unusable. Started on Monday after a system update, screen started flashing colors and gradients of gray and then just froze. I reinstalled system software and everything seemed to be ok until about 1/2 hour ago, when it happened again. This time I took pictures and did a screen grab of the apple error report. I'm hoping that I have a software issue rather than a motherboard or other hardware related problem.

Ay advice?

thanks

DJH

I don't seem to be able to upload the error report graphic...

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8), 17" 4GB RAM 2.6 GHz Core 2 Duo

Posted on Jul 27, 2011 3:05 PM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

239,111 points

Jul 27, 2011 3:38 PM in response to ghtK3VHxiO9DalJklqHh

Hello,

Get Temperature Monitor to see if it's heat related...

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12381/temperature-monitor

And/or iStat Pro...

http://www.islayer.com/apps/istatpro/

If you have any temps in the 70°C/160°F range, that's likely it.

One way to test is to Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, Test for problem in Safe Mode...

PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive

Reboot, test again.

If it only does it in Regular Boot, then it could be some hardware problem like Video card, (Quartz is turned off in Safe Mode), or Airport in 10.4 & below, or 3rd party add-on, Check System Preferences>Accounts>Login Items window to see if it or something relevant is listed.

Check the System Preferences>Other Row, for 3rd party Pref Panes.

Also look in these if they exist, some are invisible...

/private/var/run/StartupItems

/Library/StartupItems

/System/Library/StartupItems

/System/Library/LaunchDaemons

/Library/LaunchDaemons

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Answer 2

Jul 27, 2011 4:43 PM in response to BDAqua

HI BD

I do have some temperatures above the 70 degree line. Graphics processor temp diode is around 80 and CPU A temp diode and CPU Cores hover between 65 -74. Is this a problem that is going to be ongoing? I've had the machine for about 3 months and this is the first occurence of something going wrong.

thanks

DJH

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

239,111 points

Jul 27, 2011 5:04 PM in response to ghtK3VHxiO9DalJklqHh

David, I'm not sure aout the regular temps are for yours, is it extra hot where you are now? Here's my Quad G5 at different times...

What was 80c? That's pretty normal for CPU and GPU, mine gets to 80c when encoding

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=963809

So I guess those temps are about normal for IntelMacs...

http://www.intelmactemp.com/list

I'd have it looked at if it's still under AppleCare.

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Answer 4

Jul 27, 2011 8:28 PM in response to BDAqua

Thanks again.

I'll keep monitoring the temps and see if anything changes. Are there any internal fans in the Macbook 17" that could have stopped working perhaps?

DJH

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

239,111 points

Jul 27, 2011 9:47 PM in response to ghtK3VHxiO9DalJklqHh

iStat should rebort fan sprrds, are any zero RPM, or showing nothing?

Might try smcFanControl ...

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23049/smcfancontrol

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Answer 6

Jul 28, 2011 5:50 PM in response to BDAqua

HI

The temperatures seem to be within tolereance so I'm wondering what else could be causing this problem? I'm trying to upload the report but it won't let me for some reason. I'm sure the problem can be seen in the report write-up.

thanks

DJH

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Answer 7

BDAqua

Level 10

239,111 points

Jul 28, 2011 4:08 PM in response to ghtK3VHxiO9DalJklqHh

OOPs, try to edit that link, I think it must include your login, I get...

David Hayter's Gallery

Drag photos here

Or, if you prefer...

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Answer 8

Jul 28, 2011 4:53 PM in response to ghtK3VHxiO9DalJklqHh

Oops! I think you are right. I have enclosed the most recent panic in your link.

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Answer 9

BDAqua

Level 10

239,111 points

Jul 28, 2011 5:43 PM in response to ghtK3VHxiO9DalJklqHh

Nope, link is still the same, I'll ask the hosts to edit out. 🙂

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Answer 10

Jul 28, 2011 7:08 PM in response to BDAqua

I have uploaded the 2 files to my FTP site. Please if you don't mind, email me at david (at) valentiprintgroup (dot) com and I will send you the login and then perhaps you could take a look at the 2 reports.

thanks a lot.

DJH

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Answer 11

Jul 28, 2011 6:20 PM in response to BDAqua

Wow - big difference in the casing temperature with the fans adjusted. Everything staying well below 70 degrees.

thanks

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Answer 12

BDAqua

Level 10

239,111 points

Jul 28, 2011 6:30 PM in response to ghtK3VHxiO9DalJklqHh

Great to hear, is it still having video problem though?

At the Apple Icon at top left>About this Mac.

Then click on More Info>Hardware>Graphics/Displays and report like this...

NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT:

Chipset Model: GeForce 7800GT

Type: Display

Bus: PCI

Slot: SLOT-1

VRAM (Total): 256 MB

Vendor: nVIDIA (0x10de)

Device ID: 0x0092

Revision ID: 0x00a1

ROM Revision: 2152.2

Displays:

VGA Display:

Resolution: 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz

Depth: 32-bit Color

Core Image: Supported

Main Display: Yes

Mirror: Off

Online: Yes

Quartz Extreme: Supported

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Answer 13

Jul 28, 2011 6:38 PM in response to BDAqua

The last event was at 11:50 this morning. Machine froze and took about 3 restarts before it would boot back up without erroring out.

GeForce 8600M GT:

Chipset Model: GeForce 8600M GT

Type: Display

Bus: PCIe

PCIe Lane Width: x16

VRAM (Total): 512 MB

Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)

Device ID: 0x0407

Revision ID: 0x00a1

ROM Revision: 3212

Displays:

Color LCD:

Resolution: 1920 x 1200

Depth: 32-Bit Color

Core Image: Hardware Accelerated

Main Display: Yes

Mirror: Off

Online: Yes

Quartz Extreme: Supported

Built-In: Yes

Display Connector:

Status: No Display Connected

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Answer 14

BDAqua

Level 10

239,111 points

Jul 28, 2011 6:48 PM in response to ghtK3VHxiO9DalJklqHh

Let's hope the SMCFan control does it, the GeForce 8600M GThad may problems...

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2377

http://www.slashgear.com/apple-extend-geforce-8600m-gt-warranty-for-overheating- macbook-pros-0145488/

http://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/13569/Will+Apple+Honor+NVIDIA+GeForce+8600M+G T+failure+to+non-original+owner

http://gigaom.com/apple/apple-extends-macbook-pro-nvidia-geforce-service-policy- to-three-years/

http://www.ditii.com/2008/10/11/apple-warns-macbook-pro-user-of-bad-nvidia-gefor ce-8600m-gt-gpu/

And those screen captures seem to indicate the graphic card.

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Answer 15

Jul 29, 2011 3:29 PM in response to BDAqua

Yes - I can't get it to start up at all now. So I guess it was something more than just the temperature. It seems I may be eligible for the Apple fix as the machine turns 3 next month! Thanks for you guidance. It is appreciated. Did the reports reveal anything else suspect?

djh

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