Retina MBP - visual glitches after returning from sleep

I am hoping it is a software issue, but same issue on my second machine in two days tells me it is either software issue related or major hardware design flaw (which I doubt) ... I am holding thumbs!

Just throwing my two cents in here...

I am getting the same thing. I've noticed that, for me at least, ONLY when I get done using Parallels w/ Windows 7, streaming a show/movie from a flash player, or playing a game (Diablo 3 for instance) ....THEN putting the MBPw/Retina to sleep will I get the graphical glitces when I wake the machine up. If I don't do any of those things I can put it to sleep and wake it up all I want and have no problems.

So, I assumed it was some issue with switching GPUs and waking up from sleep. I was going to keep quiet about it till after Moutain Lion to see if the issue was fixed there and if it continued then I was going to go ahead and call customer support to let them know there is a graphics issue.

I've noticed over the years, mind you I've only been in the Apple ecosystem since 2009, but I've noticed that new hardware always seems to have some graphical issues at first and a small update seems to fix it from Apple. Just figured this was another instance of that.

Well, at least for me, I started to see this problem only after I installed VMWARE/Win7 on my machine. I haven't seen this issue for at least for the first 10 days. The only issue I was dealing with then was text not showing up on Corona SDK simulator on the new Retina MBP.

I'm still seeing the issue, but I'm seeing it much less frequently since I stopped running Chrome and Steam.

It is definitely related to graphics card switching - the excellent http://codykrieger.com/gfxCardStatus utility allows you to switch manually; often, this can clear up the issue for me.

Download gfxCardStatus - it will give you a visual clue as to what GPU card is being used. And it's been updated for Retina Display and Mountain Lion.

Good luck,

Clinton

Forgot to mention in my previous post that, in addition to the blocky/tearing display, the screen resolution sometimes changes to something much higher than what is available in the System Preferences -> Display settings. This happens sometimes when the computer wakes from sleep. It looks something like 2880 x 1800 native (?) resolution that I've seen pictures of. When this happens, I'm unable to change the resolution in Display settings unless I restart the computer. Upon restarting, the resolution reverts back to the user selected resolution.

Don't know if these two issues (tearing + extreme resolution) are somehow connected or whether they are separate issues. The change in resolution happens much more rarely than the tearing and is not affected by the graphics card switching.

Neither of the two issues you describe are normal - take your MBP-R to your local Apple Store and see if you can repeat the issues for the 'Genius'. Have them repair or replace it.

Clinton

Nah, things are pretty fine as long as I force the system to stick to the dedicated graphics card. The only problem then is the extreme resolution but that happens pretty rarely.

There are no Apple Stores in Finland so I would have to take the BTO machine to an (Apple certified) third party repair shop and wait for weeks for a replacement. I'll wait for a month see first if they manage to come up with a software fix. If not, then I'll take it for repairs.

Turn off Automatic Graphics Switching and download gfxCardStatus to make certain that your primary GPU is working all the time (shouldn't make a difference, but since you're so far away from a repair center...).

Good luck,

Clinton

Clinton:

I've seen it advised a few times alreayd and I don't understand. Why would a person choose which GPU or graphics card in certain instances?

What is the benefit of one over another and isn't it better to leave it to the computer to "know better"?

Thanks in advance.

DC

The Intel 4000 consumes less power than the NVIDIA GeoForce, so it's best to leave it to the Intel when running under battery. Otherwise, just use the NVIDIA. As a for-instance, I just came inside from outside (where I was using battery and the Intel GPU). Once I plugged into the mains, my GPU switched to the Radeon (I have a late 2011 with Intel 3000 and AMD Radeon).

Download the gfxCardStatus that I mentioned - you can configure it to use the 'best' GPU and CPU configuration for battery and adapter. Works very well with both 2012 Mac's and Mountain Lion. It's thanks to that little gadget that I'm able to get the full batttery power (amongst other little 'tweaks').

Good luck,

Clinton

Thank you for the reply. I will try that once I get the new computer and see how that affects battery life.

Will any programs and/or apps be affected by said manual switching? I mean as far as functionality?

DC

Yes. If I'm on battery power, for instance, and open Photoshop and Bridge, my graphics card automatically switches to the Radeon. Which is why I very seldom use PS when I'm on battery. Other apps will also "force" the use of the more powerful graphics processor. These are one's that you need to avoid if you want to maximize your battery life.

Clinton

Hm this is very interesting.

Thanks again for your answers. Good night.

DC

I think I've figured out what is causing the graphical glitches on my end. I've gone the entire week *without* issue and my application usage consisted of primarily Apple branded apps: Xcode, Mail, Calendar --no issues at all.

Then today, I was using TEXT Wrangler to edit a script and when I woke the mac from sleep, BAM! the corrupted screen refresh showed itself. I'm almost sure that these non-retina optimized apps are causing the issue.

This all makes me think there is a bug in the way OS X scales non-retina apps. Perhaps when that piece of code in OS X is executed, it corrupts something in the graphics buffer or something... One thing I have noticed, is the apps that have been having issue are ones that OS X has to scale everything, even the window title... I have no idea what the technical difference is, but I notice that some apps use retina-friendly cocoa controls and only some things are scaled, and others seem to have everything scaled (ie: Microsoft Word)... It's the latter type that seem to be causing all of my issues.

Can anyone shed any light?