Display problem-Mac Pro hooped for now

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Level 6

9,156 points

Display problem-Mac Pro hooped for now

Okay, bear with me here, I'm using my sister's Macbook Pro...Here's my problem. I was playing a game with Codeweavers when all of a sudden the screen went a green color (olive green, I think). I shut the machine down and rebooted. All I could see was a white display. I tried rebuilding the desktop and resetting the PMU and everything else, but the display seemed to be stuck in 16-bit mode. the desktop picture was there, but it was covered with a sort of green fuzz

so, I shut 'er down again. Called Apple. they told me to hold down the option key while rebooting so I could get to the Recovery HD, which I did, I chose the recovery HD and then the screen went white and stayed white. After that, I figured the graphics card was dead, so I took 'er in. That was last week. In time, hopefully, I'll get word on what the problem was, and what the prognosis will be. It was suggested to me that I could replace my trusty Mac Pro with an iMac

well, we'll see about that. The graphics card in question is a GeForce 8800 ( I think), with 8 Gigs of ram on board, 320 gig HD, Xeon Quadcore processor, and 10.7.X as the OS, so, what do you think? Might it have been the Graphics card. I dunno, as I've never had one fail on me yet....

Crossin' my fingers that everything's OK and I haven't lost any stuff. I think I'll be gettin' a backup drive when all's said n' done

thanks

John B

Mac Pro Quad core

Posted on Nov 30, 2012 8:02 PM

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Answer 1

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Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

127,717 points

Nov 30, 2012 8:11 PM in response to Johnb-one

If you need a new card, the Apple-firmware 5770 works in all models of the Mac Pro, just not as fast in the older models. Apple does not recommend it for the older models, because by the time it was released, the older models were all retired.

It runs US$250 and will be faster than the 8800. Drivers are in 10.6.5 and later.

Executive summary: If they want more than US$250 to replace your 8800, the 5770 is a better deal.

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Answer 2

Johnb-one Author

Level 6

9,156 points

Dec 5, 2012 11:58 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I'm back. Got my Mac Pro back from repair today. Ahhh...25" screen. However, they (the Apple Repair People) have put a new GeForce 8800GT in, to replace the old one.

And the final bill was $380 CDN ($40 for work, the rest for the card, around $300.)

What's Apple's policy on graphics card replacement, even if the customer is paying for it? I thought I asked for a new ATI 5770 card, but maybe I was wrong. I don't think I can take her back in and ask 'em to put a better card in there, and only ask for a bit more to cover the difference in price. I've got a feeling it doesn't work like that.....

thanks

John B

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