Yosemite NVIDIA issue on MacPro 5,1

Question

Yosemite NVIDIA issue on MacPro 5,1

I'm getting visual noise and screen rendering errors. It started when I upgraded this Mac Pro 5,1 with an SSD drive and fresh install of Yosemite 10.10. I had previously been using 10.8.5 on a conventional drive with no issues. The graphics card is an NVIDIA k5000 attached to two 27" Apple Displays via display port and a 50" Panasonic video monitor via HDMI. A few dozen times each day I'll see interface noise (see example in attached image). This occurs in my most used apps, including Finder, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop and Safari. This problem only occurs on the Yosemite OS on the SSD drive.

I am using the latest drivers from NVIDIA; CUDA Driver Version: 6.5.18 and GPU Driver Version: 10.0.43 310.41.05f01. I downloaded the NVIDIA Driver Manager. Selecting and restarting using either the "NVIDIA Web Driver" or the "OS X Default Graphics Driver" does not resolve the problem. I've also tried enabling ECC which does not solve it. I then replaced the K5000 with the original ATI Radeon HD 5770. The ATI does not have this problem, only the K5000. I then thought the card was dying or becoming defective, which didn't make sense because everything is clean when using the boot drive with 10.8.5. Despite my reservations, I purchased a new PNY made NVIDIA K5000, the same as the first, and the problem persists. The K5000 cards are not defective as both of them always display a clean interface in 10.8.5. It is clearly an issue with the K5000 on a MacPro using 10.10 or 10.10.1.

Anyone else experiencing GPU issues like this on Yosemite? I've seen many postings about other GPU issues but mostly with laptops. Apple or NVIDIA, are you aware of this? Also, where can I submit a bug/issue report to Apple and NVIDIA?

Mac Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1), Mac Pro 5,1

Posted on Dec 2, 2014 5:40 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Gregory MOW

Level 1

13 points

Dec 3, 2014 7:56 AM in response to Nick Spiropoulos

I have had the same issue. Working on a Macbook Pro early 2013, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M. After upgrading to Yosemite I started seeing the breakup, worse, when working in Premiere Pro and Photoshop I would drop video. I had continually switch between Cuda and software only settings to get it back, the situation became unworkable. After a week or so my computer started to have frequent kernel panics. I took it to Apple and they replaced the logic board, in the interim I bought a similar computer, did a restore and had the same issues, but without the kernel panics. When I got my machine back I did a clean install of Yosemite and all aps. No change in symptoms. Started to have kernel panics again. An Apple Genius suggested I remove (com.nvidia.CUDASoftwareUpdate.plist) from Launchagents and (com.nvidia.cuda.launcher.plist) from LaunchDaemons to deactivate the Cuda driver. END OF ISSUE. So it's clear that something is amiss here. Hopefully Apple & Nvidia track this down soon!

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Answer 2

zeevg

Level 1

4 points

Jan 22, 2015 5:13 PM in response to Nick Spiropoulos

I'm having the same problem (and more) on my 2014 Retina MacBook Pro running Yosemite 10.10.2.

Two days ago the CUDA Preferences panel said there was an upgrade, and installed CUDA Driver Version 6.5.36.

In Activity Monitor "aerendercore" shows as "not responding" around 10 times a day. Premiere crashes 2-3 times a day.

I checked nvidia website, and they had a 6.5.37. Installed that, but same issues.

CUDA Panel also says "GPU Driver Version" is "10.2.1 310.41.15f01" ... not sure if that is something that can be updated.

I'm rebooting 4-5 times a day.

Not sure what to do ... have you had any luck?

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