Installation & update
About program installation and update, hardware, operating systems, setup, etc.

Problems with Video Display on a new Aluminum iMac

drh64
Contributor
I have had this happen on two different IMacs and only when we run AC 11.

It seems to be triggered by Itunes running at the same time.

Has anyone else witnessed this before? Any suggestions?


http://www.connect-arch.com/graphics-problem/scatter.mov
183 REPLIES 183
Anonymous
Not applicable
owen wrote:
The fact that this problem is heat related is understandable (not excusable) with the enclosure of the iMac but a real worry given the Mac Pros are certainly not lacking for airflow.

This problem really shouldn't be happening .. the main benefit of the Apple closed system is everything they sell should have been thoroughly tested before going to market. I would certainly count pushing a Mac Pro to its limits for days on end as part of this process.
Yes, this really seems like Apple and ATI have dropped the ball on this one. Curiously ATI has posted updated drivers for Boot Camp but not for Leopard. I haven't seen any info on what (if anything) they are doing about the problem. Anyone else have any news?
Eduardo Rolon
Moderator
Apple posted yesterday the 10.5.2 update and once installed (it takes 2 restarts so be patient) running Software Update afterwards shows "Leopard Graphics Update". Installed both and have not had any adverse effects yet.
Eduardo Rolón AIA NCARB
AC27 US/INT -> AC08

Macbook Pro M1 Max 64GB ram, OS X 10.XX latest
another Moderator

drh64
Contributor
new hard drive
new graphics card
new power supply

same problems...................
Picture 5.png
drh64
Contributor
and yes i have all current updates installed with Leopard and AC.
Dwight
Newcomer
But a rendering to create envy in Zaha Hadid
Dwight Atkinson
Chazz
Enthusiast
drh64 wrote:
and yes i have all current updates installed with Leopard and AC.
Bummer. the hope was that the last Leopard update would nail it.
Nattering nabob of negativism
2023 MBP M2 Max 32GM. MaxOS-Current
Karl Ottenstein
Moderator
Karl wrote:
owen wrote:
We have just started receiving the new 8-Core Mac Pros with the standard ATI Radeon HD 2600 card (pretty much the same card as the iMac has). Every single one of them (5 so far i think) is displaying this behaviour.
Bummer. My machine, configured as above, should be arriving early next week. 😞

Karl
Sadly, my week old Mac Pro just displayed a crazy yellow polygon screen as in your screenshot, Owen. 😞 Only once, and haven't seen it after a restart...knock on wood. Triggered by iMovie, not ArchiCAD.

And, this after having reinstalled 10.5.2 because Parallels Desktop 3.0 was causing crashes, freezes and kernel panics. Now, the only problems with my machine seem to be that it will reboot after sleeping if the external firewire drive was left connected when going to sleep (as opposed to ejecting and powering off)... and this display thing. At least it has happened only once so far... And, no discussion that I can find on the apple forums, so I'm glad I have your post here to point AppleCare to...

Sweet machine when it does run. 😉

Karl
One of the forum moderators
AC 27 USA and earlier   •   macOS Ventura 13.6.6, MacBook Pro M2 Max 12CPU/30GPU cores, 32GB
Rick Thompson
Expert
I have a Lace firewire external drive connected and this has never happened, so maybe a driver? I still have not had any display issues. Yesterday I had a internal engine rendering split in half, but only temporary (I rebuilt) and only once.
Rick Thompson
Mac Sonoma AC 26
http://www.thompsonplans.com
Mac M2 studio w/ display
Karl Ottenstein
Moderator
Rick wrote:
I have a Lace firewire external drive connected and this has never happened, so maybe a driver? I still have not had any display issues. Yesterday I had a internal engine rendering split in half, but only temporary (I rebuilt) and only once.
The fact that you and others haven't seen the display issue, Rick, would lead me to believe that it is a defective card problem... except from the conversations below, card replacement didn't seem to fix things. I suppose the replacements could have been defective, too.

I probably should have gone Lacie on the external drive, but I had a 300gb drive sitting around and just bought an enclosure for it. Yes, could be a firmware problem with the enclosure...but OS X should be tough enough to cope with whatever is plugged into it. Dozens of people on other forums are running into this problem, all with different configurations. 😞

Glad your machine is stable, Rick! 🙂

Karl
One of the forum moderators
AC 27 USA and earlier   •   macOS Ventura 13.6.6, MacBook Pro M2 Max 12CPU/30GPU cores, 32GB
Rick Thompson
Expert
Karl wrote:
Glad your machine is stable, Rick! 🙂

Karl
Too bad I am not
Rick Thompson
Mac Sonoma AC 26
http://www.thompsonplans.com
Mac M2 studio w/ display