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Mac Pro ATI graphics causing freezes?

updated 07:30 pm EST, Mon February 25, 2008

Mac Pro ATI freezing issue


Users in Apple's forums are expressing discontent with their Mac Pros, new and old, saying that the machines are suffering from graphics freezes that seem to revolve around ATI-based video cards. Reminiscent of freezes that happened on the aluminum iMacs, the freezes sometimes display graphical distortions, such as lines or swimming dots. Some users theorize that the Radeon X1900 and the 2600 XT tend to overheat easily, especially if the card is dusty.

Some users have resolved this by ordering a Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT and installing it, reporting resounding success.

Others are concerned that it is an issue with the firmware on the card, since some seem to have the error on hours-old machines.

Apple has not officially commented on the matter, with support representatives themselves unsure of which solutions to provide.


by MacNN Staff

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TAGS :

 computers, industry, Radeon, Mac Pro, ATI, video cards, freeze, Apple

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  1. Murgen

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jan 2006

    0
    02/25, 08:27pm | report spam | Reply |

    ATI Freezes under Leopard

    This is a Leopard issue. As a computer Tech I have done all the re-installs, software updates, firmware patches, dust cleaning , etc mentioned in the forums to try to fix this issue. My Mac Pro a year old dual 266 X2 with an ATI X1900 worked flawlessly until I ungraded/moved to Leopard. The only fix so far is the Vista shuffle back to Tiger, where the system again runs flawlessly, no matter what I throw at it, gaming, Aperture, you name it.

  1. Guest

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 1999

    0
    02/25, 09:08pm | report spam | Reply |

    x1900 2007 mac pro

    Never had a single problem with my x1900 in any Mac OS or Windows (and in games like UT3, UT2k4, etc).

  1. shamburglar

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Feb 2008

    0
    02/25, 09:18pm | report spam | Reply |

    finally

    I'm glad the blogosphere has finally reported on this issue. I have an early 2008 Mac Pro with the ati 2600 card. It froze right out of the box after the updates were installed. Anyways I just wanted to mention the absurd work around to this horrible bug... hook up a second monitor. No joke, I had crashes every hour or so, once I hooked up the second monitor the machine has been up for almost a week and a half now. People on the apple discussion forums are having sucess with this workaround for now.

  1. Guest

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 1999

    0
    02/25, 09:19pm | report spam | Reply |

    Yup

    I had this happen with my X1900 for a while. It was a first generation card. I called up Apple, explained what was going on and requested a 2nd generation card. They sent it, and all problems are gone now.

  1. panjandrum

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Dec 2004

    0
    02/25, 10:21pm | report spam | Reply |

    They definitely DO overhe

    At least some of the first generation X1900 cards DO have a hardware problem leading to overheating. This is well documented, no reason to "theorize" at all. Shouldn't you fact-check what you post as news and try to get it accurate? If you are running Windows in Boot Camp, you can install the ATI drivers (from ATI instead of from Apple) and use the utility to watch the temperature of the card and see at exactly what temperature the problem occurs for you. There is a "version 2" revised card specifically to rectify this issue. A card which does this will gradually deteriorate over time and should be replaced!

  1. docbop

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Dec 2007

    0
    02/25, 11:26pm | report spam | Reply |

    Fix not so easy

    This one appears to only be happening to users with a single monitor. Add a second monitor of any kind and problem appears to go away. Others have upgraded to the Nvida card and resolved the problem.

    Speculation is the some of the ATI cards are overheating or the fan has stopped working. Some say the recent Mac Pro's with the ATI aren't having the problem. I have a recent Mac Pro and have not had the problem and running the box 10+ hours a day. Read the long thread on Apple discussion forum, some have resolve and others haven't.

  1. henjin

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: May 2007

    0
    02/26, 09:37am | report spam | Reply |

    No problems here

    I have a standard 8 core 2.8GHZ MacPro (Jan) with the bog standard ATI card. I have had zero freezes. I bought my MacPro 2 days after they came out. No heat issues either but then there is only one card.

  1. Murgen

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jan 2006

    -1
    02/27, 10:00pm | report spam | Reply |

    Second monitor fix

    I tried this fix by adding a second monitor to the system. Uptime now 1 day, 3 hours and 23 minutes without a glitch, no screen garbage, nothing amiss. I've tried to crash the system by duplicating things that brought the system to its knees every time before and everything runs perfectly.

    Weird!

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