Pixellation with 10.6.8 on icons and more

I've got a rather interesting issue that is stumping me. Maybe you can help?
My Mac Pro running 10.6.8 started doing a crazy thing with pixels a couple of months ago, which is most evident when looking at animated items such as BBC iPlayer/Flash based items/Youtube etc. It's also at a system level in that it replicates on icons. It's hard to describe but I'll try. The screen seems to 'drop' pixels at random, displaying them as white or black (mostly white) rather than the colour they should be. If you move your cursor or the animation changes the 'dropped' pixels shift around. So trying to watch something on Youtube is impossible as it's covered in this 'snow' like effect.
I've booted up from a fresh install of 10.6 from a second HD and all was fine. I then did an update to 10.6.8 via Software Update and I was back with the same issue. During this time I've also have the Java update for the Flashback virus added but this was an issue that preceeds the Java update. So I now have 2 bad installs of 10.6.8 on my 2 HDs! Wierd!
Any help greatly appreciated.

Hi Hatter,
Sorry, didn't think to add that as I felt it was a software issue. It's got an ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1024MB of vram. I've got a 20" Cinema display plugged into the mini-DV port and a 30" CD in the regular DVI port on the card. Both monitors suffer the problem.
I've run Disk First Aid from the Snow Leopard discs and repaired any permissions etc and also this am done a full re-install of 10.6 (where it was all fine) then only upgraded the OS to 10.6.8 (rather than all updates as previous, inc Java and the Flashback one from last week) and the issue is back. This is on a second HD to the initial HD with the issue.
The issue first appeared in January and I've been living with it as I just haven't had the time to lose a day's work doing reinstals and all this searching to find out the issue. So it's not related to any recent upgrades from Apple.
The issue also occurs as soon as you start up and doesn't get worse the hotter the temperatures, so wouldn't have thought it's the temperature.
Should I assume as it's on 2 hard discs that it's highly likely to be a hardware/graphics card issue?
Cheers
Bri

Similar Messages

  • Lost all application and file icons and more

    Today i discovered that for some reason i could not drag files around on the desktop or moving them between folders. I used restarted the mac - nothing changed. I used OnyX to run all the maintenance tasks, repair prefs, clean caches, optimize system, etc... Onyx asked for system restart - which i did and now i have more problems than before.
    after restart all the files on my desktop lost the application associations (ie icon changed from PDF icon to blank paper with folded corner). I opened the Applications folder to find that all the applications lost their correct icons and are now represented by a blue folder - all native osx applications, mail, safari, etc... as well as third-party apps. the only one that kept its icon correctly was Adobe Acrobat 7.0.
    Dock lost all it's correct application icons and now just show folders and some gray question marks. Finder and Trash bin still have correct icons. Everything else is wrong. Question marked apps won;t open from dock... (these are mail, safari, and sherlock)
    If i click on an application from applications folder (safari for example) it opens fine and does what it is supposed to do. Most other apps seem to still function.
    Also stil have problem that files still could not be dragged around or moved around in Finder.
    I'm running 10.2.8 on a G4 1.25dp tower that has been very stable for a long time. I have no idea what happened or how to fix.
    Please help if you can.. thanks!!
    G4 DP1.25   Mac OS X (10.2.x)  

    I gave up fighting to figure out what was wrong with OS X. I just repartitioned the harddrive after backing up and re-installed the OS an applications.

  • File sharing problem with a PC . locked Folder Icons and funny things

    Help was running Tiger fine then upgraded to leopard now my Macbook pro wont shut down properly unless i disconnect all the external USB devices that are attached.
    I also used to be able to write to my shared folder on my Windows PC, this comes up on my mac Book pro now with a locked disk icon on it and i cant save to it. the folders inside it also start changing there icon appearance at will. and some times when i try to save a file to it it keeps telling me the file name is too long even if i change it to only one or two characters .
    would not mind too much but this is my business thats being effected by this . I have tried it on 2 Imac
    Dual core flat panel machine's which still run in tiger and everything is fine with both of these so i know its Leopard that has caused these faults. anyone with any help please let me know .
    ian

    *Same problem* here: MacBook on Tiger was fine, after installing Leo, unable to write on shared pc-folders (lock-icon).
    There are 2 work-arounds I found:
    1. uncheck the "protected" box in the info-panel (Mac) of a locked folder,
    2. if the pc-folder had a custom icon, resetting to standard will unlock the write protection as well. In both cases, the folders on the pc will change their icons... I have to agree that this is a Leopard issue.
    As I use the Mac for work and often have to exchange docs from and to pc's this "bug" is annoying me.
    casp.

  • When (attempting to) boot up my 2007 MacBook, I only get a white screen with a flashing gray file icon and a white question mark on the file

    I have the battery plugged in, everything I normally do when booting up the computer. The major problem is not being able to access anything.

    That folder with the question mark icon means that the MacBook can't find the boot directory. That can either mean it can't find the hard drive or the Operating System data on the hard drive is somehow corrupted.
    Put your install DVD into the optical drive (CD/DVD drive) and reboot. Be sure to either use the disc that came with your Mac, or, if you installed a later Mac OS X version from disc, use the newer disc. As soon as you hear the boot chime, hold down the "c" key on your keyboard (or the Option Key until the Install Disk shows up) until the apple shows up. That will force your MacBook to boot from the install DVD in the optical drive.
    Or if you are running 10.7 Lion, boot from the recovery partition (Command +R on boot) and use Disk Utility to repair your OS 10.7 partition.
    When it does start up, you'll see a panel asking you to choose your language. Choose your language and press the Return key on your keyboard once. It will then present you with an Installation window. Completely ignore this window and click on Utilities in the top menu and scroll down to Disk Utility and click it. When it comes up is your Hard Drive in the list on the left?
    If it is, then click on the Mac OS partition of your hard drive in the left hand list. Then select the First Aid Tab and run Repair Disk. The Repair Disk button won't be available until you've clicked on the Mac OS partition on your hard drive. If that repairs any problems run it again until the green OK appears and then run Repair Permissions. After repairing use Startup Disk from the same menu to choose your hard drive for restarting from your hard drive.
    If your hard drive isn’t recognized in Disk Utility then your hard drive is probably dead.

  • After restoring from time machine, I get a screen with an apple, my user icon, and sleep, restart, and shut down options. When I click on my user icon, nothing happens.

    Any suggestions?

    Run through the list of general fixes here, perhaps one or more of them will get things to work again.
    Step by Step to fix your Mac
    If not you can likely retrieve your files this way, if they are not encrypted,
    Create a data recovery, undelete boot drive
    then use Step #20 in the above link to reinstall everything and return those files
    Think about having alternate backup and restore options to avoid this type of issue.
    When TM fails to restore properly, it's a royal mess to fix as you can see.
    Most commonly used backup methods

  • New to Arch(64), with a few questions about Xorg and more

    Hello and Happy New Year everyone,
    I'm a user that has just recently decided to try and switch to Linux as the main OS for all things that don't concern gaming. I've been using the "server side" of Linux at work for a couple years now, but when it comes to its desktop part I consider myself not fully competent yet. Under recommendation of a friend I decided to give Arch a shot, and I can say that it really suits my philosophy on how an OS should be like.
    I have a few issues I'm currently struggling with that I couldn't seem to solve by looking on my own: as they are mostly minor and shortly described, I thought about packing them up in one single thread to avoid making too many. I've used i686 as testing grounds and am now using x86_64, but most of my problems apply to both.
    Here's my hardware, for reference:
    - Intel E8400 CPU (3GHz, dual core)
    - Asus P5Q-E motherboard
    - 2 GB DDR2 800 RAM.
    - nVidia 8800GT video card with 512MB memory
    - Samsung SyncMaster 713BM flat panel, connected via DVI cable
    - Creative SBLive! 5.1 OEM card (dug up for the occasion since it has hardware mixing)
    I'm using the latest Xorg from the repos, nvidia proprietary drivers, ALSA, Xfce4 + compiz-fusion, and SLIM as my login manager.
    And here are my headaches:
    - (32/64) A similar issue to the one I just mentioned: compiz-fusion doesn't seem to stick around as my window manager, even though I manually set it as per Method 2 from this wiki page. Although it did work for a while, after some time (perhaps after installing some package? but I didn't really install anything X related) it simply stopped working. To get my windows, I have to manually run fusion-icon after login.
    - (32/64) I'm using MPlayer with libass to watch my favourite anime, but sometimes MPlayer freezes up, forcing me to xkill it. Disabling ASS embedded subs yields error message 11, something about unsufficient resources. Disabling subs entirely prevents MPlayer from crashing. Oh, the errors only happen on specific points of certain videos, and all the videos work just fine under WinXP with MPC or VLC.
    - (32/64) Why do anti-aliased fonts under Linux still look so bad, even though I installed the appropriate packages suggested in the wiki? I don't mind disabling anti-aliasing entirely and just using Verdana, but is there some trick to it besides setting sub-pixel hinting under rclick->settings->user interface?
    - (32/64) My SBLive might be 5.1, but I'm only using the front connector as I use either two stereo speakers or headphones all the time. But the volume setting in applications (such as MPlayer) seems to affect the PCM meter of ALSA's mixer, putting it over 0 dB gain and generating sound distortion.
    - (64/don't know if 32 too) Why does Compiz's framerate drop so badly when I push alt-tab? I'm using the default application shifter, hardware acceleration, and there should be no reason why the framerate should drop like that (expecially considering that wobbly windows or cube rotating don't affect my performance at all). I've read around the net about very similar occourances with the task switcher, but I've found no real solution.
    - [SOLVED] (32/64) The first obstacle I came across was that I couldn't set my screen refresh any higher than 60Hz when I actually wanted 75Hz: I solved this by setting the vertical refresh to 76.0-76.0 in xorg.conf. However, for some reason this setting doesn't stick on reboot: I have to log in and manually run rclick->System->NVIDIA X Server Settings for it to apply.
    - [SOLVED] (64 only) The 32 version of Xorg was fine, but for some reason I'm not getting the correct keyset (Italian) under X, while everything works in vc. I think I read something about disabling a module called "keydev", but is this really the way to go?
    - [SOLVED] (64 only) Although I can hear sound in just about every application, the 64 bit version of Pidgin doesn't "ring" on received messages even though the associated option is enabled.
    I kindly thank you in advance for your assistance: I will provide any configuration files that might be needed to help me out
    Last edited by Akaraxle (2009-01-03 21:25:43)

    xisal wrote:
    Take a look into /etc/hal/fdi/policy/10-keymap.fdi. This works with portuguese layout:
    <snip>
    The file did not exist, so I created it and changed "pt" to "it". Thanks a bunch, that fixed it!
    Try SMPlayer.
    Ah, I'd rather not involve Qt. Besides, isn't SMPlayer simply a frontend to Mplayer (who already has GMplayer integrated into it, IIRC)?
    Mikko777 wrote:
    Why would you want to use 75Hz with lcd display?
    Does it make a difference?
    On my monitor, from my point of view, it appears to make a difference. It's that simple
    azleifel wrote:In gmplayer Preferences -> Audio -> (assuming alsa selected) -> Configure driver and change the mixer channel to something other than PCM, e.g. Master.
    For all the three combos, I have "driver default" selected. The other option is "default"; I tried to manually type "Master" into the mixer channel field, but then gmplayer's windows and my Xfce taskbar started blinking, so I knew I had just "crossed streams".
    Regarding NVIDIA X Server Settings, running "usr/bin/nvidia-settings --load-config-only" at login is the only way to apply the settings "automatically".
    I've slapped that on my ~/.xinitrc before "exec startxfce4". Thanks in advance, going to test it now!
    About the refresh and non-decorated windows issues (which *appears* to be solved after I've wiped the xfce-session cache), I've been thinking: could they somehow be related the login manager I've chosen, SLIM?
    P.S. New question: is there any way to enable the ALT+num126 for ~ keyboard behaviour I'm used to under M$ environments?
    Last edited by Akaraxle (2009-01-03 09:43:02)

  • Updating Apps on iPhone 4 - Waiting icons and more

    Since getting the iPhone 4 about a week ago, I notice when I update my apps from my phone, it sometimes shows the "Waiting" alert on the app and nothing changes. Sometimes when I restart it all the apps are normal and updated. Other times I have two of the same app (happened only twice). Today I had to restart my iPhone and all apps updated (I think) except one which didn't show the app icon but a gray square. It worked fine though. I ended up deleting it and resyncing the app from iTunes (after I updated all the apps from iTunes first).
    Anyone else getting this weird app update hiccup on the iPhone 4?

    I called Applecare, and after 15 min of repeating the myself. They suggested that it's a problem with my wifi. I'm using an Airport Extreme, we have 3 Macs and 2 iPhones in the house, none of them have problems connecting to the network. All of them get really fast download speeds, none of them ever drop connections. So I was told that I should just do a restore on my iPhone 4, but they weren't sure if this would correct the problem. I was told that it's just likely a bug in iOS 4.1, and they couldn't think of anything else to try, and I was told that I would have to wait for an update for iPhone. So I guess I'll just continue powering off my phone, until this problem is solved by Apple.

  • Dear apple community, now I have some problem with iPad(The New iPad 4G). 1st, start from I got it, it really difficult charge. 2nd, very and very hot with 3G or Internet using. And more, some problem with wifi.

    From Me, THE MAHACHAK to Apple Company
        I think, the apple company are producing and sell only their own country or their ownself, not over the world. And in the other hand, I want to ask Apple Company about their market policy as marketing strategy or size of marketing. How about it? How did you think? Only your own or for world. I like one word as MARKETING IS WATER. Where can't water go? Such as my small country have a lot of people are using apple products a lot as iPhone, iPad, iPod and apple laptop. Cambodia is my small country with much rich families. They can use a good product or high class product, high tenology. Most of products is Apple. But they always have many bad comments and bad problem with Apple products. WHY? The problems such as Lock code, cann't conected with other, hard to find or buy, no Safety, no warranty world wide, wifi, charger, hot during 3G conected, ...etc. hope, these my own idea is looked for all the Apple customers around the world. Please, text me back. Waiting back.
    Thanks and Regard

    Apple Discussions is a user to user forum, so your post is not read by any Apple employee.
     Cheers, Tom

  • Huge problems with my MacBook:  Invalid Node Structure and More!

    A couple days ago I was browsing the internet, and when I closed Safari, the system froze. I couldn't even force quit out of anything, so I had to shut it off manually. When I tried to turn my computer back on the next day, I couldn't get past the Apple screen. The little wheel would keep spinning, but I could never get anywhere.
    Then, I tried to boot from the Leopard DVD to possibly reinstall Leopard, hoping it would work. At first, no drives would show up to install to, but for some reason, they eventually showed up. Problem is, I don't have enough free memory to reinstall Leopard. Furthermore, I've tried to fit it on the space I have, and it says that the install failed, so I can't reinstall Leopard.
    I also went to Disk Utility from the DVD and tried to repair the disk. The only option available was to Verify Disk, but when I go there, that fails, and it says "invalid node structure."
    I'm not sure what happened to my computer because it seemed to come from nowhere. To sum up, I cannot log in to OS X, or even XP on a separate partition, I can't reinstall Leopard, and I can't repair the disk. I've read about how DiskWarrior might help, but I can't get in to OS X. Does anyone have any idea what happened or what I can do? I haven't backed anything up, so if I'm screwed, then so be it, I guess. Just wondering if anyone has any explanations or suggestions. Thanks.

    Interesting how many people have this same issue. A friend of mine has brought me her white Macbook Intel Core 2 with Leopard and it had a folder with a question mark instead of the apple at startup. I was able to boot using the Mac Install DVD and ran Disk Utility. It said something like "Invalid Node Structure" and "Cannot Repair". Unfortunately DiskWarrior will not fix this. I tried it to no avail. I'm resigned to the fact that a new hard drive is necessary.
    The HD in there is a Hitachi 120GB.
    It also wouldn't let me erase the disk nor partition it. Then, one morning I woke up and it was able to erase! So I erased, then installed Tiger. It seemed to be working fine. So I rebooted from the Leopard drop-in disk and installed Leopard. Then I restarted, and BAM! back to the question mark folder. Now I'm back to where I started. Other threads
    I forgot to mention that my friend had photos and music on the HD that she couldn't do without and I was able to recover that data using Data Recover II. First I had to use SuperDuper to clone my own computer onto an external drive so I could use it as a boot drive.
    For now the only solution is to buy a new internal hard drive and reinstall the OS. And regularly backup!!
    So I guess this issue has not really been solved, but hopefully you have warranty. Unfortunately for my friend, this happened a week after her warranty expired.
    Good luck.

  • Every icons and programs are with Adobe icon, I can´t run it normaly, except obviously PDF documents

    I was, by error, try run an program incompatible with Adobe Reader, now every icons and programs images appear with its icon, the only solution i can fin is uninstall program,
    but to reinstall I have the same problem

    Are you talking about this? Application, file icons change to Acrobat/Reader icon

  • My iMac won't boot.  I get the tone, the apple icon and the turning gear.  I Unplugged, waited 1 min., restarted

    My iMac wont't boot.  I get the tone, the gray screen with apple icon and the turning gear.  I Unplugged for 1 min.(+) and attempted to restart with the same result.  Idid this twice.  I reset the PRAM by holding Command Option P and R on restart. Same result.  I held the Option key on restart and got a picture of 1 hard Disk.  I hit Enter and got the same routine with the gray screen, apple icon and turning gear.  I inseted the Hardware Test CD and ran the test, but it stopped at 2min and 27sec.  That's after about 30 minutes of elapsed time -- it just gets hot so I held the power button to shut it off. Repeated and got to exactly same point in 2min and 27 sec.  I'm stuck.  Any ideas?

    Unfortunately, it sounds like the startup disk is failing or has failed.
    Which O S X is installed? Troubleshooting advice can depend on that information.

  • Apple OS getting more and more frustrating!! MAIL CRASHED

    I am working on a film production with ten accounts on my server and more than 40 mails per day. Today Mail desided to crash.
    When I restarted it, it prompted me to create a new account like I did 2 years ago when installed the OS. ALL OF MY MAILBOXES HAVE GONE. Thanks Apple!
    I tried to import mailboxes, but they get imported as folders. Now it seems I have to manually re-create all my 10 accounts, passwords, server etc!!
    On top of that I have to import from the other mailboxes(folders) the sent/received files to the re- created accounts.
    Apple OS X is a myth. That's what I know. My most important application crashed in the worst moment. Just by oppening it!

    In addition to all that when I try to open archived mailsI get this message:
    "The message from ... has not been downloaded from the server. You need to take this account online in order to download it."
    I use POP for all my accounts so it should not matter if it is online or not, because it should be on the computer.
    powerbook 1,5   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

  • When I turn on my iMac it comes up with the icon which I then log into. The password works and I then get the apple icon and the spinning wheel. After a minute it turns into a prohibited icon. If I log on the guest icon I get to Safari. Help!

    When I turn on my iMac it comes up with the login icons which I then choose and log into. The password works and I then get the apple icon and the spinning wheel. After about a minute the Apple icon turns into a prohibited icon. However, if I log in under the guest icon, I can access the wifi and get to Safari. I really don't know what to do next. Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

    Are you running any A-V? If it's an iMac 21.5, I don't think you're running Leopard, 10.5. Probably at least Snow Leopard, 10.6. This is the Leopard forum.
    This article says meant for 10.3.9 and eariler, but contains some still useful suggestions.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1411
    Try a Safe Boot. Shift at the startup chime and expect a much longer time to boot. This will bring you to a login screen with "Safe Boot" in red.
    Look at this as well.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417

  • HT4623 I updated my ipad 3 with the ios7 update. Now the screen shows the itunes icon and a pic of the plug in (as to plug into itunes)  I can't get it to go away or to access my ipad.  Any hints?

    I updated my ipad 3 with the ios7 update.  Now the screen shows the itunes icon and a pic of the plug in (as to plug into itunes)  When I do this it wants to restore my ipad, which I have already done.  I can't get out of this screen.  Any hints on what to do next?

    Something went wrong with your update; you are in Recovery Mode.
    Follow step 1 to 6 closely to recover your iPad.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1808
    Note: You may have to repeat the above a few times

  • My Iphone 3s is stuck and will not open, I have an image of a USB cord with an arrow pointing up to the Itune music Icon and my phone won't open or be recognized by itunes or my computer.

    My Iphone 3s is stuck and will not open, I have an image of a USB cord with an arrow pointing up to the Itune music Icon and my phone won't open or be recognized by itunes or my computer. What do I do now?

    Try restoring it using Recovery Mode.

Maybe you are looking for

  • Is there a way to find my sons iPod by the serial #.

    Someone on my sons bus stole his iPod Touch Gen 4. I have the serial#. Is there a way to find his iPod by the serial #? Or anything else that can help?

  • Automatic batch job processing

    Hi all, I'm using a customized abap program to update data in one of the Controlling table. This abap prg is scheduled background to run twice daily. This program will generates batch job in sm35 and i have to manually process it so that the data in

  • Problems with Flash Professional CS5 and Device Central CS5

    I have Adobe CS5 Web premium, Windows 7 64-bit.  (All updates on both) My problem is that when I press create on Device Central it doesn't set up the flash document specs for the particular device I am trying to build an app for.  It does the same th

  • Set the pagination property of master page through scripting

    Hi, Is it possible to set the Pagination property of a master page via scripting. Where and how can this be set if at all possible. There are properties like oddOreven etc available. but how can they be used in scripting. Regards Neha

  • [svn] 1192: Merge svn-1114 to 3.0.x branch.

    Revision: 1192 Author: [email protected] Date: 2008-04-11 08:05:23 -0700 (Fri, 11 Apr 2008) Log Message: Merge svn-1114 to 3.0.x branch. Remove the attachment config from the server-config.wsdd. Ticket Links: http://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/svn-111