Problems with Video Display on a new Aluminum iMac

[drh64]

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

[drh64]

I was the originator of this post and I got so tired of the problem that I upgraded to a MacPro (good excuse to tell my boss

I talked with Apple MANY times on this issue and they still claim this is an ArchiCAD problem. The Youtube video is consistent with my experience: it is triggered more frequently with Itunes open.

I have a theory. I think this is an ATI issue with a WHOLE LOT OF bad cards in a WHOLE LOT OF machines out there. Apple knows they can't fix the issue because it is a hardware problem. It appears that they are switching to NVIDIA cards with the new Mac updates. Hmm...... But.... that's just my theory. I don't have anything but my gut to back it up.

BTW: the MacPro is well worth the price and I am much more efficient now with an 8800 NVIDIA card! And I have the IMac as a backup/V*sta machine!!!

[drh64]

Let me repeat that: The people I spoke to at Apple on several occasions INSISTED this is a problem at Graphisoft and is not their problem. They told me that GS needs to issue a 'patch' to fix this problem!!!!

[Anonymous]

drh64 wrote:
I have a theory. I think this is an ATI issue with a WHOLE LOT OF bad cards in a WHOLE LOT OF machines out there. Apple knows they can't fix the issue because it is a hardware problem. It appears that they are switching to NVIDIA cards with the new Mac updates. Hmm...... But.... that's just my theory. I don't have anything but my gut to back it up.

BTW: the MacPro is well worth the price and I am much more efficient now with an 8800 NVIDIA card! And I have the IMac as a backup/V*sta machine!!!

On the other hand, I think I discovered an nvidia related bug. I must investigate more on it, but site AC12, If I make an OpenGL 3D, with render background, and render background is a picture, mostly Archicad will crash. It's the same on my MacBook Pro with Gforce 8600GT (128MB vram) and my MacPro with Gforce 7300GT (256MB vram).
But now I'll open a new topic about this...

[Karl Ottenstein]

borgo1971 wrote:
On the other hand, I think I discovered an nvidia related bug. I must investigate more on it, but site AC12, If I make an OpenGL 3D, with render background, and render background is a picture, mostly Archicad will crash. It's the same on my MacBook Pro with Gforce 8600GT (128MB vram) and my MacPro with Gforce 7300GT (256MB vram).
But now I'll open a new topic about this...

This has nothing to do with the issue in this thread. It is an existing bug, with an existing thread. It will be fixed in a hotfix:
http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=25880

Karl

[Anonymous]

After my independent struggles with my iMac 24" Aluminum frame ATI D2600, my genius wants to try to fit a GeForce 8800GS card. Any hints out there? So far it is not rated on the graphics card page. And, I have now become an active researcher of these talk forums. Thank you ONE AND ALL.

The variations I have from this discussion is; I do not have iTunes running, and other than the Activity Monitor and a couple of Finder windows, I keep the processors free to do their work. I have noticed, though, the size of my project makes a difference. I have a 20 acre nursery site, and I have started to strip out or hide all unnecessary items while rendering. My smaller jobs do not start the problem, but if the cards is having a BAD CARD DAY, all the other programs are effected until I reboot.

And, all the Apple guys said it was a program problem until I brought in the results from Sean Fennelly's (Support North America) reports. Thank you Support!

If the 8800GS doesn't work, I'll rebuild my PC and save this expensive toy for Photoshop.

Either way, I'll know in a few days, and let you all know.

[Anonymous]

Hi Peter,

What exactly do you mean by "the results from Sean Fennelly's"?
Can you post a list or do you have a html link? My local Apple repair center does not recognize this issue as a possible hardware problem...

For the time being I started working on a PC notebook.... but I would like to have my MacBookPro running again with ArchiCAD...

[Anonymous]

I posted several examples of what my card is doing along with my iMAC profile. I did 4 bug reports during operation, before any problem existed, and as the problem worsened, and again after I went out for coffee.

The images are in the gallery:
http://gallery.me.com/soaringimages#100129

log on: archicad
password: 122308

Like I mentioned before, we will try a GeForce card tomorrow. My system is still under warranty, so I have been getting some good help from MAC graphics guys.

[Anonymous]

I stand corrected about not running iTunes: It is running in the background without my knowing it. How can this be turned off? I know how on the XP.

This is a report from AMD of the Radeon X800 XT Mac Edition and is similar.
http://support.ati.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=547
Open GL programs.
Could this be the problem with other chips as well?
Does this relate to the OpenGL used in ArchiCAD?

I had not noticed until this moment I almost always use OpenGL in 3D Window Settings, and occasionally switch to Internal Engine. Open GL is so much faster, is it possible this creates the corruption?
I do not use Internal Engine on my large projects because it is too slow.

I am attempting a test. - Test Complete - program cashed. It totally when away. I documented the report to Apple as well as the Bug Report.

Question: Is it the size of the project, or the number of objects? This is a 10 acre site with MANY MANY objects. I probably have 1000 trees and bushes, and another 1000 pieces of furniture and displays. Obviously I need a bigger machine!

Again, I will let you know abut the 8800GS card if and when.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Peter wrote:
I stand corrected about not running iTunes: It is running in the background without my knowing it. How can this be turned off? I know how on the XP.

Any program can be set to launch at login - for example, right click any icon on the dock and select "Open at login".

To remove, go to System Preferences > Accounts, select your account, then the Login Items tab. Select the item and select the minus sign (screenshot).

Cheers,
Karl

[Anonymous]

Thank you Karl.

In my account login there is nothing clicked, so I will assume the reason why iTunes was running is because I used it for listening to something and when I quit the program, it did not. I saw iTunes as running in the Bug Report and the Crash report to Apple. Today I see in in the Inactive section of the Activity Monitor. Does this mean it is waiting until it is needed, like monitoring for a audio file?

I can not report on the 8800GS card until we actually install it and I run for awhile.