[b-dot]

I'm running Tiger 10.4.3 on a dual 2.7 G5.

My computer froze today, with a weird checkerboard pattern on the screen. I had to force a restart by holding down the power button, and when it came back up the squares were still there, but in a different color. Here is what it looks like:

http://www.soulpepper.ca/garbage_screen.html

The little green dots flicker, and when I move windows around the red squares multiply, filling up the window. When I reboot, the squares sometimes come back in a different colour, like light green.

I initially thought this was hardware related, but when the computer is booting at the start the squares are not there (they appear the second the screen goes to blue), and when I boot from the system software DVD, they are not there either. Also, the mouse pointer is on top of the squares.

I performed an archive and install, but the problem persists.

Has anybody ever seen anything like this before? Any ideas?

Barnaby

[crooner]

Hmm... have you tried selecting a different desktop picture in the System Preferences? I'd suggest a solid color to test it out first.

If that doesn’t work, try Zapping PRAM.

Normally, I would think this is an issue with the video card, but since you say the issue doesn’t occur when booted from a DVD, for example, this clouds things a bit. You *might* want to consider removing the video card and re-seating it firmly.

[b-dot]

Hi crooner - thanks for the suggestions.

I tried switching the desktop background - no change.

I zapped the PRAM a couple of times - no change.

I reseated the video card and the only difference is that now I am getting three different colours of sqqare at once: a dark blue group on the left 1/3rd of the screen, and thin cyan group, and a red large group.

It would be a much easier problem to pinpoint of *all* video were appearing like this, but what is so strange is that it only kicks in when the log-in/desktop comes up.

Any other ideas? Are there any display driver prefs that might have become corrupted?

[Tenacious Dyl]

what kind of video card do you have?

[b-dot]

Originally Posted by Tenacious Dyl

what kind of video card do you have?

It is an ATI Radeon X800 XT card. When I go to the system profiler and peer through the squares, it says it is an ATY R420 for some reason - don't know why there is a "Y" there instead of an "I"

[Cadaver]

Originally Posted by b-dot

It is an ATI Radeon X800 XT card. When I go to the system profiler and peer through the squares, it says it is an ATY R420 for some reason - don't know why there is a "Y" there instead of an "I"

The "ATY" is normal. All ATI cards identify themselves as "ATY." Not sure why. But you know those crazy Canadians...

[chefpastry]

Sounds like a faulty video card to me...