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kimmyg · Jul 17, 2005, 11:56 PM

I'm posting this here because, while exhibited on a powerbook, this problem does not pertain to strictly powerbooks, and because I'm not convinced this isn't perhaps software.

When playing movies on my computer, I sometimes get stray pixels like the one here (it's red):

Red Dot Picture

They occur pretty frequently in dark areas of the picture and are only red, blue, and maybe green (a hint, perhaps?). By pretty frequently, I mean maybe once every five seconds of dark, and they last for about a second (probably the amount of time before there's a new keyframe).

I tried one of the H.264 movies from the quicktime hi-def page and there were no artifacts whatsoever.

I got this powerbook about a month ago and to my recollection, with the stock ram, these anomalies never happened. I put in a KingMAX 1 GB stick and, while I don't recall an immediate appearance, there seems to be some correlation. I have run memory tests on it extensively and they have all come out okay. Is it possible something is wrong with my powerbook? Thanks.

gooffer · Jul 18, 2005, 12:39 AM

Well coming to think of it I posted on another thread of this forum the damn pixel errors I am getting on my 30 inch display. I am not sure yet if they are display, nvidia 6800 DDL, driver, G5 or OS related.

Take a look at mine makes you 1 red dot look like heaven.

kimmyg · Jul 18, 2005, 01:19 AM

My dad has a cinema display and has/had the same problem. I think it has to do with some kind of interference. He had his wireless router behind his display. Could it be related to that?

gooffer · Jul 18, 2005, 10:38 AM

Now I am wondering if my 10,000 rpm raptor has something to do with it, everything was foine 1min ago and as soon as I heard the drive spin up and seek, 1000 pixels lit up. Very annoying will try to look into wireless thing tonight, only really have a logictech mouse but we shall see. thxs for pointing that out.

Lastly does anyone know if the Nvidia 6800 DDL has had any driver updates? A search on apple's and nvidia's and google has not been fruitfull.

Stefan · Jul 19, 2005, 08:49 AM

Originally Posted by kimmyg

When playing movies on my computer, I sometimes get stray pixels.

I had exactly the same thing on my PowerBook and when i installed 10.4 and everything went bananas it turned out to be a memory problem, which solved everything. so my advice: there is a hardware check on your install cd. try that and go for a memory check.

kimmyg · Jul 19, 2005, 01:56 PM

Well, I passed the extended test and I passed memtest (a 3rd party program). Is it possible it's the video RAM? Thanks.

Detrius · Jul 19, 2005, 07:57 PM

Originally Posted by kimmyg

Well, I passed the extended test and I passed memtest (a 3rd party program). Is it possible it's the video RAM? Thanks.

You can run the Apple Hardware Test that came with your machine to verify. However, it's more likely to be a problem with the display itself. If you have AppleCare, call for an onsite visit.

gooffer · Jul 20, 2005, 02:58 PM

Well AppleCare pardon my language is a "Bait and Switch"

So I invested some major $$$ into buying a Cinema Display of the 30 inch form factor, I then ask can I buy apple care for this product.

Answer sorry NO you cannot you need to buy a CPU with it.

Glad I didn't bring my pump to the store I would have take out a couple there, what a dumb stupid policy is this. No AppleCare on a 3k display ?

The sales person recommended I buy another mac mini POS with it so I can get apple care.

I am really disgusted !!!!!!

gooffer · Aug 1, 2005, 01:37 AM

Well the saga continues, as I was unable to replicate the problem I decided I wouldn't waste mine an their time and bring it to the store.

So I decided it must be some sort of DVI interference and re-routed my DVI cable to the G5.....

All was fine with an occasional 1 weird pix..... but then....

I got a blue line down the screen, I mean like a row of dead pixels. So this time restarts, resolution changes did not change the problem, so my guess is that it is neither driver, OS or G5 related and I just have a bad screen.

So this week I am going to lug it to the apple store, and pray that there it will also show them a nice line of dead pixels.

Once I receive the item back from apple it will be promptly sold, I am getting 2 LaCie's IV @ 22 inch each and I will still have about 1k to spare.

Just have to vent apple's quality is down the tubes.

Last question, I have a 1.25 G4 Aluminium, can it display anything on the 30" ? or will it only show something if I had the 128mb video memory?

Thinine · Aug 1, 2005, 02:00 AM

You're an idiot. Apple doesn't make the LCDs in those displays, and the problem wasn't preexisting, so it's not their fault.

tooki · Aug 1, 2005, 10:59 AM

Originally Posted by Detrius

You can run the Apple Hardware Test that came with your machine to verify. However, it's more likely to be a problem with the display itself.

If you can take a screen capture of it, there's no way it's the display, because a successful screen capture means the glitch exists in video RAM.

tooki

Detrius · Aug 1, 2005, 09:27 PM

Originally Posted by tooki

If you can take a screen capture of it, there's no way it's the display, because a successful screen capture means the glitch exists in video RAM.

tooki

Brain fart... the picture in the thread was a photograph. The picture linked by the OP was a screen shot... responded to the wrong person... oops.

gooffer · 12:36 AM

Originally Posted by Thinine

You're an idiot. Apple doesn't make the LCDs in those displays, and the problem wasn't preexisting, so it's not their fault.

Well apple sells them, they get them made big deal. If the shimmering pixels and lines are such a problem why do they keep telling me it's my graphics card and drivers.

Hoping that the damn line is there in the store so I can get another one.

If they would really stand by their 3k product they would sell 3 year apple care for it, they obviously do not hence the customer gets the short end of the stick.