Death of a mac?

My mac has, in the last few days, started displaying random lines on the screen, in lots of colours, only horizontal lines of pixels. And once, i got a big white triangle over one window. It's pretty weird, if i scroll the contents of the window, the line stays there, if i resize the window, the line sometimes goes, and sometimes comes back.

I reckon the video cache is about to die. what do mac experts think?

Just thought, I fell off the bike about 3-4 months ago, and banged the laptop a bit, but weird that this would happen now. The mac is 2 1/2 years old.

http://files.pixelbreaker.com/fgss/dead-line1.png

http://files.pixelbreaker.com/fgss/dead-line2.png

blow in the slot.

That's your answer for everything Matt!

^and I think you've got a virus as a result

2 and a half years old? Mac don't last that long!

probably a virus, can you tell us what Mac is it exactly?.

rub the batteries?

^and I think you've got a virus as a result

Gaids?

probably a virus

Probably not.

The battery blew up over a year ago, I got up one morning to find it had split and oozed acidic slime all over a load of paperwork. nice. Got a free one from twapple as a result.

I'm gonna take the machine apart and clean it all.

@ed it's a 2.13Ghz 2Gb MacBook Pro 17" I've changed the HDD to a 300Gb model myself about a year ago. The case has a dent in next to the hard drive, but nowhere near the GFX bit of the logic board.

To ascertain if it is a hardware problem or not run a bottable cd version of linux on your mac and see if the same thing happens.

Knoppix is a good on if you are intel based, yellowdog if you're power pc.

Defo a hardware problem IMO.

Could be video card/chip, LVDS cable, video port, display, etc.

You can troubleshoot to narrow it down, then work out whether you want to front the cash for a fix depending on what it is.

Troubleshoot Q1: Do the pixel lines appear when using an external display?

Seems to be a common affliction - all of our office macs never make it beyond 2 years - usually a motherboard as well - Murtle knows something about that.

Might want to look around the TCR - there are some places that do refurbed/second hand mac bits

ah, good idea jono. then try rubbing your eyes. might have hit your head a little hard the other night.

Gaids?

exactly!

it's funny matt, it's doing this now.

Defo a hardware problem IMO.

Could be video card/chip, LVDS cable, video port, display, etc.

You can troubleshoot to narrow it down, then work out whether you want to front the cash for a fix depending on what it is.

Troubleshoot Q1: Do the pixel lines appear when using an external display?

Yep, I always use an external display here, i only use as a laptop when I'm away or going to meetings etc.

I actually think it's a problem with OpenGL or whatever it is Leopard uses to render, because earlier i rebooted, and it was fine for a bit, then I went to the desktop, and it had a line across it, if I brought an application over the top of it, then moved it away, the line was still there, but if i moved icons about on the desktop, it re-drew it and cleared the line (or made another elsewhere). So I'm thinking it's the 3d chip on the GFX board. balls.

As of 10.4 (I think?) the entire desktop is rendered in OpenGL. There is (or at least, used to be) a way to turn it off (I remember this being an issue when I ran OS X on my PC). I'll take a quick look.

I seem to have fixed it, some forum somewhere had some info, it's due to overheating, so I downloaded smcFanControl and upped the min CPU fan speed from 1000rpm to 2500rpm, seems to be ok so far...

it's funny matt, it's doing this now.

:o dang it. i've got a virus. :(

Hmm, try recreating the problem with the energy settings to min/max within system prefs, any difference?

Which card is in your machine under "more info"?

Done all the software updates?

I seem to have fixed it, some forum somewhere had some info, it's due to overheating, so I downloaded smcFanControl and upped the min CPU fan speed from 1000rpm to 2500rpm, seems to be ok so far...

You will void your warranty if Apple find this app on your machine when doing a repair. Be warned that bearings are put under more stress whilst using smc, try to get away with small adjustments, it'll probably be fine, just saying.

i'm out of warranty already, esp as i fitted the HDD myself.

No worries then.

you have a point, though, about bearings, I'm only running it at 1500rpm now, so I'll keep dropping it until i find a stable setting.

It seems to be massively worse when I'm running Illustrator with a particularly massive document open.

Are you able to adjust the thresholds of the fan as well? I've dropped the threshold on my PC but left the intensity, which may be another option for you if the fan at 1000 or 1500 RPM starting at a lower temperature is efficient enough.

Might just be dusty (the fans and vents) _ Not sure how you would go about cleaning them though as I think its pretty tough to split those things apart.