Texture Flashing is driving me nuts

Definitely. That's a VERY well-known manufacturing defect with the original 1.8 and 2.0Ghz iMacs. Any of the logic boards with capacitors that have a "plus-shaped" pattern on them will tend to overheat, bulge, and in cases where the iMac goes seriously out-of-its mind, start to leak.

When the capacitors start degrading, it can cause huge power problems to the video card, which can cause anything from video artifacts to crashes.

Apple has even extended the warranty of iMacs by a year for affected systems. If your system still has this problem, make sure you get it looked at (and potentially replaced) ASAP! Many people that have had their logic boards replaced may still be affected (I was), depending on whether the board was replaced before Apple realized that there was a manufacturing defect.

Alright, now you have me worried about my system. thing is, the texture flashing I am seeing is not on an iMac. its my dual 2.0 GHz G5. is what you're describing something that's affecting my system as well? I defect?

Okay, I went back and tried SL on our original 1.8Ghz iMac, and I'm seeing the same texture flashing! At first I tend to see texture "tearing" or random textures flash on the screen for a frame or two, then eventually textures will start getting replaced at random.

This DOESN'T happen on our two other Macs, which use ATI cards.

The specs for this system:

1.8Ghz iMac G5
1GB DDR RAM
nVidia GeForce 5200 FX 64MB
NO add-on hardware/peripherals, no other software running.

Unfortunately I upclocked to 10% over and the flashing has not returned.

So... Either it was tied to the cache ( I had deleted my .kext cache files and the SL cache prior to the downclock ) or just some random fluke. I'm confused.

I've been having the same problem with a similar set up for months now (iMac G5 20" GeForce FX 5200 video card)

I've been filing bug reports regularly and Natria Linden contacted me a couple of days ago to ask for more information. I'll let the board know what the outcome of that is.

Finding this discussion has been useful in tying down what's going wrong (damn video card!) but not for finding a solution. I've tried researching the Apple website for upgrade options but it seems as if this isn't possible on the iMac. Are there any driver updates/enhancements that anyone has tried successfully to tackle this problem?

G5 Imac and a GeForce FX 5200.

Jup same problem. when it gets REAL bad i just logg off for the day.

but would be nice to see this problem resolved, i still have a few months before i get my macbook, hopefully if the bug aint fixed, at least it'll be mactel ready... right?

I'm running SL on a powerbook G4 with whatever comes with it for a graphics card. While I don't seem to have the perpetual flashing textures, it happens with a vengeance when i build, slect a lot fo objects, and try to change the textures all at once. I can't tell you how many "disco staircases" i have built unintentionally.

dont know if this is temporary. I was plagued by flikering textures on my iMac G5, then today i tried the new Alpha version of the universal binary which is'nt just for intel macs it can be used on power pc macs too.....

a day has gone past and i have noticed the flickering does still occur, but is very issolated and rare..... at least its not all the time.

I recomend using the Universal Alpha if you are annoyed with constant texture fliker!!!

Who else is having this problem? Please post with the details of your experiences.

It continues to be a known issue:



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Torley, this continues to be an issue for those of us with a GeForce FX 5200 video card. (My configuration is: iMac G5 20" GeForce FX 5200 video card).

Like Loki I found the 1.8 Universal Alpha worked slightly better, not only *slightly* better. It was great for a day but then became less and less stable; the old texture flicker came back after a few minutes of being inworld. The same tricks and tips work too - changing screen resolution (toggling full screen mode) or tping to a new location.

1.9 is no real improvement over previous versions of SL (and neither is the Universal Alpha 1.9 )

Thanks for the update--anyone else affected by this should also post about it here so we know.

Running SL 1.9 on a G5 Dual processor 2GHz system with 3GB RAM and the GeForce FX 5200. The flickering gets so bad that I can't stand to use SL on that computer.

I also have the 20" Intel Core Duo iMac with 512MB RAM and the SL 1.9 UB alpha. I have only noticed an isolated flicker here and there. However, with that version, 30 seconds after I TP to a new location, my point of view switches to an orbiting position even though I can still talk to people nearby who swear that I am just standing still. My avie seems to be flying in a constant wide circle. The only way to get out of it is to teleport to another location and back again. If I am lucky, I will not start orbiting again - though it still happens. This makes SL useless on the iMac so I am not able to play on any system without either getting a headache or getting totally frustrated.

the capacitor issue is wide spread affcting many more electroinc devices and computers than just a few G5 iMacs. At work I've had to have close to 1000 Dells already have logic boards replaced due to this problem, and some HPs as well as some iMacs. I'm not sure if this is the issue causing this problem, because on those systems we saw many more issues than just in one program, and they all eventaully died, but some lasted with bulged caps and many different little minor issues for 6 months or more before we looked inside and saw bulged caps. the capacitors will countinue to expand, as they cant hold the amount of power they are rated for, until the top ruptures and leaks, and eventually the machine has all kinds of weird problems until it stops working altogether. This has been a big industry wide issue, and if you have one of the first few models of the iMac G5s, youd best get it looked at. Most were only affected by these bad caps in their power supplies though, but many were on the logic board as well. I havent seen any G5 powermacs affected, but i have read on the net where others had G5 Powermacs made in 2004 or earlier 2005 that say they had the problem.

The capcitors affected are by a company that had an 'X' etching on the top of them. Most of the replacements that have worked fine have a 'K' or a 'T' etching on the top.

Ive had that problem from time to time when im lagging very bad, or crossed too many sim borders too fast, not just on a Mac but Windows too, but its very rare. I still have never noticed a "flicker" though, besides the common problem where people build items with 2 different textures on two items that overlap on exactly the same spot. Are you sure your connection is fast enough, and/or your not getting any extreme packet loss on your path to the servers?

Yup.

This has always happened to me when running SL on my laptop, and since that's all I've got now the flashy textures are like a staple SL experience. It ONLY (oddly) happens when I (try to) build, edit my clothing, appearance, objects, whatever. If I look but don't touch, everything is fine. Sometimes it'll eventually settle down and stick with something, but. It's usually none to pleasant to look at, if I can even still recognize anything.

Closing and reopening seems to set everything back to normal, until I try to do anything creative again.

It's probably my low end, craptacular, and possibly (likely) nonexistent graphics card.

I'm using a 1.80GHz Toshiba (yay, the specsticker is still vaguely legible). Very old. I'm sort of surprised and annoyed SL runs so well, texture flashing aside.

I finally got a new card for my mac, and although SL was one of the reasons I got it, it was mostly to be able to install Aperture on my system.

But importantly for this forums, no more texture flashing.

V

OpenGL Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL Renderer: GeForce 6600 GT/PCI/SSE2

I get it too, but I thought I was the only one lol. I mention it to people but they don't seem to have that problem. Good to know it isnt just me and good thing I dont get Siezures!

I have the same flicker issue, too, and have from the beginning. It's annoying when it starts up. I have one of the early 20" iMac G5s though my video board and midplane assembly have been replaced.

I've logged on a couple of times since the new release. The texture flashing problem is greatly reduced for me (my configuration: Mac G5 20" GeForce FX 5200 video card).

It's not completely gone but it isn't driving me crazy like before! Haven't tried it on full screen mode or for lots of time, tping from place to place. Just thought I'd post my initial findings.

Anyone else notice the same?

It got better for a while but now (at 1.9.0.21) the texture flashing is still hellish on my imac G5. For those new to the thread it's an ongoing problem with macs with the GeForce FX 5200 video card and possibly one or two others.

Could anyone else with this problem please post here? I'm sure LL are doing their best to tackle this but if it's only a few of us doing the complaining.... they are busy and might find other things to do!

Just curious but has anyone had this problem with an FX5200 that has a fan? Or are they all the standard Apple supplied ones with heat sinks only? For the record I have never had this issue using a FX5500 for a PC with a Mac FX5200 ROM hacked on to it. It's in a single CPU G4 too. I never did clock the speed back up to FX5500 speeds though. It runs at FX5200 speeds (slower). Perhaps they are over heating slightly? There are plenty of coolers for them on NewEgg and other PC parts sites. Please post your experience if you try it. Also I just received an FX5200 with a heat sink for a PC. I'll make the mods to it this week and see if it has the issue.

I had huge problems with texture flashing on Nividia cards in my dual 2.5 Ghz G5, which got discussed at length some time ago in this thread where I also posted some diagnostic pictures, I don't know if you guys are seeing the same thing ? ...

The card was an Nvidia 6800 Ultra, which was fine for every other application

I got a replacement from Apple, had the same problem

I tried an Nvidia 5200, same problem to lesser degree

Tried an ATI Radeon 9000 (briefly 'cos its unsupported), problem went away

Finally, I bought an ATI Radeon X800 XT, no problems ever since

At the end of the day I couldn't find a clear solution from Apple, Linden Labs or Nvidia, so I assume it's some issue involving a combination of the three, perhaps driver related with those early (5200 hack) 6800 drivers, I don't know if it's still occurring on that card....

Just my contribution anyhow....