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    Apple + nVidia Users please come in and vote!

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by free2spam.me, May 11, 2008.

  1. free2spam.me

    free2spam.me Notebook Geek

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    Okay, here goes, I've been experiencing with some serious hang-ups on my Late-2007 15.4" MBP (Merom 2.2GHz C2D) whenever I use some graphic-intensive application in Leopard. Scrolling my iTunes CoverFlow library of 1400++ tracks will sometimes result in these system freeze that end up in forced restarts. Although the mouse is still moveable (and iTunes is still playing the music), there's nothing on the screen that is responding to the movement/clicks (dock, tooltips, etc).

    Upon checking the Console system.log, there are several entries listed like below:
    Code: 
    kernel[0]: NVChannel(GL): Graphics channel timeout!
    Some of them are the same as above but are exception errors from NVChannel(GL).

    Code: 
    NVChannel(GL): Graphics channel exception!  status = 0xffff info32 = 0x3 = Fifo: Unknown Method Error
    Googling the web I've also discovered other people is also suffering the same problems as I've had. Some had successfully solved their problem with the 'beta' nVidia kext from Leopard 10.5.3 seeds/re-installing Leopard without the Leopard Graphics Update 1.0, while some are just plain hardware problem.

    I've been able to get my hands on the beta kexts and replaced them on my MBP and it went on smoothly after that until today I've experienced the same system freeze with CoverFlow, but this time the system recovered and left the above error in my system.log. Although the exception errors are gone, I'm left wondering if there's any problems with my graphics card or is it just a widespread problem left un-noticed throughout the whole Apple community (that is using an nVidia card with Leopard).

    I want to confirm it is a genuine hardware problem or is it just a software bug with the nVidia driver before taking the hassle of sending it to Apple because I'm needing it for my uni assignments.

    All your feedback is welcomed.

    PS: Do check your system.log for the error before you decide to vote. Thanks.
    PPS: I ran my MBP with an external screen on the DVI port.
     
    free2spam.me, May 11, 2008
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  2. free2spam.me

    free2spam.me Notebook Geek

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    bump? <filler>
     
    free2spam.me, May 12, 2008
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  3. free2spam.me

    free2spam.me Notebook Geek

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    Just a simple test, anyone with an nVidia card in their Apple systems can run the Folding@Home GUI client and see if it crashes your graphics subsystem.

    Download the Mac OS X (Intel) SMP - OS X 10.4+ - 6.10 beta2 client from:
    http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Download

    Install and run it. If your system hangs upon executing the program, check the system.log for NVChannel(GL) errors.
     
    free2spam.me, May 13, 2008
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  4. jnev

    jnev Notebook Guru

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    yep, the folding@home client crashes my mbp each time I run it.
     
    jnev, May 13, 2008
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