Bad Graphics Chip/Memory?

[One Sick Puppy]

I bought an iBook G4 1ghz/256/Radeon9200 less than two months ago and I've just now decided to try out some games.

I installed RealMyst and after about 5 minutes of playing, the graphics begin to get glitchy and progressively get worse. I tried the demo and the same thing happens. I tried installing the patch, which was specifically only for the R9000, but that didn't help. So, then I decided to try a different game and downloaded the new star wars game... I forget what it's called. That did the same thing.

I should also note that the graphics remain glitchy when I exit both games, though the problem is not so severe as within the game. When I reboot, the problem is gone until I start the games up again.

So, given that it's happening with two different games, and after a certain amount of time playing, I suspect the graphics chip might be defective or maybe a memory leak in the video ram... or something related to the graphics hardware.

I'm going to try installing these games on an iMac at the vendor that I got it from, to see what happens, but I thought I'd post here in case someone had any other advice.

I sure hope I don't have to send it in for repairs less than two months after purchase.

 

[Randman]

256 isn't much memory. Have you tried adjusting the game settings so all of the eye candy isn't turned on? Are you running other apps as well?

 

[ConqSoft]

256 should be enough:

Requirements:


· Power Mac G3 300 MHz
· 3D Video Card w/ 16 MB
· MacOS 8.6
+ 64 MB RAM
· MacOS 10.1
+ 128 MB RAM

 

[One Sick Puppy]

256 isn't much memory. Have you tried adjusting the game settings so all of the eye candy isn't turned on? Are you running other apps as well?

I'm not running any other apps. My system is significantly over the recommended requirements for RealMyst so I don't imagine it's a problem with not enough power/memory.

 

[fryke]

Whatever those recommendations might say, 256 MB _isn't_ much memory nowadays. You should also look at Energy Saver settings in System Preferences. Gameplay doesn't like low processor speeds and harddrive spindowns etc. Just put it on 'best performance' for playing games...

 

[ElDiabloConCaca]

I have to agree with Fryke -- check the Energy Saver prefs, and I'll second the notion that 256MB of RAM is barely enough to get by with OS X.

The "requirements" of any piece of software are usually DRASTICALLY understated if you're expecting usable performance. The "requirements" of OS X are a G3 processor, built-in USB and 128MB of RAM. I'd love to see someone run OS X on an original bondi-blue iMac G3/233 with 128MB of RAM and call it "usable."

Also, which "patch" are you referring to for the video card (I can't find any mention of a video patch for the iBook on Apple's site)? If the patch is specifically for the 9000, then I would highly recommend not trying to apply it to a 9200. This ain't a PC -- 99% of the drivers you'll need are included in OS X, and you'll RARELY have to install a 3rd party driver.

Furthermore, the iBook is not really a "gaming" machine. Sure, it's got a decent video card and speed, but a lot of the games you'll try to play on the iBook will choke with the graphics settings set too high for the game. As Randman said, adjusting the video options (and sound options, for that matter, as well) down to less intensive settings (color depth, polygon detail) will help drastically.

 

[One Sick Puppy]

I've tried adjusting the settings to Max Performance, but that didn't help.

If this a resource problem, then it should theoretically clear up once I exit the game. But, instead, it doesn't. Though, it is less severe.

I'm going to try and instal these games on another same iBook and see what happens. I strongly suspect the same problem with not reccur. It looks to me like a hardware problem, but my Mac experience is very limited.

 

[One Sick Puppy]

Ok. I have just returned from my local vendor and have tested both games (RealMyst demo and Jedi Academy demo) on a 14" iBook with, presumeably, the same specs as my 12". No problems with this one. So, at this point I'm all but convinced this is a hardware defect.

I'm going to reinstal the OS tomorrow and see if the problem reccurs.

I anticipate being very upset if I have to send this thing in for repairs only after 6 weeks of owning it. I hope I can press enough for an over-the-counter exchange.