5,1/10.14-Intermittent Video Flashing (RX580)

[kkinto]

Hi, I am getting intermittent/random screen flashes (looks like the screen flashes a frame or 10 of digital garbage and 'drops' (image appears to move down) suddenly and quickly back to normal). Sometimes two or three times in relative rapid succession.

Sometimes happening often, other times not so. Not a train smash but most annoying when doing work that requires finesse, concentration and detail on screen!

Any ideas on what it is or similar experiences?

10.14 (18A391)

 

[bookemdano]

Is the card new? Sounds like it's dying (assuming you've already checked cabling, etc.)

 

[kkinto]

Yes its about two weeks installed

 

[tsialex]

Yes its about two weeks installed

Long shot, but where did you bought this card?

Cryptocurrency miners are dumping GPUs on eBay and usually the cards have special miner firmware that needs to be removed and the original restored.

 

[bookemdano]

Yes its about two weeks installed

Did it have this problem right away? Or it worked fine for two weeks and now does not?

Can you return it? If so then you should.

 

[Eneco]

Hi, I am getting intermittent/random screen flashes (looks like the screen flashes a frame or 10 of digital garbage and 'drops' (image appears to move down) suddenly and quickly back to normal). Sometimes two or three times in relative rapid succession.

I'm getting the same glitches with a flashed R9 280X and always thought it's a driver issue. Therefore I was planning to switch to the RX 580 ^^

 

[h9826790]

I'm getting the same glitches with a flashed R9 280X and always thought it's a driver issue. Therefore I was planning to switch to the RX 580 ^^

Most likely R9 280X is another issue. There is a known driver bug for some 7xxx card, mainly affected the Sapphire HD7950 Mac Edition card. I wrote the possible fix at here.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...7950-mac-edition.1603588/page-2#post-20513990

However, this bug only affect single monitor system, and only happen in 2D low GPU demand environment (e.g. Finder, Safari). If you also see flickering in Windows, or with multi monitor connected, or in any 3D applications. Then 99% you has hardware issue (may be the card, may be the cable, may be the monitor, or even may be the slot)

 

[Eneco]

However, this bug only affect single monitor system, and only happen in 2D low GPU demand environment (e.g. Finder, Safari).

That's exactly the situation when it is happening. Thanks for the link, but as the GPU consumes too much power I'm getting rid of it anyway.

 

[h9826790]

That's exactly the situation when it is happening. Thanks for the link, but as the GPU consumes too much power I'm getting rid of it anyway.

The PULSE RX580 works really well on my cMP in 10.14.0.

In fact, there is a V2 now which has dual ROM. So that you can safely mod one of the ROM to make it draw ~30% less power, or 20% more performance.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/sapphire-pulse-rx580-8gb-vbios-study.2133607/
[doublepost=1539101927][/doublepost]

Hi, I am getting intermittent/random screen flashes (looks like the screen flashes a frame or 10 of digital garbage and 'drops' (image appears to move down) suddenly and quickly back to normal). Sometimes two or three times in relative rapid succession.

Sometimes happening often, other times not so. Not a train smash but most annoying when doing work that requires finesse, concentration and detail on screen!

Any ideas on what it is or similar experiences?

10.14 (18A391)

If you sure both the monitor and cable are good. Then not much you can try apart from re-seat the card and clean the slot (blow away the dust). However, if that's a used card from miner. As tsialex said, may be you get a bad card, or a ROM that's not really for this card, etc.

It's hard to tell what's wrong in this case, you better return it (if you can).

 

[kkinto]

OK, cables and connectors all check out okay. Supplier told me to sit on it while they get another card to come and test. Its not super critical bad, but definitely annoying.

 

[kkinto]

I have received and installed a brand new replacement card. It still does the random flash. Not as often though or maybe thats because its only been running a day. I see lots of mentions of glitches on reddit with these cards - they call it "blinking" which is actually a good description.

On the box (both the original and the new replacement) is a sticker that reads "Overclock" with a little logo. Could this maybe be an issue?

Is there any way to check if its power related or what its running specs are?

 

[cdf]

On the box (both the original and the new replacement) is a sticker that reads "Overclock" with a little logo. Could this maybe be an issue?

I don't think so. My box has the same sticker, and I have had no problems whatsoever.

 

[h9826790]

I have received and installed a brand new replacement card. It still does the random flash. Not as often though or maybe thats because its only been running a day. I see lots of mentions of glitches on reddit with these cards - they call it "blinking" which is actually a good description.

On the box (both the original and the new replacement) is a sticker that reads "Overclock" with a little logo. Could this maybe be an issue?

Is there any way to check if its power related or what its running specs are?

Dump the card's ROM, post it to here, then we can have a look if the parameters are normal

 

[kkinto]

Dump the card's ROM, post it to here, then we can have a look if the parameters are normal

Hi, I am not sure I know how to do that! Looking at other posts it seems to all be Windows software. Do I need to do that on a PC or maybe create a bootcamp drive first? Is that possible without the boot screens?
(apologies for the lag but I was away for two weeks!)
Also I changed the power cables again - it had 2 x 6 pins (M/M) to a Y-female -> Male into the card. It now has a single split 6pin to 8 pin direct Y cable from the motherboard into the 580. Still flashing. It seems not as much(?) but that may just be wishful thinking!

 

[robogobo]

Hi, I am not sure I know how to do that! Looking at other posts it seems to all be Windows software. Do I need to do that on a PC or maybe create a bootcamp drive first? Is that possible without the boot screens?
(apologies for the lag but I was away for two weeks!)
Also I changed the power cables again - it had 2 x 6 pins (M/M) to a Y-female -> Male into the card. It now has a single split 6pin to 8 pin direct Y cable from the motherboard into the 580. Still flashing. It seems not as much(?) but that may just be wishful thinking!

Hey did you ever resolve this? I'm getting a flickering in the white areas on safari whenever I scroll a page. Interestingly it happens mostly here on the macrumors site, but also slightly less so on others...

 

[MIKX]

Hi, I am not sure I know how to do that! Looking at other posts it seems to all be Windows software. Do I need to do that on a PC or maybe create a bootcamp drive first? Is that possible without the boot screens?
(apologies for the lag but I was away for two weeks!)
Also I changed the power cables again - it had 2 x 6 pins (M/M) to a Y-female -> Male into the card. It now has a single split 6pin to 8 pin direct Y cable from the motherboard into the 580. Still flashing. It seems not as much(?) but that may just be wishful thinking!

Just to be clear on your RX 580 power cable setup.

The correct cable for the RX 580 ..

TWO x Mini 6 pin from the Mac Pro motherboard to ONE by 8 pin to the RX 580's 8 pin socket
( Amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/COMeap-Express-Video-Adapter-15-inch/dp/B07J336WY4

Does your cable look like this . . .. ?