iMac Video Card Dying? (with pictures)

[freebooter]

Perhaps someone with the requisite knowledge could tell me what might be causing these graphics anomalies on my iMac 24" 2.16 GHz 2006 white.

Since last summer I've been getting occasional, single, random, multicolored lines on my screen, especially when web browsing, like these.

Since they went away when I scrolled or resized the window, and appeared fairly infrequently, I decided to just live with it (especially since getting repairs done where I live isn't easy or convenient).

However, lately the problem has been getting worse, and new, strange artifacts are appearing, such as red specks, large, flickering lines while watching video, and window rendering weirdness like this.

So, is my video card dying, or could it be something else, like a faulty connection, perhaps?

Thanks...

ps: I could order a replacement from the States (expensive, since the card I need is unique to this iMac model), but I don't know if I have the b@lls to take out my own motherboard. (the h.d. was an easy replacement, however)

pps: NOW, I wish I had purchased Applecare...

 

[Hellhammer]

Looks like a GPU problem. Try hardware test, push D button while booting.

 

[freebooter]

Thanks, I'll do that.

 

[darrellishere]

this is the vertical lines issue! Allot have them with the late 2006 imacs, 24" and 20".
Apple are being sued over it in one state in america, but we are all left in the cold.
Repairs cost $900 or £400 to replace the logic board.
One fix around that many have discovered, is to install smc fan control and run your fans close to max! Ok its noisy but keeps your motherboard temperature below 33c and keeps the lines/graphics anomalies and crashes at bay, and your computer going without a Hefty repair.

The core of Apple is Rotten when it comes to supporting our generation of faulty imacs!

 

[Tymbo]

but those are horizontal lines.. lol.

 

[grooveattack]

well if it shows up in a screen shot it is definitely a GPU problem...

 

[Shivetya]

I was getting something similar with my 7600GT just before I got the black screen of death. Every game eventually started being totally corrupted in the graphics department and I locked up hard a few times.

One reboot and I had a dead screen and off for the two plus weeks for repair.

 

[freebooter]

Thanks for the input.

I have had some system freezes and kernel panics lately.

Also, I do have smc fan control keeping things cooler--it helps to some degree (ha! a pun). I think I'll crank it up a notch.... Any idea which fan (ODD, HDD, or CPU) keeps the graphics card cool? My guess would be the CPU fan.

As well, I used the Hardware Test on the install disk. 5 test runs didn't detect a problem which is very odd considering I could see some graphics weirdness (speckles) on the test screen while the test was being carried out. Actually, I'm not that surprised the test didn't detect a graphics problem since the test protocol spends about 10 minutes checking memory, about a minute on the logic board, and literally about 1/2 a second testing the graphics.

So, if smc f.c. can't keep it cool enough (hot weather is coming soon), I guess I'll haul it to the only Apple service center in town and see what kind of damage they wish to inflict on my bank account. If it's too expensive, I think I'll take the plunge and replace the GPU myself.

I'm glad I bought a MBP 17" refurb at Xmas.

 

[freebooter]

I think I want to add that I'd buy a new desktop Mac, but, as a photographer, the Gloss-Mac line does not appeal. Hey, they are faster and have more mem. capacity, but Jesus (forgive the blaspheme) I don't want to deal with reflections all day long.

I'm perfectly happy with the speed and function of my current set up (iMac 24" + 19" on the side) so I guess I'll wait until the Korean won recovers a bit, buy a replacement GPU unit and replace it myself. (apologies for thinking online) If I can wait that long, I'll use my current unit until Apple can muster up the courage to develop and release a screenless, mid-range tower, or until the iMacs are (like) 5x faster than my present computer.

ps: since I've cranked up the fans to ~75% of max., I've had minimal GPU weirdness.

edit: I've further increased the cpu fan to ~85% of max. and dropped the other two to a much quieter ~50%. I've had zero graphics problems. Looks like I'll be using this one for some time to come....