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What do you think is the source of the graphics issues on Mac Pro (Late 2013) ?

  • Hardware

    Votes: 69 53.1%
  • Software

    Votes: 28 21.5%
  • Hardware & Software

    Votes: 32 24.6%
  • Other

    Votes: 1 0.8%

  • Total voters
    130

Martyimac

macrumors 68020
Aug 19, 2009
2,460
1,695
S. AZ.
I've documented the UI freezes on my MacPro6,1 (with D300) for the last 6 months.
Usage: Light/medium workload every day for ~ 12 hours.

View attachment 771387

Findings:
  • 118 freezes
  • 102 of them while decoding video (YouTube or IINA)
  • the most reliable way to reproduce the problem has been playing a YouTube video in Safari and using WebGL (e.g. playing Solitaire)
  • generally speaking, things have improved considerably
It's hard to attribute the improvements to any single configuration change. However, things got better on february 24th and march 29th – the dates when I removed and cleaned both GPU boards. There was hardly any dust – only lots of thermal paste that I couldn't completely clean out of the resistors.

View attachment 771396

Still, something in the hardware improved. GPU temperature and voltage didn't change though. My only theory so far is that the thermal paste somehow interacts with the resistors. Maybe the paste's properties change after being "cooked" by the GPU for a few months? There's still way too little data for any real conclusion.

If other users decide to clean their GPU, I'd be interested to know if it helped. btw, you don't have to take the whole thing apart to remove the GPU. When following the iFixit tutorial, you can basically skip steps 3-9.
The only data point I can give you is when I got my D300 nMP I started getting the UI freezes after a week of use from brand new out of the box. I never pushed the cards hard.
 

missionpeak

macrumors newbie
Oct 11, 2017
7
1
use same D300.
I upgraded MacOS to 10.13 High Sierra (in which the graph firmware is updated.) Then downgraded to 10.12 Sierra (fully Reinstall MacOS on SSD driver). The freeze issue is gone, now my MacPro could stably run for one month or more. FYI.

I've documented the UI freezes on my MacPro6,1 (with D300) for the last 6 months.
Usage: Light/medium workload every day for ~ 12 hours.

View attachment 771387

Findings:
  • 118 freezes
  • 102 of them while decoding video (YouTube or IINA)
  • the most reliable way to reproduce the problem has been playing a YouTube video in Safari and using WebGL (e.g. playing Solitaire)
  • generally speaking, things have improved considerably
It's hard to attribute the improvements to any single configuration change. However, things got better on february 24th and march 29th – the dates when I removed and cleaned both GPU boards. There was hardly any dust – only lots of thermal paste that I couldn't completely clean out of the resistors.

View attachment 771396

Still, something in the hardware improved. GPU temperature and voltage didn't change though. My only theory so far is that the thermal paste somehow interacts with the resistors. Maybe the paste's properties change after being "cooked" by the GPU for a few months? There's still way too little data for any real conclusion.

If other users decide to clean their GPU, I'd be interested to know if it helped. btw, you don't have to take the whole thing apart to remove the GPU. When following the iFixit tutorial, you can basically skip steps 3-9.
 
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mattds91

macrumors newbie
Jul 19, 2018
3
0
Southern California
Have a nMP we bought refurbished meant to be used for video editing. It's caused so much grief with this error. Spent hours on the phone with Apple and the tech didn't even find this error. All I've really tried on my own is to completely reinstall the OS which seemed to help for a few days but now the crashes are back with a vengeance. I'm glad to see I'm not alone, but it does suck that no one has found a solution.
 

letsbefrank56

macrumors newbie
Apr 4, 2018
6
6
Here's an update on my piece of junk trash can.

In summary...

Purchased April 2016 and have had freezing (beach ball) issues from start. Upgraded RAM May 2016. I have the quad core D300 model.

Thought it was a software issue but stumbled onto this thread and started logging the freezes since Sep 2017.
  • Frozen more 50 Times, with the same behaviors as what people here has described.
  • Almost every time I have a video showing the frozen state and log files
Luckily I bought Applecare and started contacting Applecare in Jan 2018.
  • 4-5 Data Capture sessions over the phone where they sent the diagnostics to Apple engineers over the past few months
  • Jan 2018 Logic Board was replaced by Apple, problem persisted - froze on the first reboot
  • Mar 2018 Graphics Card A was replaced by Apple Store, problem persisted
  • Apr 2018 Deleted Dropbox as per AppleCare requirement or otherwise they wouldn't continue with any repairs, problem persisted
  • May 2018 Removed Some Old Graphics Files as per AppleCare requirement or otherwise they wouldn't continue with any repairs, problem persisted.
  • Late May 2018 MacPro dropped off at Apple Store (After latest Data Capture, AppleCare on the phone determined and confirmed that it is not a software issue but a hardware issue). In addition, AppleCare said that they would ship in factory RAM for testing since I had aftermarket RAM
  • Early Jun 2018 Picked up Mac Pro from Apple. RAM was not replaced prior to testing as promised. 'Genius' technician said they could not replicate issue but was confident that the RAM was not the issue. He said they would not do anything further until Mac Pro is wiped and reset to factory settings. I only agreed to the wipe and erase because they 'guaranteed' that they won’t blame the aftermarket RAM. Another technician said if problem persists, bring it back and they will replace anything needed.
  • Jun 2018 problem persists and the Applecare person I had been dealing with since January decided that it was time to replace the Mac Pro so I was so happy that this nightmare was over. However, while going through the replacement process, I was passed to another Applecare person and they said they cannot do the replacement because now they suspect it was the aftermarket RAM !
  • I persisted and exchanged some strong words with this new Applecare contact over a few days and finally he agreed to ship some factory RAM and I had it swapped at the Apple store with a promise that if the problem persisted, they would refund the $500 purchase of the overpriced factory RAM.
  • Late June 2018 factory RAM installed. Of course the problem persisted even though the Mac Pro was wiped and had no software or files on it. I left it running for a couple of days and when I went and moved a Finder window, it froze. In addition 2 of the USB ports were wonky and the Bluetooth was cutting in and out the point that using the trackpad was impossible.
  • Applecare over the phone was still hesitant to replace the computer so I called the Apple store I had been dealing with several times over a week until they decided to replace the Mac Pro.
  • Today I just got the shipping notification that the replacement has finally shipped ! Since the quad core is not longer for sale, they are replacing it with a hex core D500 model.
Sorry for all the details but I wanted to share this since this thread was so helpful. The point to all this is if you have Applecare, persist and hound the bastards at Apple until they replace your machine. The should not get away with selling you a piece of crap machine.

Although I got a replacement, I lost so much downtime due to the freezing. There were 8 trips to the Apple store, countless hours on the phone with Applecare doing the data captures explaining the the problem was still there, and the incredible stress and aggravation of the whole experience. Worse customer service experience ever, especially for something that as so costly.

Good luck !
 

mattds91

macrumors newbie
Jul 19, 2018
3
0
Southern California
I have the same problem for some time. Before i did not give him so much weight as it rarely happened to me, now that the Mac Pro is turned on day and night i notice that the problem has become more present.

The panic report has always reported the following string :

*** Panic Report ***
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xffffff7f9d11ed7a): "bool IOAccelDisplayMachine2::display_mode_did_change(uint32_t): vendor driver returns false"@/BuildRoot/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/IOAcceleratorFamily_kexts/IOAcceleratorFamily-378.18.1/Kext2/IOAccelDisplayMachine.cpp:490


Going to analyze the system logs i found that always, just before going into the kernel panic, this error was present :

Jun 4 23:59:52 Mac-Pro-di-Eugenio com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.preference.displays.MirrorDisplays): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.

After a series of searches i managed to eliminate this error from the console by following this steps :

- Disable System Integrity Protection so you can edit the .plist file. Do this by rebooting into the recovery partition with cmd-R, open Terminal from the Utilities menu, and type:

csrutil disable

- Reboot into yoru system, then edit the .plist file with this command:

sudo vi /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.preference.displays.MirrorDisplays.plist

- Comment out the line that causes the MirrorDisplays tool to load. Change this line:

<string>Aqua</string>
to this:
<!-- <string>Aqua</string> -->

- Then, reboot and reenable System Integrity Protection using the recovery partition as described above and type:

csrutil enable

After having made this change the log file no longer contains the error indicated above and, at least for the moment, i no longer had kernel panics.

P.S. i apologize for any writing errors ;)

I just did this, will update next time it crashes or in a few days if it doesn't
 

OverZealous

macrumors newbie
Jun 2, 2018
8
3
I never updated, but I made the changes recommended by Eugy84 a while back. It really seemed a lot better for a while, but then I had a few more freezes.

I do feel like it has reduced the problem frequency, but who knows? I’ve given up finding a pattern at this point.
 
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Hitrate

macrumors 6502
Mar 25, 2009
450
194
Copenhagen
Should I be concerned with this when buying used, beyond asking the seller and inspecting it before buy and doing the apple hardware test? I mean, I don't wanna invest in a potential bomb...
 

Kris Kelvin

macrumors regular
Dec 28, 2005
246
179
Should I be concerned with this when buying used, beyond asking the seller and inspecting it before buy and doing the apple hardware test? I mean, I don't wanna invest in a potential bomb...

The seller might not tell you and Apple Hardware Test doesn't detect the problem. Honestly, just don't buy a MacPro6,1 with a D300...
 
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netkas

macrumors 65816
Oct 2, 2007
1,198
394
not sure what is most common solution here
To minimize freezing I have disabled opengl/opencl acceleration on second d300 (the one without display outputs) via editing plist of radeonx4000.kext and it helped to greately reduce amount of freezes.
 

Hitrate

macrumors 6502
Mar 25, 2009
450
194
Copenhagen
The seller might not tell you and Apple Hardware Test doesn't detect the problem. Honestly, just don't buy a MacPro6,1 with a D300...
Sorry have only been following MBP’s lately...the one I got offered locally: two years old light use, 6core, 256gb, 16gb, d500 for $1875 Same advice or is there no issues with the d500 thus making it a just-do-it buy?
 

filmak

macrumors 65816
Jun 21, 2012
1,418
777
between earth and heaven
Sorry have only been following MBP’s lately...the one I got offered locally: two years old light use, 6core, 256gb, 16gb, d500 for $1875 Same advice or is there no issues with the d500 thus making it a just-do-it buy?

Ask the seller first, did he had any GPU issues?
Were the GPUs been replaced for any reason?
Apple has replaced for free D500s in the past, as they have found a manufacturing issue, I think it was for Mac Pros built from Feb. - August 2015, if I remember correctly.
 
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Martyimac

macrumors 68020
Aug 19, 2009
2,460
1,695
S. AZ.
Sorry have only been following MBP’s lately...the one I got offered locally: two years old light use, 6core, 256gb, 16gb, d500 for $1875 Same advice or is there no issues with the d500 thus making it a just-do-it buy?
My 6,2 with that setup has been flawless. I bought one of them as soon as they were released.
 
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netkas

macrumors 65816
Oct 2, 2007
1,198
394
@netkas

Would you please tell us what did you change in which file ?

Thanks
disable sip, add two lines to Info.plist of AMDRadeonX4000.kext
then sudo touch /S/L/E/AMDRadeonX4000.kext /S/L/E
and reboot
--- Info.plist_ 2018-04-01 19:46:17.000000000 +0300
+++ Info.plist 2018-04-01 19:47:43.000000000 +0300
@@ -211,6 +211,8 @@
<key>LoadAccelerator</key>
<true/>
</dict>
+ <key>IOPCISecondaryMatch</key>
+ <string>0x012A106B</string>
<key>IOProviderClass</key>
<string>IOPCIDevice</string>
<key>IOSourceVersion</key>
 

DDT

macrumors newbie
Oct 29, 2014
4
0
Hey guys, been reading this thread for a while, I thought I’d also share my experiences and some things that have helped me in somewhat mitigating this annoyance.. I’ve got a D300 machine here (got it somewhere at the end of 2014 or beginning of 2015). I think it’s always had the issue, but I didn’t pick up on it being a possible GPU issue till much later.

It’s the same as everyone is describing here: screen freezes, music keeps playing, beachball appears etc..
One thing I found peculiar, even before knowing about the GPU issues: I have a dual screen setup (Apple thunderbolt display and some crappy old monitor connected with an Apple thunderbolt to VGA dongle thing) and since the start it would always randomly select either one as the primary monitor when booting.. Sometimes it would be okay for a while, but most of the time it would put the login screen on my secondary monitor and only after login would it change back to the Thunderbolt display.. Not the worst thing in the world, but in hindsight I'm thinking this is probably related to some GPU nonsense?
That being said, since updating to High Sierra a few weeks ago it's been selecting the right monitor at boot every time! *knock on wood*

My workflow consists mostly of music production, so I'm almost always working in Logic X. The pattern I've found (even though some of the freezes still seem completely random and unrelated..) is that with Logic open and Chrome with a bunch of tabs open (also tabs with youtube vids), and possibly Skype open in the past, would cause the most freezes, usually about 3 a day.. I long suspected Skype, so I hardly use it anymore.. But even without it I still had very frequent freezes. But then I stumbled upon something.. I was digging in Chrome's settings and found an option to disable hardware acceleration. Ever since disabling that, the amount of freezes has greatly reduced for me. I on average now run anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks without a freeze. I don't use Safari a whole lot and I know there's no such option there, so I can't really comment on that.
The weird thing is.. When I'm actually using my mac for graphics intensive tasks, like working in After Affects and Photoshop, it almost never freezes.

Another thing: since updating to High Sierra, whenever there's a freeze, unplugging my Thunderbolt display and plugging in back in will cause it to reboot and give an error log. This imo is a little improvement over having to do hard shutdowns every time. Also this allows me to send all the error reports to Apple.
I do get some minor graphical glitches in general since updating to High Sierra (I came from El Capitan), nothing major, just like a small bar across the screen for a split second.. Although this does worry me somewhat..

There's another thing I'm wondering.. Have any of you guys had any luck with eGPU's to stop the freezes?
I don't have Apple care, my D300 doesn't fall under the replacement program, I need this machine for my work so I don't want to have to drop it at the Apple store for longer periods of time etc.. Also considering that even if you get the repair done, it doesn't guarantee that the issues will be solved.. I don't have the money, or want to buy an iMac Pro. This machine works great apart from the GPU issues. So spending a few hundred bucks on an eGPU setup doesn't seem like a terrible idea to me. I would just like to know if anyone has had success with this approach? :)
 

netkas

macrumors 65816
Oct 2, 2007
1,198
394
There's another thing I'm wondering.. Have any of you guys had any luck with eGPU's to stop the freezes?
I don't have Apple care, my D300 doesn't fall under the replacement program, I need this machine for my work so I don't want to have to drop it at the Apple store for longer periods of time etc.. Also considering that even if you get the repair done, it doesn't guarantee that the issues will be solved.. I don't have the money, or want to buy an iMac Pro. This machine works great apart from the GPU issues. So spending a few hundred bucks on an eGPU setup doesn't seem like a terrible idea to me. I would just like to know if anyone has had success with this approach? :)

egpu stops freezes, at least with nvidia egpu.
 

bax2003

Cancelled
Original poster
Dec 25, 2011
947
203
egpu stops freezes, at least with nvidia egpu.

Info - yes, great....
Solution - no. Why ? Because this picture below is starting to make sense

mac-pro-2012-vs-2013-spoof-640x353.jpg
 

swithdrawn

macrumors member
Apr 28, 2018
40
20
There's another thing I'm wondering.. Have any of you guys had any luck with eGPU's to stop the freezes?

egpu stops freezes, at least with nvidia egpu.

Yup, I have AMD and nVidia eGPUs and they both stop freezes. The nVidia has it's own KP's under load but that's a different matter. Some performance degradation if you're doing things like video editing and running a 4k display, but otherwise it's fine for general use.

Info - yes, great....
Solution - no. Why ? Because this picture below is starting to make sense

My nMP has its own support cart. Not even enough room for the eGPU.
data-cart.jpg
 

duffo64

macrumors newbie
Jul 25, 2018
1
0
Verona, Italy
Hello guys (first post here),

I watched this thread a lot because I suffered same lockups (dual D300 model), but as soon I detached a crappy usb 3.0 hub I had zero issues. My machine never stopped since two weeks ! Nevertheless, symptoms were the very same.
 

OverZealous

macrumors newbie
Jun 2, 2018
8
3
The problem with most "fixes" here is several people have tested the machine running a clean install of macOS, with no external hardware attached, doing almost nothing (other than enough work to trigger the bug), and seen the lockup.
  • If it's software related, it's a flaw inside the videocard drivers within macOS itself.
  • If it's hardware related, it's a (fairly serious) flaw within the design of either the nMP, or the D300.
I strongly doubt that external hardware (monitors, storage, USB hubs, etc) are the cause. At most they increase the frequency of the issue. And I doubt that 3rd-party software does anything more than stress the system by actually being used. (e.g., Apple loves to blame Firefox for every possible issue, in my experience.)

My opinion leans towards a hybrid flaw between both the nMP's hardware design, and the OS itself not handling an error correctly. (That's not based in fact, just a gut feeling based on my experience as a software developer.)
 
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eepyikes

macrumors member
Jun 25, 2011
31
6
My opinion leans towards a hybrid flaw between both the nMP's hardware design, and the OS itself not handling an error correctly. (That's not based in fact, just a gut feeling based on my experience as a software developer.)

This is pretty much it, but according to what I've read in this thread, it is a hardware error that is not handled well by OSX. Users have reported having some sort of graphical glitch on Windows, which results in a reset or something. So they actually see the hardware error happening, but instead of crashing, Windows does some kind of screen refresh, if I remember correctly.

Despite knowing this data, higher up techs at Apple have dismissed it as a software issue and I have been told to "wait for an update". It's been several months now, no update. They are purposefully trying to burn time so that people's warranties run out and/or they give up or buy a newer mac.
 

swithdrawn

macrumors member
Apr 28, 2018
40
20
Despite knowing this data, higher up techs at Apple have dismissed it as a software issue and I have been told to "wait for an update". It's been several months now, no update. They are purposefully trying to burn time so that people's warranties run out and/or they give up or buy a newer mac.

With the T2 chip issues causing crashes in iMac Pros and the 2018 MacBooks.. purchasing a new Mac is NOT in my long term plan unless they address fixes. It seems like you have to be a YouTube influencer to actually get Apple to fix anything.
 
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