Website messes up my iMac

[Reason077]

Running 10.8.3 on an iMac 8,1 (ATI Radeon 2600 Pro), the following graphics-heavy web page causes really slow performance and seems to corrupt the graphics driver somehow - weird graphics glitches that spread across all apps. This happens in both Safari and Chrome, but not Firefox.

Closing the web page and then sleeping & waking the Mac seems to fix it. Anyone else?

http://www.businessinsider.com/arge...erwater-for-25-years-re-emerges-photos-2013-5

 

[Weaselboy]

I just tried that site and it worked fine on my Macbook Air. It is slow and jerky to scroll though due to the large image files.

 

[Reason077]

I just tried that site and it worked fine on my Macbook Air. It is slow and jerky to scroll though due to the large image files.

Yeah, it's fine on my Air too, and also fine (just jerky) in Firefox. But in Safari/Chrome it totally corrupts the graphics (not just in the browser, but in all running apps) on my 2008 iMac. Seems like an OS or hardware issue, but it's only ever happened on that page. Odd.

 

[50548]

Yeah, it's fine on my Air too, and also fine (just jerky) in Firefox. But in Safari/Chrome it totally corrupts the graphics (not just in the browser, but in all running apps) on my 2008 iMac. Seems like an OS or hardware issue, but it's only ever happened on that page. Odd.

I am pretty sure that this is a GPU issue perhaps triggered by specific graphics activity on that website. If it spreads to other apps, it's surely something beyond a specific website.

Go check your Mac ASAP.

 

[ColdCase]

I was thinking the same thing, the graphics on that site (lots of flash) puts enough stress on the iMac GPU that it uncovers a hardware failure (memory?) or firmware issue. Perhaps an early sign of future GPU problems, or it could be just a glitch in the firmware that the site exposes.

 

[Reason077]

I was thinking the same thing, the graphics on that site (lots of flash) puts enough stress on the iMac GPU that it uncovers a hardware failure (memory?) or firmware issue. Perhaps an early sign of future GPU problems, or it could be just a glitch in the firmware that the site exposes.

Thanks. I booted the Apple Hardware Test (wow, that was a step back in time with its pre-OS X style UI). Ran the "extended tests" which went for over an hour and reported no trouble.

Are there any other diagnostics I should run, specifically to test graphics hardware?

I suspect, as you say, it might be an issue with the graphics drivers or firmware that is exposed only in rare circumstances, as I haven't noticed any problems besides that one site.

I'm interested to know if anyone else with an early-2008 iMac, or ATI Radeon 2600 Pro graphics hardware, sees the same thing.