Hi!

Long story short, I am in touch with Mark regarding some graphic issues I face, one of which is graphic distortion of Ambient screen (many dots, moving or still on the screen). On our past e-mail exchange Mark told me that it looks like the core is falling and could be related to heat/power issues. Well, I didn't paid attention because by that time I had other problems as well (which were sorted up by Itix).

However, in recent days, I am getting a strange image, from time to time, straight after Mac boot which it displays a white GFX card with the ATI logo (on lower rght) and a flashing red rectangle (on the upper right) on a black screen.

The Mac goes on halt and does not boot (i.e. usb devices aren't working) and I press the reboot button on the tower numerous times (2-3) to get it working up again. This behavior is completely random (though 8/10 times, the Mac boots fine).

I have searched for this image on the net but couldn't find one to post a link into. Also, I have googled for similar type of problem but couldn't any topic/thread.

My system is a PMAC 3.1 w. G4 1.6Ghz and an AGP (2x) 9800Pro 256MB universally keyed, Mac Edition (not flashed) with a nice aftermarket Zalman cooler.

Any thoughts on this one? Could the card be underpowered by the PSU? Don't want to bug Mark again, until I figure out if the problem is hardware related or not (or at least have a clear idea of).

edit: added topic title

[ Edited by Cool_amigaN 20.01.2014 - 10:07 ]

That sounds like the secondary power connector is not being powered correctly.
Check the adapters you are using (I never felt comfortable with those).
AND, as the R300 failures, the rate does seem abnormally high.
The first thing to go in later ATI GPUs appears to be the 3D core.

Hey, it's me again after a long time due to many pending real life issues :(

Anyway, the other day I was getting again the same boot picture while suddenly the red flashing light became green and the machine booted! So it has to be some kind of power failure.

So, Jim, how I am supposed to check for the power adapters? You mean the ones with the 4-pins right? Is it possible to change them?