[tsqrd]

I received my Asrock ION 330 last night from Newegg and after getting XBMC Live up and running with my library I'm noticing some pretty horrific artifacts. The artifacts are not always present, and do not show on every Menu or Video. When they do show, they're always in the same location (e.g. below the 'Weather' interface option, on the Eyelid on the Da Vinci Code artwork, and generally other dark/black areas)

I've uploaded pictures and a short video clip to show what I'm seeing here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tsqrd/sets/...732389700/

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Steps that I followed:
- BIOS is 1.60
- Set GPU RAM to 512 in BIOS
- Installed base XBMC Live (9.0.4.1)
- Updated to the newest Nvidia drivers via:
1. “sudo apt-get install unzip”
2. “wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project...yer”
3. “unzip restrictedDrivers.NVIDIA.185_18_14.zip”
4. “sudo mount -o loop restrictedDrivers.nvidia.img /mnt”
5. “sudo cp -a /mnt/lib /”
6. “sudo cp -a /mnt/usr /”
7. “sudo /sbin/init 6″
- Forced VDAPU

[vikjon0]

I am using the same hardware without problem.
My only suggestion is that you install NVIDIA a different way. (I havent seen that way before)
You could also try NVIDIA 180 or 190.

[Rando]

Are you seeing these artifacts only on screen areas that are completely black (or very nearly completely black) or do you see it in areas sometimes that are lighter or colored?

I don't know what you would change to fix that, but in your examples it seems to be only occuring in black areas... perhaps it's a clue to the cause?

[prae5]

Possibly unrelated, but try testing / swapping out your ram. I had similar corruption on a desktop machine that had a flakey stick of ram.

[tsqrd]

Yeah, I have only noticed the issue on areas where the colors are dark or black. The examples I posted were all taken from within the interface, but the issue is also occurring during video playback as well.

I'll load up memtest later and see if there are any issues with the RAM.

[motd2k]

Looks like RMA time imo

[jonassw]

You can try to install the nVidia drivers via this in sources.list:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/nvidia-vdpau/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

And then sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx-185

However, it does look like what you'd get in video games with a defective graphics card.

[tsqrd]

Attempted to reinstall XBMC Live, Use Different Drivers, Use SVN PPA builds, but all resulted in the same artifacting. I can even see slight artifacts on the XBMC logo and Bios Boot menu (before there is even an OS running...)

Before I RMA this device.....

Is there any chance at all my TV/Monitor could be causing the artifacts? My examples were shown from my old 42" Westinghouse LVM-42w2. When I took the Asrock ION 330 into my office and hooked it up via the same HDMI cable to my 24" BenQ v2400W I could not get the artifacts to display, and so far the issue seems to have vanished. I have hooked up other devices (popcorn hour, xbox360) to the Westinghouse via HDMI before and never experienced the issue though.

[Bob___]

Is there any chance at all my TV/Monitor could be causing the artifacts?

That could be. I have had a TFT some years ago which showed similar artefacts. The TFT-Panel has a defect. The artefacts are always in the parts of the screen where the colour black was (completely black)

[tgrenda]

Goto Appearance Preferences -> Visual Effects in the System -> Preferences menu and select none. I had the same issue until I disabled the visual effects.

[tsqrd]

Goto Appearance Preferences -> Visual Effects in the System -> Preferences menu and select none. I had the same issue until I disabled the visual effects.

The issue is also present while watching a movie, not just in the interface. I am fairly certain my TV/Monitor is to blame. I found the thread below while doing some research and there is a picture with someone that has the exact same issue.

Thankfully I have a service plan on the TV/Monitor so I will be scheduling that ASAP.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=749233