green & purple dots problem

[sdl]

HI

I'm getting green and purple dots on my Imac screen, it doesn't seem to be a problem with the screen because the pixel drop (not sure what to call it) move with the program I,m using at the time.. say I was editing a photo, the dots will appear on the photo and if I drag the photo the dots will move with it...
if i,m using safari and move the page down or up the dots will smear the page.. Is this a problem with my graphics card?

computer info
Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac4,1
Processor Name: Intel Core Duo
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per processor): 2 MB
Memory: 512 MB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: IM41.0055.B08
SMC Version: 1.1f5

any help would be appreciated
thanks in advance

 

[mcjacksonnelson]

would it be possible to take a screenshot of what you are seeing?

 

[sdl]

I,m not sure this has worked very well.. But as soon as I highlight the screen to take a picture of the image it the green a purple dots dissapear.. you may be able to just see some on the image below, it's an image of my 1st post..

http://www.farspic.com/files/p2bjti5hzgfk6om97f7o.png

 

[harryb2448]

Do you have the original install disc that came with your machine? If so somewhere you will have Apple Hardware Test. Give that a run as the last testing procedure is checking pixels are operating in various colors.

 

[sdl]

Yes I have 2 install disks... do you know which one it would be? I don't want to accidentally re format the whole computer will a menu come up first if I put in install disk 1...

Could you see any green/purple dots on the image I wasn't sure if the few that were left on it were on the image or the computer?

 

[harryb2448]

Sorry see only about top 10% of your dock is all.

Try disc No. 2 first and see if it is included under 'options' or extras' or similar.

 

[mcjacksonnelson]

i would say that you had some dead pixels or something, but since they move with whatever is on your screen, not sure what the heck is going on.

 

[sdl]

HI.. I've taken another image showing a page on wiki... This is what happens when I use safari... the page is fine till I either scroll down or move the window sideways..basically any movement of the page will cause the smearing.. This is worse on safari say then on a photo editor... I don't get hardly any on the main screen of the computer itself. I also get grey larger dots on the screen of quicktime when viewing a movie.. and also Imovie... but not on VLC player

http://tubeimage.com/viewer.php?file=ml78dw4x6n5isvmvqt59.jpg

you will find a link to enlarge the picture to full size on the page..

 

[mcjacksonnelson]

yikes! i can honestly say ive never seen that before. its gotta be something with the hardware. have you taken it to an apple store yet?

 

[sdl]

No not yet, I was hoping there might be a simple solution ... Is it possible that I've damaged the grahics card somehow?

 

[sdl]

Just found someone that seems to be having a similar problem
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6328870

and another one

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5865962&#5865962

 

[sdl]

I tried the hardware test and it seems to have made mine worse! now I've got pixel drop out on the main screen.. could the "stress" of the hardware test done that.. would that be caused by some kind of memory fault?

It's got to be a hardware problem because when I was doing the hardware test I could still see the green/purple pixels on the screen..

 

[harryb2448]

If all the pixels changed to the correct color during the AHT, you may be having a graphics card glitch.