Some users have reported graphics issues, including lags, stalls or slowdowns in video playback, artifacts or corruption (particularly when moving windows) and more after updating to Mac OS X 10.6.4.
Users have also reported complete system freezes when exiting a screen saver, sometime in conjunction with VMware. This problem may be accompanied by the error message “”A serious error has occurred inside your computer’s OpenGL graphics drivers.”
Other users have reported issues with Steam from Valve and some Blizzard games including Starcraft 2.
A Valve technical support representative posted the following message to the company’s support forums:
“The recent 10.6.4 update from Apple has noticeable performance issues for NVidia graphic chip owners running high performance games. If you wish to avoid this, you should consider waiting to install the 10.6.4 update until Apple has had the opportunity to address this issue.”
These issues may be related to OpenGL changes made in the Mac OS X 10.6.4 update.
Fixes
Option #1 — try this first
Download the Mac OS X 10.6.4 combo updater, which weighs in at a hefty 887MB but is a troubleshooting godsend. Quit all open applications and run the installer.
Option #2 — if option #1 fails, try this.
Booting your Mac in Safe Mode then simply restarting normally is one of the most overlooked, most effective procedures for solving a variety of issues after an incremental Mac OS X update. The reason for its efficacy: booting in Safe Mode forces a disk directory check, clears potentially problematic cache files and performs other routines, detailed here.
To boot in Safe Mode, hold the Shift key while your Mac is starting up. After booting in Safe Mode, simply restart normally (without holding the Shift key) and check for persistence of the issue.
Option #3 — if options #1 and #2 fail, try this.
Downgrade to Mac OS X 10.6.3. Although this option eliminates important security fixes included in Mac OS X 10.6.4, along with any other enhancements, it may be the best best if options #1 and #2 prove ineffective.
Reinstall (if you don’t have a current Time Machine backup). Insert your Snow Leopard installation disc, then restart while holding down the C key. When prompted, choose the normal “Install” option. Make sure to select “Preserve Users and Network Settings.”
After installation, you’ll be left with an earlier iteration of Mac OS X 10.6.x (most current retail discs include Mac OS X 10.6.2), but an otherwise largely intact system. Download the Mac OS X 10.6.3 combo updater and apply it if your disc has an earlier version of Snow Leopard. You may need to restore some saved username/password information, browser information, etc.
Restore from Time Machine Backup. If you have a current Time Machine backup. Connect the Time Machine backup disk, then insert your Snow Leopard installation disc, then restart while holding down the C key. After selecting your language, go to the Utilities menu and choose“Restore from Time Machine Backup.” Choose your Time Machine backup disk and choose a backup iteration directly prior to when you installed the Mac OS X 10.6.4, and continue with the process.
Feedback? info@appletoolbox.com.
July 2, 2010 at 2:20 AM
This issue still persists even after trying your first recommended two steps. The only fix is downgrading to 10.6.3, thus loosing the security fixes. The problem is that you need to reinstall the whole OS in order to do that.
Wish there was another way for downgrading…
July 2, 2010 at 3:39 PM
I found a successful way to just downgrade the NVidia drivers that come with 10.6.4. It’s a little scary if you’re unfamiliar with tooling around with your OS, but here goes:
FIRST, go here and make sure you understand everything it’s telling you to do in order to install kext/bundles into your extensions.
http://grafikdesign.wordpress.com/2008/02/23/how-do-i-install-a-kext-file/
You may want to write the steps down or keep them open on another machine because you won’t be able to refer back to them while you’re working.
Next, find the 10.6.3 Nvidia drivers. There are a few places you can find them, search for them. I found them here:
http://victori.uploadbooth.com/osx86/nvidia-10.6.3.zip
Next, you will want to boot into single user mode by holding command-s at boot. You will be logged in as root. Because of this you don’t really have to worry about all the sudo stuff. You may need to follow the directions presented to you to complete fsck and mount the root filesystem as readable.
Next, follow the directions to install the kexts. You might want to use cp -ir to put them in place.
The last step of removing the kext cache is unnecessary, as far as I can tell. Once they are in place, restart the computer.
If, heaven forbid, you messed something up, make sure you have your Snow Leopard CD on hand so you can perform Option #3 above.
This fixed serious slowdown issues I was having with my 8800M GT in a MacBook Pro 3,1 15″ in Quartz Composer, and basically saved my life for a show I had to perform in a couple hours. Everything is running fantastically now. I hope it helps someone else out equally.
July 7, 2010 at 12:56 PM
tried your suggestion Spaceboy Coop, i can notice indeed a slight increase in the framerates in my video applications although they dont run as smooth as they worked in the 10.6.3 update.
This means it might be a problem with the kernel and the way it links the extensions, or another os x component. Apple needs to fix this in the next system update.
July 8, 2010 at 1:57 AM
If I reinstall OS X 10.6.3 will i lose everything?
Music, DL’d apps, etc?
July 17, 2010 at 11:33 AM
Option 1 worked like a charm for me! Thanks for the post!
July 19, 2010 at 5:25 AM
Tried #1, didn’t work. Tride #2 – works like a champ! Big thanks!!!
July 26, 2010 at 8:01 AM
Has anyone successfully used option 3 without a Time Machine backup?
I downgraded from 10.6.4 to 10.6.3 with a 10.6.3 disk
There is no option for “Preserve Users and Network Settings.” on the Snow Leopard disk.
After the downgrade most of my iApps crash and are not usable ie iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie. iTunes and iMovie crash and iPhoto just shows a black screen when I try to view an image.
I upgraded to 10.6.4 and problems went away then downgraded back to 10.6.3 and problems were back.
July 27, 2010 at 12:36 PM
Thanks guys, I tried option 1, and it totally worked!
July 28, 2010 at 2:19 PM
Just a heads up, you might also want http://victori.uploadbooth.com/osx86/opengl-10.6.3-frameworks.zip for the opengl.framework. I noticed that SC2 had texture/shader flickering issues with the 10.6.4 OpenGL.framework.
August 10, 2010 at 7:20 AM
immediately tried both option #1 then #2, and suddenly starcraft 2 worked without problems on my macbook white… hl2 ep1 on steam also worked much better than before.
Thanks for the tip!
December 3, 2010 at 1:34 AM
When i read all the options i feel like reading a Windows manual ..!!