Fusion 6.0.2 graphic corruption with 3D enabled - mid-2010 Macbook Pro

[solgaeDK]

So I decided to go with Fusion 6 after all since I upgraded my mac to Mavericks. So far, using Windows 8.1 with Fusion 6.0.2 produced a more stable environment, with one exception.

When 3D is enabled, I see graphical glitches (e.g. black lines across screen, letter not showing, etc.) and flickering all over the place whenever I run an app that requires graphic usage. This is especially prevalent on Google Chrome and Firefox, and although it is less susceptible on IE 11, it still occurs.

This is especially noticeable with YouTube videos, but unfortunately, I can't grab a screenshot whenever any graphic glitches happen.

This happened when I run the VM on Fusion 6. Running on Snow Leopard or Mavericks didn't matter.

All the flickering and graphic glitches don't appear when I disable 3D, but it does make the graphic apps run slower, so unfortunately, disabling 3D isn't a solution for me. Also, 3D function worked fine on Fusion 5.

Anyone else noticed this problem? I already tried reinstalling VMware Tools, reinstalling graphic driver, and trying it on a new install of Windows 8.1 (my current VM is upgraded from 8). The results are still the same.

I'm running a mid-2010 Macbook Pro that has NVidia Geforce 330M

solgae

[Coach300]

There was an issue with kernel panics on these MacBook Pros (mid 2010, which I previously used) that occurred when there was a switching between the two graphics processors after Lion was released (Snow Leopard was the native OS to these machines). I had to get my motherboard replaced under Apple Care, which I did have (wouldn't apply now). But before I did that, I downloaded a utility that prevented the switching between the graphics processors.

Please read this post that I initiated in the summer of 2011: Mac OS X Lion - Black Screen of Death - Mac Book Pro and go to the last reply there.

There is a possibility that locking your Mac to use only one graphics processor might alleviate this symptom, and the utility (a very small one) might do the trick. For the issue originally posted, this utility prevented switching between these processors (which, at the time, caused the Mac black screen).

Do note that the 2010 MBP is quite an older machine; it ran, for me, Windows 7 although I ran into some issues that required a little tweaking after I upgraded to Mavericks and Fusion 6.

It also is possible to downgrade to Fusion 5 if desired.

[solgaeDK]

Thanks for your reply, but my problem is different from what you said (I know the problem you mentioned about, as I had that myself). The problem you mentioned resulted in a complete reboot, which is not the case here. The macbook will continue to run just fine, but the apps within the VM would either be very late on screen refresh, or produce some corrupted graphics. I did managed to get a screenshot, though, so here is one example:

As you can see, there is a corruption (tearing?) on the bottom right of the screenshot. Alternatively, I could also have black diagonal lines going across the screen (within the VM, not the entire laptop). This all happens in a couple seconds or so, but the corruption will stay until I move the mouse around. Then it repeats again.

This seem to happen more frequently with RDP client and Flash-based content, but in general, any apps that use hardware accelerated graphics will exhibit this problem.

I already tried adding mks.vsync = "1" to the vmx file, and that made no difference.

solgae

[solgaeDK]

So it turns out the graphic driver included in Fusion 6.0.2 is not yet fully stable in Windows 8.1 - at least on my Macbook Pro model. I tried creating some new VMs running Windows 7 and Windows 8, and none of them exhibit the corruption under 3D mode. But as soon as Windows 8.1 is used, upgrade or new install, the problem comes back.

Now I need to know if there is a way to fix this, or try rolling back to Windows 8 (unfortunately, there isn't an uninstall option to undo the 8.1 install).

[WDZaphod]

Hello,

I have the same problem running Solidworks in WinXP on a Macbook Air late 2011.

Fusion5 was absolutely fine, now in 6.0.2 I have this annoying flickering, text missing, thin lines are not shown.

HELP!

[ColoradoMarmot]

Did you upgrade the virtual hardware and VMWare tools after upgrading Fusion?

[billweber]

I am having similar problems where there are graphic distortions / artifacts left behind / refresh problems with my virtual machines.

Here is what I can tell you for certain.

My Physical Machine

Late 2013 MBP

2.6 GHz Intel Core i7

16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2048 MB

1Tb SSD

Two Choices of Physical Operating System

• Yosemite 10.10 DP 5
  VMware Fusion Professional Version 6.0.4 (1887983)
• Mavericks 10.9
  VMware Fusion Professional Version 6.0.4 (1887983)

Virtual Machine

• Windows 8.1 Professional x64
• 1 Processor Core
• 2048 Mb RAM
• Video with 3D Graphics On and Full Resolution Retina Display
• VMware Tools 9.6.2  (1688356)
• Happens in Full Screen and Window Mode

The Virtual Machine is stored on the Mavericks Partition and can be executed from either OS with different results.  (I choose the 'I moved it' option when switching between systems)

Under Yosemite, the graphics problems noted below are 100% present.  Under Mavericks, they never appear.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Have you tried the 2014 (aka Fusion 7) Technical Preview?

[billweber]

I would be happy to consider that.

I've noticed in the notes for the TP that it uses an updated virtual machine type, and presumably updated VMware tools in the VM.

Since my primary workflow is working with this machine under Mavericks, I would have two questions.

1) Will using the TP in an effort to resolve my problem require that I upgrade the VM type or VM Tools?

2) Would these potential upgrades degrade my ability to use the VM under Fusion 6.0.4 with Mavericks?  This is my primary workflow.

If Yes and Yes, I would need to create a test VM and stop use of Fusion under Yosemite under degraded performance.  That's a more significant problem than the potential benefit.

If Yes and No, I would be happy to test as is.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Possibly, and you can downgrade both the tools and the virtual hardware.  But I'd make a copy of the VM (with finder, not time machine of course) first, just in case.