Parallels graphic distortion

[bigddybn]

Running latest Sierra. Everything works 100% perfectly except occasionally I'll get sudden and heavy graphics distortion when running parallels. The screen will suddenly badly tear making it completely unreadable. When this happens the entire system slows to a crawl until I can kill parallels. Relaunching parallels only causes the distortion to return. Restarting the machine fixes it but the problem always eventually returns within a day or two. I've tried multiple parallels version, VT-d on/off, varied graphics memory to VM, varied 3d acceleration mode. Running in coherence mode does seem to fix it but I need the conventional windows desktop and I have a feeling I just haven't tried it long enough to fail.

I had the exact same problem using an AsRock motherboard with a different build. The only thing common between them was the GPU. The same GPU runs flawlessly at all other times and for weeks at a time under windows. Need 3 monitor capability and it works natively. Buying a different card is not out of the question though if someone has experience this. Other than the problem with parallels the system is 100% perfect and rock solid.

Gigabyte z170-HD3
i7-6700k
32GB DDR4
Crucial SSD
GT 710 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AZ8EQBK/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Should have also mentioned the web driver is installed. Tried both it and the OS X driver. Same behavior.

 

[VioletDragon]

Running latest Sierra. Everything works 100% perfectly except occasionally I'll get sudden and heavy graphics distortion when running parallels. The screen will suddenly badly tear making it completely unreadable. When this happens the entire system slows to a crawl until I can kill parallels. Relaunching parallels only causes the distortion to return. Restarting the machine fixes it but the problem always eventually returns within a day or two. I've tried multiple parallels version, VT-d on/off, varied graphics memory to VM, varied 3d acceleration mode. Running in coherence mode does seem to fix it but I need the conventional windows desktop and I have a feeling I just haven't tried it long enough to fail.

I had the exact same problem using an AsRock motherboard with a different build. The only thing common between them was the GPU. The same GPU runs flawlessly at all other times and for weeks at a time under windows. Need 3 monitor capability and it works natively. Buying a different card is not out of the question though if someone has experience this. Other than the problem with parallels the system is 100% perfect and rock solid.

Gigabyte z170-HD3
i7-6700k
32GB DDR4
Crucial SSD
GT 710 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AZ8EQBK/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Should have also mentioned the web driver is installed. Tried both it and the OS X driver. Same behavior.

Is the Graphics Distortion happening inside Parallels or in macOS Desktop? Does this happen on anything else Safari etc?

 

[bigddybn]

Purely in parallels and it's the entire parallels space. Looks like old school scrambled analog cable.

Zero graphic glitches on the mac side.

 

[VioletDragon]

Purely in parallels and it's the entire parallels space. Looks like old school scrambled analog cable.

Zero graphic glitches on the mac side.

Sounds like Graphics is not working.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Well your system hardware looks perfectly able to run Parallels.

Two things then:

1) As you have the GT 710 do you use InjectNvidia in your config.plist? Most cards using the Nvidia Web-drivers need this setting left unticked. However for cards that don't need the web drivers you might need to tick that box. My own experience comes from the GT730's I once had and not the 710 though.

2) Re-install the Parallels Tools. Go to the Parallels "Actions" menu and choose "Reinstall Parallels Tools" (funnily enough!) and see if that improves things. Also check your Graphics settings in Parallels. 3D acceleration On under Advanced, and ticked Vertical Synchronisation.

Report back etc.

 

[bigddybn]

Parallels tools is current and I'm not injecting. Zero graphics problems on the Mac side. Just parallels. Seems to disappear when I turn off 3D acceleration but then my CPU usage spikes. Any chance the 1GB VRAM of this card is a limiting factor? My VM is used primarily for surveillance activities. Not uncommon to have 16 1080p H264 streams up and running. VRAM shows almost constant 100% usage in the Xcode tool. Running 3 monitors total and the other two stay busy as well.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Parallels tools is current and I'm not injecting. Zero graphics problems on the Mac side. Just parallels. Seems to disappear when I turn off 3D acceleration but then my CPU usage spikes. Any chance the 1GB VRAM of this card is a limiting factor? My VM is used primarily for surveillance activities. Not uncommon to have 16 1080p H264 streams up and running. VRAM shows almost constant 100% usage in the Xcode tool. Running 3 monitors total and the other two stay busy as well.

I think your best option would be to borrow (if you can) a more capable GPU and see if that improves things.

Everything video-wise in Parallel goes through their own emulated video BIOS and the extra layer might be "the straw that broke the camel's back" with such a modest GPU.

 

[bigddybn]

Brought in a 6GB GTX 1060 today. Same thing. I did have the OpenGL monitor running while it happened and captured a pretty large spike in VRAM usage.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Brought in a 6GB GTX 1060 today. Same thing. I did have the OpenGL monitor running while it happened and captured a pretty large spike in VRAM usage.

View attachment 273636

Hmmm.. I'm losing my way here. A report on OpenGL in macOS isn't necessarily indicative of the Parallels-only problem. My thinking is simply that your new hardware is more than capable of running Parallels well. My own, less powerful set-up runs it flawlessly. So I come back to a setting somewhere causing grief.

Is VT-d disabled in BIOS? I know general consensus here is to disable it because macOS didn't run with it enabled, however I have it enabled, no problem and Parallels doesn't complain as it did when disabled. No loss trying.

Also check the Parallels settings to see how much real memory the virtual adaptor is being given. Up the value.

Check directx is installed correctly in the VM.