Unibody Macbook Pro Screen flicker/flash.

[jbussiere]

Hey everyone,

I finally got a video of what my screen does. It like flashes/flickers every so often and has been getting worse I think. In the 1:15 minute video, it does it at least 6-7 times. It's very annoying when your actually really trying to focus on something, or read something on the screen and it keeps doing it. Sometimes the screen flashes alot worse the whats on this video, also at the end, I think the camera flashed, it's not a random screen power surge or something lol. Let me know what you guys think I should do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJMuYneBLLE&feature=channel_page

 

[n8236]

It's your power inverter. Get it replaced. Warranty. it happened to my old mbp and the genius didn't even try to duplicate the problem.

 

[akbc]

Yup, inverter problem.
I had the same problem, and I took it to the nearest Service provider, and they were bout to take it back without a question.. then *boom* inverter goes dead in front of the technician and I... and my screen was completely dead.

Anyways, they'll be covered under warranty without a question

 

[jbussiere]

What if I didn't buy it from the Apple store or Apple.com....will they still do that for me? I bought it at a military store, no tax and got 10% off.

 

[jbussiere]

Called Apple.

So, I called Apple today. They said it was a loose wire? I am currently in Lynchburg Virginia, going to college. So, the closest Apple store is around 2 1/2 hours away in Richmond. But, there is an "Authorized Technician" about a mile away from me. Are these techs as good as the Apple store? He said, it would be free under Apple care at these authorized places. What do you guys think I should do.

 

[EvryDayImShufln]

Get the authorized dealer to repair it. 2 x 2:30 hour trips isn't worth your time.

 

[Stang68]

Mine is doing this, too. If I bring it to the Apple Store they fix it in-store? Or do they have to ship it away or give me a new one?

 

[jjahshik32]

It's your power inverter. Get it replaced. Warranty. it happened to my old mbp and the genius didn't even try to duplicate the problem.

The led backlighting doesnt have an inverter like the ccfl backlight does (this is one of the advantages of led technology).

 

[jbussiere]

So....

So, anyone have an idea what it is? If it's not a power inverter, I'm sure someone else has had this problem, and got it resolved....any input?

 

[isaki87]

So, anyone have an idea what it is? If it's not a power inverter, I'm sure someone else has had this problem, and got it resolved....any input?

Did you by any chance take your MPB to a repair center? If so, what happened?

 

[EvryDayImShufln]

Try switching to the 9600. If the problem is resolved, you have the same issue I had. It only occurred on the 9400. Anyway, they replaced the screen but the problem remained, so they gave me a new laptop.

 

[isaki87]

Try switching to the 9600. If the problem is resolved, you have the same issue I had. It only occurred on the 9400. Anyway, they replaced the screen but the problem remained, so they gave me a new laptop.

Was this within 14 days of purchase or after?

 

[jbussiere]

Mine has been doing it since day one. It goes in and out though of it's flashing severity. Sometimes, it's unbearable and other times I totally forget it even does it.

 

[magbarn]

my 10/08 unibody 2.53 MBP started doing this about a week old. My solution was to crank up the brightness. 3 weeks ago the screen just went completely dead. Took it to genius, but since it was over 30 days old he couldn't exchange for another mbp at the store. Shipped to apple, they fixed it by changing out the logic board. Now I can set the screen brightness at all the different levels without any flicker. To those who are putting up with the flicker, please have apple fix it so they'll really know the the true frequency of this annoying problem in a >$2000 computer.

 

[THX1139]

So, anyone have an idea what it is? If it's not a power inverter, I'm sure someone else has had this problem, and got it resolved....any input?

Why does it matter? It's clearly broken, so since it's under warranty, why don't you just take it in and get it fixed? Seems like a no-brainer to me.

 

[THX1139]

my 10/08 unibody 2.53 MBP started doing this about a week old. My solution was to crank up the brightness. 3 weeks ago the screen just went completely dead. Took it to genius, but since it was over 30 days old he couldn't exchange for another mbp at the store. Shipped to apple, they fixed it by changing out the logic board. Now I can set the screen brightness at all the different levels without any flicker. To those who are putting up with the flicker, please have apple fix it so they'll really know the the true frequency of this annoying problem in a >$2000 computer.

So, you were under the 14 day return window and chose to ignore the screen problem by turning up the brightness? Wow.

 

[jbussiere]

It is a simple solution to take it to the Apple store, except I'm at school. I need my laptop everyday, and the closest Apple store is 2.5 hours away...so it's not that simple really. There is an Authorized Techinician around here called Trax Tech Services....but I'm a little weary. Should I take it to this guy?

 

[magbarn]

I would just use the laptop for now until you have spring break or something as others around the net who've had this issue has needed a logic board swap. I would only trust apple with this.

 

[cRuNcHiE]

Mine has just started doing exactly this as well
I am also getting screen corruption when i for example, scroll down the posts in this thread. I'm using the High performance mode

Have you noticed any other symptoms? I seem to get the occasional slowdown when doing things like loading safari and typing in the address bar, it seems to freeze then slowly catches up what i have typed. My old MBP never used to do that and was very responsive.

When i plug in my 24" monitor the whole thing seems to crawl as well

 

[Stang68]

I brought my MBP to the Apple Store yesterday and of course the problem did not happen. The screen didnt flicker and Youtube videos played fine. Sooo...the Genius offered to keep it overnight and run a diagnostic but I was leaving for school in 2 hours. So, I am going back home for a Metallica concert next weekend, I am going to bring it in if it starts up again this week. Right now it seems to be fine. Ughhhhhh

 

[Gamoe]

I just started experiencing something similar on my Unibody MacBook Pro. It started shortly after I switched from the dedicated Nvidia 9600M GT graphics to the integrated graphics in the Energy Saver Preference pane.

At first I thought it was the backlighting, because the screen would flash very briefly (faster than it appears on jbussiere's video, but that may also be due to the differences in his camera's framerate capture), but now I notice some horizontal video lines being distorted very briefly. Again, this is all very fast, but noticeable.

I don't know if I should take it in just for this. I may wait a few more weeks to see what happens. As it is, the issue may not be evident if I take it into the Apple store, and I've still got many months of warranty left to decide to take it in.

 

[EvryDayImShufln]

Was this within 14 days of purchase or after?

It was within the first 14 days. Either way, it doesn't change much: they probably would have attempted to repair it again rather than giving me a new one. I think they gave me a new one since they called me in saying it was fixed and it really wasn't. They couldn't just send me home lol.

 

[Stang68]

So after installing the Nvidia update on my MBP I am not really getting the flickering issue anymore. I am really torn now if I want to bring my Mac into the Apple Store for a diagnostic...

 

[PatchMac]

You should bring it in to be sure. I was having a few issues that I believe stemmed from a time my CPU overheated.

I'm on a Unibody MBP, 15" 2.8Ghz 4GB RAM, and my CPU hit 109 degrees celsius. Since then I've been getting kernel panics and outright system freezes. I've also seen some of that double linage like the picture above shows.

Also when I scroll up and down webpages sometimes I see a flickering in only a portion of my screen, in the *'s part of my monitor.
|--------------------|
|--------------------|
|--------------------|
|---------------****|
|--------*********|
|***************|

I took it into an authorized apple repair place on my campus and they booted OSX from an external hard drive to bypass my software, and they experienced all the same issues. They also ran the external through a Macbook and found that it performed better than my MBP, so they know there's an issue and I'm waiting for my second replacement Logic Board right now. The first one they sent in didn't work out (First line of alpha keys didn't work).

If a store is "Authorized Apple..." they are usually reliable.

 

[CBlakeston]

Me Too

Since the January Nvidia Graphics update (that was quickly pulled by Apple) I too am noticing a black flash once or twice a day. I mostly use the 9400 and haven't tried switching to the 9600 to see if it goes away but I will over the weekend out of curiosity.

Since it didn't happen before the Nvidia GFX update I'm hoping a future update will fix it?