Apple Internal Support Acknowledges MacBook Air Display Issues, Software Update Comin

[aristobrat]

Apple QC is proving more and more dog **** with every new hardware release.

I don't agree about the "with every new release" part.

Were you around for the first generation MacBook/MacBook Pros back in 2006? There were soooo many QC issues with those products -- experienced so frequently by owners -- (whining, excessive heat, discoloration, bulging batteries, "random shutdown syndrome", failing logic boards) that Arstechnia wrote a good summary "Quality control problems or growing pains at Apple?" article.

In it, the acknowledge that they had written a similar article about Apple's QC back in 2003.

Anyhow, if Apple's QC was truly getting worse after every release, nothing made now -- four years after the first generation MB/MBPs QC fiasco -- would even boot. Nothing.

IMO, Apple's QC is inconsistent. Sometimes a product is spot-on, with no mass issues. And then they do some things that make you shake your head.

But seriously, it's been awhile since their QC dept has bunged something up as good as the first MB/MBPs. If anything, quality's been going up since then, and this MacBook Air video is ... well, boring.

 

[pr5owner]

here we go again........ software patches trying to fix hardware issues...

remember all that fuss about antenna gate and a software update fixing that issue?

some people are beyond gullible.

 

[ImperialX]

here we go again........ software patches trying to fix hardware issues...

remember all that fuss about antenna gate and a software update fixing that issue?

some people are beyond gullible.

Read:

Or, since we have discovered that the current MBA ships with a few different displays, this could be a software compatibility issue with one of these displays.

Those without the affected display are not having the issue, as is my case.

As an added note, I do not have this problem either.

 

[Adidas Addict]

No issues at all with my new 13" MBA, but glad they are 'on it' for the people that do have a problem.

 

[wirelessmacuser]

I've still yet to see this issue.

Typical response. And the point is?

 

[imeow]

Or, since we have discovered that the current MBA ships with a few different displays, this could be a software compatibility issue with one of these displays.

Those without the affected display are not having the issue, as is my case.

I thought that displays themselves did not require software/drivers, and that the everything was controlled by the GPU, in this case the NVIDIA GeForce 320M (which does need software/drivers). I never had to install software when replacing the display on my old white MacBook, and it was from a different panel manufacturer. Just doing a quick search brings up lots of tech talk on this subject, here is one example:

"I've never run into a case where a display device, a monitor, required any additional software to be used. I'd just plug it in and use it. When it comes to displays, the devices that often do require additional software and drivers are the video cards that the monitor might be attached to. But rarely does the monitor itself even have software of its own, much less require it."

Source: Ask-Leo

So wouldn't this mean it's a faulty batch of GPU's or Logic boards? surely a software patch wouldn't be able to fix a hardware fault, would it ?

 

[aristobrat]

surely a software patch wouldn't be able to fix a hardware fault, would it ?

Updated firmware and drivers (both software) can avoid creating the condition that triggers the fault/condition/whatever, and/or can detect when the fault/condition/whatever has occurred and reset it automatically.

Typical response. And the point is?

The same point as the "I have this problem too!" posts, I'd imagine. Regardless, it gives people reading through this thread another data point to see exactly how this problem is manifesting.

 

[imeow]

Updated firmware and drivers (both software) can avoid creating the condition that triggers the fault

But if this fault can be fixed by a software patch "the condition that triggers the fault" and the fault itself would be present on all MacBook Air's because we are all running the same software.

The only exception would be if the fault was being caused by third party software, but this is not the case; users are experiencing the fault on clean installs, both with and without software updates:

"I installed the update and it happened afterwards. I was also not using an external display with it. I did a clean install as well, twice actually. Still kept happening."

Also, people who have returned the MacBook Air for an exchange have found the replacement unit to be without fault.

 

[KnightWRX]

Source: Ask-Leo

I think your Leo guy is a bit of an incompetent.

Displays do indeed have firmwares, and even drivers. They have geometry and frequency configurations that need to be right. Anyone who's ever had to configure XFree86 back in the days knows how much problems switching out a monitor can cause.

So this can very much be a firmware problem or even some adjustements required to the display configuration for a particular model, and not some widespread GPU fault.

It can also be a bad batch of GPUs as we Air owners have noted, very few people actually reported having this issue and most have been able to get replacement units out of Apple.

 

[imeow]

Displays do indeed have firmwares, and even drivers. They have geometry and frequency configurations that need to be right. Anyone who's ever had to configure XFree86 back in the days knows how much problems switching out a monitor can cause.

Interesting, I never knew that.

It can also be a bad batch of GPUs as we Air owners have noted, very few people actually reported having this issue and most have been able to get replacement units out of Apple.

"Very few people" is why I'm still going ahead with my purchase.

 

[tommasomac]

Just called Apple Care;
accorded for a replacement..

 

[Mal]

It can also be a bad batch of GPUs as we Air owners have noted, very few people actually reported having this issue and most have been able to get replacement units out of Apple.

Just thought I'd note on this, I don't think we've heard of anyone that hasn't been able to get a replacement unit who was affected by this, though it seems some of them haven't tried possibly.

jW

 

[KnightWRX]

Just thought I'd note on this, I don't think we've heard of anyone that hasn't been able to get a replacement unit who was affected by this, though it seems some of them haven't tried possibly.

jW

Indeed, I just didn't want to say everyone had managed to get theirs replaced, "just in case", but like you of all the threads I have seen (and there weren't a lot) on the MacBook Air forums, all the posters have managed to get an exchange.

 

[pubb]

Its hard to defend this, especially for a computer that is under warranty, when they don't release this information for pre-sales inquiries. Its one thing to tell a customer BEFORE they buy that their computer may have a few stuck pixels; its another thing entirely for them to tell you that after you buy. And if my replacement item had bad pixels, then I would be getting that repaired or replaced as well. And if they didn't respond, I would take every legal remedy available to me.

Pubb

Indeed, I just didn't want to say everyone had managed to get theirs replaced, "just in case", but like you of all the threads I have seen (and there weren't a lot) on the MacBook Air forums, all the posters have managed to get an exchange.