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Horizontal Lines in New Powerbooks

maybe try reinstall OS X see if lines problem fixed.

Though I don't have those lines problem, something happened to my laptop today.

I use shift+ctrl+opt then switch off. And opt+apple swtiched on. I don't know what exactly it means, but apple support asked me to do this when I rang them for a display problem on an iBook at my work.

After I done this, my LCD looks dark yellow. (I was happy to be honest, coz i will have an excuse to replace my damn ****.) Besides the dark yellow, wallpapers looks like got small red dot everywhere on screen like a skin dicease.

I re-install the OSX, those problem gone. So maybe try install your OSX again to see if lines problem can be fixed. Even it can't, at least you can assure apple support that it is not a software problem.
 
xinxin said:
Though I don't have those lines problem, something happened to my laptop today.

I use shift+ctrl+opt then switch off. And opt+apple swtiched on. I don't know what exactly it means, but apple support asked me to do this when I rang them for a display problem on an iBook at my work.

After I done this, my LCD looks dark yellow. (I was happy to be honest, coz i will have an excuse to replace my damn ****.) Besides the dark yellow, wallpapers looks like got small red dot everywhere on screen like a skin dicease.

I re-install the OSX, those problem gone. So maybe try install your OSX again to see if lines problem can be fixed. Even it can't, at least you can assure apple support that it is not a software problem.
Click to expand...
A lot of people have reinstalled OS X, zapped the VRAM, installed Linux etc so far, but no luck.
 
Re

Wombert said:
A lot of people have reinstalled OS X, zapped the VRAM, installed Linux etc so far, but no luck.
Click to expand...

In that case I would say good luck then. I think apple should buy a computer product line in China over. Own a product line. I am sure by doing that way, hardware quality issue will be permanently solved.

The subcontract manufacturer, they also subcontract technical support. They are not down to the ground now.
 
Just booted mine up, has the lines =(

Man this sucks, don't know what I'm going to do, even sitting back normally, it's easy enough to see the lines, but I have pretty good eye site.

Don't want to part with it so quickly, but I might have to =(

Such a nice laptop too, everything else is just perfect, apart from the screen.

**Edit**

Anyone who still has a defective screen, can you please take a picture of it, but have it side by side with another Powerbook, whether it's the current 17" or Previous version.

Anything to show a comparison to show that this is indeed a defect.
 
xinxin said:
In that case I would say good luck then. I think apple should buy a computer product line in China over. Own a product line. I am sure by doing that way, hardware quality issue will be permanently solved.

The subcontract manufacturer, they also subcontract technical support. They are not down to the ground now.
Click to expand...

I doubt they can, all business ventures in China has to be majority Chinese owned from what I heard.. not sure if there is any basis to it, but it seems to make sense.
 
I have the lines, but I just can not get a photo of them, I've tried several cameras, all with no luck.

Even had a good DigialSLR and was adjusting exposures etc, still nothing.

It's pretty easy to see on the screen.

I was thinking before, if you feel the LCD screen, you'll notice that it's a little rougher than the previous models. Or at least every so slightly.
Was wondering if it could be some type of Anti-Glare type coat that could be throwing the LCD out a bit.

My Refresh rate was also 60Hz, so no problems there either.

Can someone who has managed to get a 'good' shot of the lines, also take a photo of another one of the Powerbooks, or iBooks, whether it's in the new lineup, or previous 15" model etc.

That way we can show Apple that the quality of screens is very different compared to previous models, just to backup the claims a bit more.
 
saw a few of the 15"ers next to the other models in the apple store in Pentagon City, VA, today. It's very easy to see the lines on the 15" models while the others are all perfect.

It's time for apple to do something about the powerbook line. The 12" is woefully underpowered, the 15" has a near-universal and fairly obvious display defect, and the 17" is too big for most people. This is really ridiculous.
 
Just sell it if you are not happy with it, with the iBooks coming soon they are so going to blow these POS computers out of the water.
 
New ibook?

generik said:
Just sell it if you are not happy with it, with the iBooks coming soon they are so going to blow these POS computers out of the water.
Click to expand...

How do you know there is no new annoying thing in ibook?

The 3 year old ibook from my work looks even brighter than my 5 month powerbook. I 'd prefer apple replace a 3 year old lcd for me instead of those with lines.



;)
 
xinxin said:
How do you know there is no new annoying thing in ibook?

The 3 year old ibook from my work looks even brighter than my 5 month powerbook. I 'd prefer apple replace a 3 year old lcd for me instead of those with lines.



;)
Click to expand...


There is no way on earth that your 3-year old powerbook is brighter than your 5-month old powerbook G4 15". Sorry, I've seen them all and the previous generation of powerbooks had the best displays in any Apple laptop ever. doesn't mean that there weren't better ones out there in the PC world, but among Apple laptops they were the best.

If you insist that the ibook's screen is better, I think something is wrong with your powerbook's display. Maybe you should contact Apple for repair/replacement?
 
fklehman said:
If those solutions didn't work, reset your PMU, which resests both PRAM and NV-RAM. I had the problem you describe with lost Airport connections and CPU hogging (I have 2GB RAM), and resetting the PMU solved it for me.
Click to expand...

I reset PRAM, NVRAM and PMU, reformated the harddrive and reinstalled the system. No luck. That's why the machine is on its way back to Apple now.

Still, it's nice to see that other persons have the same problem and that they can fix it. That gives me some hope for Apple's quality control. I had just about lost it all.
 
mlewan said:
I reset PRAM, NVRAM and PMU, reformated the harddrive and reinstalled the system. No luck. That's why the machine is on its way back to Apple now.

Still, it's nice to see that other persons have the same problem and that they can fix it. That gives me some hope for Apple's quality control. I had just about lost it all.
Click to expand...

I actually just got the new one. The kernel_task went up to 60% in less than an hour and I had to restart. And the power cable broke after about 50 minutes, so I can no more charge the PowerBook.

Personal history for anyone interested in little me:

Beginning of November - got 15" PB "A".
* "A"'s screen didn't work at all.

Mid November - got "A" back from local Apple center.
* The b-key of "A" was stuck.
* The kernel-task of "A" went up to 60% and I lost the internet connection on repeated occasions already during the first two days of usage.

Sent "A" back for exchange.

Beginning December (two hours ago) - got new 15" PB "B".
* The kernel task of "B" went up to 60% and I lost the internet connection.
* The electric cable broke.


I know 2 machines are not a statistically significant sample, but my current feeling is that these are machines one should stay away from as much as possible.
 
There was a Software Update fix avaliable for the Kernel Task issue you are having - issue starts when Airport is enabled on a machine with upwards of 1gb of ram, if I'm not mistaken.
 
Does anyone know if anywhere else has acknowledged theres a problem?

Otherwise, can someone that does have the problem take a photo of it with a different model beside the machine, that way, your actually comparing it and showing Apple the quality between them.
 
mlewan said:
I actually just got the new one. The kernel_task went up to 60% in less than an hour and I had to restart. And the power cable broke after about 50 minutes, so I can no more charge the PowerBook.

Personal history for anyone interested in little me:

Beginning of November - got 15" PB "A".
* "A"'s screen didn't work at all.

Mid November - got "A" back from local Apple center.
* The b-key of "A" was stuck.
* The kernel-task of "A" went up to 60% and I lost the internet connection on repeated occasions already during the first two days of usage.

Sent "A" back for exchange.

Beginning December (two hours ago) - got new 15" PB "B".
* The kernel task of "B" went up to 60% and I lost the internet connection.
* The electric cable broke.


I know 2 machines are not a statistically significant sample, but my current feeling is that these are machines one should stay away from as much as possible.
Click to expand...


Add my defective (and returned) two powerbooks to the statistics too... : (
 
return rate

Is this level of returns normal for a laptop? For Apple?

Do we just have a skewed data set?

How was the last revision of the PB - return rate wise? Were there consistent and repeat failures?

This is my first purchase, so I've been following the issue far more avidly than anything before.
 
Spectrum said:
Is this level of returns normal for a laptop? For Apple?

Do we just have a skewed data set?

How was the last revision of the PB - return rate wise? Were there consistent and repeat failures?

This is my first purchase, so I've been following the issue far more avidly than anything before.
Click to expand...

It's impossible to tell as we have no access to the real data about how many laptops are being returned now or have been in the past. We can guess. Perhaps surprisingly, my guess would be that there aren't that many more being returned than previous revisions.

Most people I've talked to in the past have no idea what quality their screens are. In general, people don't care what resolution their screen is, if they have dark or bright patches, if they get light bleeding or if they have a ton of dead pixels.

The average person won't notice this line problem or if they do they'll just think it's normal.
 
I'd expect that there have been rather a lot of returns on the display, and also due to the battery. The display is clearly a problem and while most people who only use text on a white background aren't going to notice much more than slightly fuzzy text (offset by an overall brighter display), anyone who tries to do graphics on this is going to get a headache.

But it would not surprise me to see even more returns due to the battery, simply because it is a new design that requires a rather odd break-in and would easily trip people up who don't closely follow instructions.

I certainly can't remember a furore like this on the forums since the white spot display spacer problem back in 2003.

And yet I think the motherboard design is probably more reliable -- it should generate less heat given the more sophisticated power management and lower voltage components, and maybe the switch to DDR-2 means an end to the relatively infrequent but persistent trouble with the lower RAM slot.
 
maverick808 said:
It's impossible to tell as we have no access to the real data about how many laptops are being returned now or have been in the past. We can guess. Perhaps surprisingly, my guess would be that there aren't that many more being returned than previous revisions.
Click to expand...

You may be right that not many more are being returned, but it seems, by all accounts, that the problem is far more widespread than almost anything we've seen in the past.
 
Apple should say something

My opinion, someone from apple management should speak something to public now, regarding to quality as a whole; instead of today battery, tomorrow display, next day logical board, then dent or warp, then keyboard then nano screen then hard disk.........



BTW, is this forum pink? Coz it looks like in my powerbook. :confused:
 
xinxin said:
My opinion, someone from apple management should speak something to public now, regarding to quality as a whole; instead of today battery, tomorrow display, next day logical board, then dent or warp, then keyboard then nano screen then hard disk.........



BTW, is this forum pink? Coz it looks like in my powerbook. :confused:
Click to expand...

Nope it is white. Congrats, you got a dud screen
 
dblissmn said:
But it would not surprise me to see even more returns due to the battery, simply because it is a new design that requires a rather odd break-in and would easily trip people up who don't closely follow instructions.
Click to expand...


When I got my second powerbook (replacement), I used it until the battery was completely depleted and then I followed Apple's exact calibration instructions, after which the battery no longer worked at all. Or, rather, it held a few minutes charge while the powerbook told me that it had 50 hours remaining. In any case, I followed the instruction and it somehow messed up the battery.
 
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