Not to hijack this thread but I've had to turn my 15" 1.5GHz Alubook into the Apple store here in Hawaii to be serviced due to horizontal lines that would run up and down my screen until the screen would black out and the computer would be completely unusuable. I had purchased the powerbook back in August of 2004 and have had no problems whatsoever and have been more than satisfied with my purchase since I took it with me to Iraq since my unit had been activated shortly thereafter. It was only until August 05 I started having problems with my screen flickering horizontally then blacking out with the exception of a very thin faint blue line on the bottom portion of the screen. Since Apple doesn't have a store in Baghdad I unplugged my laptop and went through the process of resetting the pram and the power management unit but to no avail. The problem eventually went away after I left my powerbook alone for several days and I figured it must have been an overheating issue since it never our building and I always kept it plugged into a power source. It was only until this past December I started encountering the same problems with the LCD screen flickering and blacking out. Constant fiddling around with expose and the mouse cursor at times would bring the screen back, SOMETIMES. Oddly enough some days I'd power it up and the screen would be fine while other days I could not even get past the login screen since I could not see it. Since coming back home last week, the problem has been intermittent and I was forced to take it to the Apple store(thank god I paid for the Applecare when my 1 year was up) to have it looked at by a "genius". Not surprisingly the guy wasn't aware of any screen issues and much to my dismay, upon first powering it up the screen was fine. He said there wasn't much they can do if they cannot replicate the problem so he restarted and fortunately the screen started to flicker uncontrollably, thus providing the evidence. He being a self-proclaimed Captain Obvious, stated that it was a hardware problem and would be something that would require my powerbook to be shipped to California. He wasn't sure what exactly was the cause, possibly a logicboard issue stemming from the video card(ATI Radeon mobility 9700 w/128MB) that was producing the garbled video and/or no video at all. So...sad to say I've been without my powerbook for three days now and I've been slightly irritated that my repair status is still at "shipment pending to Apple repair center". The genius said it'll take roughly 7-10 days for me to get my powerbook back but I have to wonder if that was a generous estimate since it seems like it's still sitting in Hawaii. It's not that I need my powerbook for work but it irks me that I could have taken it to an Apple certified technician whom possibly could have done an on-site repair or I could have requested a work order straight from Apple and I could have shipped it off to California myself. Just a little rant although I have always been and will forever be an Apple user although I am wondering as to whether anyone else has had the same problem as I.
