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macbook unibody screen is terrible

S

shloosh33

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 15, 2009
18
0
im talking about the late 08 macbook unibody (not pro).
2.4\4gb\9400\ocz ssd\ snow leopard

I can barley use my macbook for more then 15 minutes without getting eyetrain.
The screen looks too bright even if i put brightnes to 50%.
The white and the grey colors looks flickering, and if you look at the dock
icons they look like at low refresh rate, ( hz).
i know that the lcd should work around 60hz but looks more like 30hz.
On the first 2-3 min everthing looks fine but after awhile you think that every pixel on the screen is moving and jumping.
i calibrated the display using spyder 2, and also tried switchresx software,rest smc pram and vram, but didnt work.
my screen model is 9CA6 (samsung)

i think the problem is with the 9400m and not the led lcd because
i can see(not that worse) the problem on my samsung t220 and MAG bf22 lcd's.
apple already replaced 2 logic boards and now i got a whole new macbook from them but the problem is stiil there.

is there anything to do? i spend 1400$ on this machine and its driving me crazy.

:mad::(:mad::(
 
I recalibrate my screen and after updating to SL I love it. The recalibrating before SL was also a big help.
 
i calibrated it in SN but id didnt work.
the colors on the screen are great, the problem is with the flicker.
it looks like the backlight is "unstable" and goes brighter and darker
every milisecond.
 
shloosh33 said:
i calibrated it in SN but id didnt work.
the colors on the screen are great, the problem is with the flicker.
it looks like the backlight is "unstable" and goes brighter and darker
every milisecond.
Click to expand...

Thats the auto brightness, turn it off and you should be fine.
System Preferences > Display > uncheck the "Automatically adjust brightness as ambient light changes"
 
Primejimbo said:
Thats the auto brightness, turn it off and you should be fine.
System Preferences > Display > uncheck the "Automatically adjust brightness as ambient light changes"
Click to expand...

Haha, auto-backlight shouldn't flickr. Something is wrong and you should take it in to the Apple store.
 
the first thing i did is to change the auto brightness. dah :rolleyes:

anyway i tried to reset the smc and pram like 99 times,and it doesnt help.
im quit sure something is wrong with those 9400m's.

apple replace 2 logic boards and it didnt help, and now they gave me
a new macbook straight out the box- and same problem.

i compared the quality to an ubuntu based pc.
i took the same picture file,and watched it on my t220 screen for few min from
the macbook and later from the pc.
the pc video signal was much softer and nice to watch, compared to the macbook which
made my eyes struggle and blink more often.

*sorry for the bad english
 
I did pram vram reset,and the problem went away but after 1-2 days
it comes back...

this is very weird i dont know what to do....:confused:
 
If your screen flickers and has those issues, take it to the apple store. I did, they replaced my entire lid/lcd/inverter assembly. The looked at it for 45 secs and took it away.
 
i have the same macbook and have no problems.. take it to the genius people and they will fix/replace it for yah
 
same here

I am having the same problem. Same exact macbook down to the date. I hate having to take it in everytime because I have to remove the 4gb ram and the 500gb scorpio blue HD. Does anyone ever leave the self upgrades in?
Also what are the chances of them trading me in to the newer 13" macbook Pro? Obviously there were a ridiculously large amount of problems with the Unibody MBs.
 
I have had my late '08 unibody macbook and haven't had any problems with the screen or hardware. Either take it into the apple store to figure out something is wrong or sell it on ebay if it is bothering you that much. It sounds like this might just be a personal preference problem. :eek: Good luck to you!
 
yes i too came to the same conclusion to either sell it out or get a new one. because i have tried many ways to fiix it, but nothing can fix it. i dropped the idea of sending it to the company to fix it.
 
rebeccamartin said:
yes i too came to the same conclusion to either sell it out or get a new one. because i have tried many ways to fiix it, but nothing can fix it. i dropped the idea of sending it to the company to fix it.
Click to expand...

My 15" MBP is flickering in a manner described above but not so badly as is described. It's also not constant but rather random but frequent...maybe avg of 15 times a min or so. It's like the backlight is flickering a half brightness level and back rapidly 2 or 3 times in a row. Not noticeable on some pages or watching movies but on white pages it is obvious to me. Happens on mains and battery. It would not be something I could record on video really.

Hearing how many people had a similar problem and got it back from service with new logic boards, displays etc and still issues makes me not send it in. Things like the service center claiming not to "see the problem" and sending it back without doing anything seem to be common. That and I am in a country with pitiful service standards and no "Apple" just importers and resellers. I am positive they will screw it up more here because it has happened to everything I have ever had serviced here.

I am inclined as well to think it is a 9400 QC issue based on all the similar problems in the past. Esp people with dual GPUs who can stop various flashing/flickering issues by changing to 9600.
 
scubasteve03 said:
I am having the same problem. Same exact macbook down to the date. I hate having to take it in everytime because I have to remove the 4gb ram and the 500gb scorpio blue HD. Does anyone ever leave the self upgrades in?
Also what are the chances of them trading me in to the newer 13" macbook Pro? Obviously there were a ridiculously large amount of problems with the Unibody MBs.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't leave upgrades in if I was mailing it in because if they did decide to replace it you'd have to go through the hassle of getting them back somehow.

If mine worked as it should I would LOVE this thing. I love the OS and how it is supposed to work hardware wise...but the flickering is maddening and seeing how common it is has made me lose a lot of faith in Apple's hardware quality.
 
harperjones99 said:
My 15" MBP is flickering in a manner described above but not so badly as is described. It's also not constant but rather random but frequent...maybe avg of 15 times a min or so. It's like the backlight is flickering a half brightness level and back rapidly 2 or 3 times in a row. Not noticeable on some pages or watching movies but on white pages it is obvious to me. Happens on mains and battery. It would not be something I could record on video really.

Hearing how many people had a similar problem and got it back from service with new logic boards, displays etc and still issues makes me not send it in. Things like the service center claiming not to "see the problem" and sending it back without doing anything seem to be common. That and I am in a country with pitiful service standards and no "Apple" just importers and resellers. I am positive they will screw it up more here because it has happened to everything I have ever had serviced here.

I am inclined as well to think it is a 9400 QC issue based on all the similar problems in the past. Esp people with dual GPUs who can stop various flashing/flickering issues by changing to 9600.
Click to expand...

yes i too was worried that sending it back to the service station may make the matter worse or that problem will get solved at the cost another problem. i too was having random flicker not at regular intervals, one day i will not have that problem another day it will be frequent. lost the hope at the end.
 
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