There is a problem with my mbp 17" display. It's an A1261 model with a 1680x1050 Samsung LCD panel.
(i) there are extremely fine white vertical lines running the entire height of the screen
(ii) any dark colours are rendering toward purple and blue and are often shimmering.
Using for email is bearable but images and especially video are unviewable - video has a shimmering color effect on darker parts of the image.
When starting the machine, the apple logo is clearly affected by the fine vertical line syndrome. External displays are not affected, only the MBP display.
There history of this problem are as follows.
1. I had a logic board failure and had to replace it.
2. The screen was fine for a matter of hours then the problem started.
3. It began as a distorted band of pink and purple in anything dark. See image 'At first' attached.
4. In the first few days it would resolve once the computer had been on some time. At the beginning it took an hour or so, then later it took most of the day. Now it's a permanent problem.
5. The dock is badly affected due to all the colors in the icons. I did a manual display calibration in expert mode. There are 5 steps to determine the display's native luminance response curves. The 4th and 5th cannot be effectively adjusted due to this problem. The calibration is somewhat able to partially mask the problem but certainly not fix it. See more images attached. You can see a blue line artifact at the bottom of the title bar and as a shadow under the window itself. The fine white lines are also there but hard to see.
Attempts to resolve.
At first I thought it might be the new logic board. I took to an authorized Mac service centre and they ran some diagnostics and concluded it was not the new board. I also ran diagnostics from the mac install disk which found no problems. It looked like the problem must be in the display. The service centre could not diagnose further than the display itself and suggested replacing the entire display assembly. Unfortunately this is outside my budget and Apple seem not to offer display components.
Through a non-authorized repair shop, I swapped the LCD panel itself. The issue persisted, eliminating LCD panel. I tested the machine with an entire display assembly from another 17" MBP. This unit contained an LG panel from a slightly different MBP model. The problem had gone. I concluded my LVDS cable must have been damaged when changing the logic board, so ordered a guaranteed replacement used part. I made that replacement but ...the issue persisted, which suggests its not the LVDS cable (or that the new cable is also damaged but there is no apparent damage on either the new or old LVDS cable). The only other relevant component I am aware of in the display assembly would be the inverter board but I can see nothing online so far to suggest these issues may be symptomatic of an inverter board problem.
I have heard that tape on the LVDS cable may be an cause problems. I ran the machine with the keyboard removed and removed all yellow tape from the logic board. The issue persisted.
I tried the other display assembly again. This time something interesting happened. The issue was there for about a minute, but then the problem disappeared! I'm sure this means something but no idea what.
I am at a loss as to what the problem is. Aside from a possible inverter board issue, The only other thought is that it might be a compatibility issue between the new logic board and two of the three LCD panels I have tried in this whole process (i.e. the 2 samsung ones but not the LG one) ...suggesting the Logic board the Apple Authorized Service Centre sold me is not compatible with my display??
Any insight into the problem would be appreciated.
(i) there are extremely fine white vertical lines running the entire height of the screen
(ii) any dark colours are rendering toward purple and blue and are often shimmering.
Using for email is bearable but images and especially video are unviewable - video has a shimmering color effect on darker parts of the image.
When starting the machine, the apple logo is clearly affected by the fine vertical line syndrome. External displays are not affected, only the MBP display.
There history of this problem are as follows.
1. I had a logic board failure and had to replace it.
2. The screen was fine for a matter of hours then the problem started.
3. It began as a distorted band of pink and purple in anything dark. See image 'At first' attached.
4. In the first few days it would resolve once the computer had been on some time. At the beginning it took an hour or so, then later it took most of the day. Now it's a permanent problem.
5. The dock is badly affected due to all the colors in the icons. I did a manual display calibration in expert mode. There are 5 steps to determine the display's native luminance response curves. The 4th and 5th cannot be effectively adjusted due to this problem. The calibration is somewhat able to partially mask the problem but certainly not fix it. See more images attached. You can see a blue line artifact at the bottom of the title bar and as a shadow under the window itself. The fine white lines are also there but hard to see.
Attempts to resolve.
At first I thought it might be the new logic board. I took to an authorized Mac service centre and they ran some diagnostics and concluded it was not the new board. I also ran diagnostics from the mac install disk which found no problems. It looked like the problem must be in the display. The service centre could not diagnose further than the display itself and suggested replacing the entire display assembly. Unfortunately this is outside my budget and Apple seem not to offer display components.
Through a non-authorized repair shop, I swapped the LCD panel itself. The issue persisted, eliminating LCD panel. I tested the machine with an entire display assembly from another 17" MBP. This unit contained an LG panel from a slightly different MBP model. The problem had gone. I concluded my LVDS cable must have been damaged when changing the logic board, so ordered a guaranteed replacement used part. I made that replacement but ...the issue persisted, which suggests its not the LVDS cable (or that the new cable is also damaged but there is no apparent damage on either the new or old LVDS cable). The only other relevant component I am aware of in the display assembly would be the inverter board but I can see nothing online so far to suggest these issues may be symptomatic of an inverter board problem.
I have heard that tape on the LVDS cable may be an cause problems. I ran the machine with the keyboard removed and removed all yellow tape from the logic board. The issue persisted.
I tried the other display assembly again. This time something interesting happened. The issue was there for about a minute, but then the problem disappeared! I'm sure this means something but no idea what.
I am at a loss as to what the problem is. Aside from a possible inverter board issue, The only other thought is that it might be a compatibility issue between the new logic board and two of the three LCD panels I have tried in this whole process (i.e. the 2 samsung ones but not the LG one) ...suggesting the Logic board the Apple Authorized Service Centre sold me is not compatible with my display??
Any insight into the problem would be appreciated.
