MBP 2.2 GHz screen randomly goes black

[davidhw]

and cannot be re-opened. The computer is still running, but whatever I do I cannot get the computer back on without a hard restart.

I just bought this as a refurb from Apple three weeks ago. It started doing this whenever I put the computer to sleep, so I stopped putting it to sleep. Now it's doing it randomly and has done it to me five times this evening alone. In one case, the screen started going black by rows, four or five 1-2 inch rows advancing across the screen left to right until 80% of the screen was black and the mouse was frozen.

I tried the Apple Hardware Test per the instructions in my manual, but the AHT actually recreates the problem and I'm back to square one -- it gets about 1/3 through the scan and then the screen goes black, the disc spins, and then it goes dead. Another hard restart.

I then tried the Tech Tool Deluxe CD that came with the Apple Care agreement. It found nothing wrong with any of the systems, but it too caused a black screen crash when it was examining the blocks on the surface(?) disc.

What do I do? Call Apple? Does this sound like a dud refurb? Or is there a simple solution?

Thanks

 

[catachip]

It may or may not be a hardware problem. Let's try this...

1) Restart your Mac

2) When you hear the startup chime, hold down the Apple key (i.e., command key) and the letter "S" simultaneously. Keep holding them down.

3) You will be dumped into a Unix command prompt. You can let go of those two keys.

4) Type the following (exactly) and press "return":

fsck -fy

5) This will run a thorough disk check and repair any damage.

IMPORTANT! If you get ANY result other than "OK" for everything then run the command above again. Run it over and over until you get "OK" for every line checked.

6) Hold down the power button several seconds to turn off your Mac. Then, press the power button again to turn it back on.


Let's me know if that solves the problem. If not, come back and we'll try something else.

 

[davidhw]

thanks for the suggestion

As with all other tests, this one was "OK" first time around. Nothing out of the ordinary.

I called Apple today and they want me to send it in for a new logic board. I guess that's my next move. A three-week computer that I paid $1500 for -- from Apple, no less -- should not have problems like this.

The intermittent nature of the problem is baffling, I must admit. The only interesting thing I've noticed is that if I manually put the screen on screensaver before leaving the computer alone, the problem will not occur. But if I just leave the screen up (say, if I'm playing iTunes), at some point within an hour or so, the screen will go dark and I need to do the hard restart. Of course, this doesn't explain or solve the freezes while browsing with Safari.

 

[DjFever]

Just a question, are you using a downloaded screensaver? I was having a similar problem and after selecting one of the defaults, my problems went away. The savers that I downloaded work great when you select test but would go black when left on their own.

Just a thought

Cheers
John