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Picture of alum Macbook screen freezing: What is going on?

Veritas&Equitas

Veritas&Equitas

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 31, 2005
1,528
1
Twin Cities, MN
Hey all, here's a pic of my screen after a weird rainbow like freeze. After it does this, I can't do anything, and have to restart the computer. This has now happened 4-5 times over the past 2 weeks. Do you think it's a bad video card, bad memory, or what? I can't figure it out.

It's a 2.4 aluminum Macbook with 4 gb of memory:

14xmemr.jpg


Any help would be appreciated, thanks
 
Veritas&Equitas said:
Thanks for the response BlueRevolution; is this a known issue with the video card? I haven't heard much about it?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if it is a known issue, but I am almost 100% sure that it is an issue with the video card of your Mac.


I would set up a genius bar appointment and show them as soon as you can.


:)
 
i am having exactly the same problem...
except mine happens when it gets HOT i think....

did replacing the Logic Board fix the problem? i also heard ppl replaced but problem came back after a while....
is it Grasphics card? Logic Board? or Ram?
im sure Apple Technician wouldn't know the answer...they'll just blame it to be software....

So i need some real solutions from users that's had experiences...much appreciated.
 
Looks like it's time for a trip to the Genius bar for me too. Too bad it's just over 1 hour away.

I was getting random freezes with the same video streaking every couple weeks. Then it got more frequent, like once a week. Now I get it almost daily.

I get it with 4GB of OWC ram. I get it with the stock Samsung 2GB Apple ram. I'd say it's not the ram.

I should have taken some pictures a few minutes ago when it happened.

I did notice that the system seems to be working, just with no video. I can attach a USB stick and it flashes like it's reading, then idles, just like when I plug it in any other time. I just can't see anything but the scrambled video on the screen.

The odd thing is that it almost always seems to be while a screensaver is running. I don't think it's ever done this while I am using it actively. I come into the room in the morning and turn on the screen and bam, frozen with all or part of the screen scrambled and some part of the screensaver visible (frozen). Last week it did it within a few minutes of installing Snow Leopard. This week I sat the Macbook on a table and let the screensaver just run & run and 2 out of 3 times it locked up, never in any similar amount of time.
 
Jethryn Freyman said:
Video card is fried. Run the Apple Hardware Test to confirm.
Click to expand...

I ran the hardware test on mine with no problems detected. I checked the box for a more extensive test and I repeated it and ran the test 5 times in a row.

So if the "Genius" runs the test with the same results, are they just going to tell me "oh well, it looks fine to us" and send me on my way?
 
I have started to notice something new with mine.

I can't be 100% sure, but it seems that my system will only get this screen freeze if:

A: it goes into screensaver mode
AND
B: the Airport card is turned ON.

I normally run with gigabit ethernet at my desk so I disable the Airport. For a good long time I just left the Airport on while hardwired. That's when I would see the freezes. When I did the upgrade to 10.6 I was downstairs, so I was running wireless and that's when I got the freeze last, about 30 minutes after the upgrade was done and the system was idle and went to screen saver for a while.
 
alphabeatsco said:
i am having exactly the same problem...
except mine happens when it gets HOT i think....

did replacing the Logic Board fix the problem? i also heard ppl replaced but problem came back after a while....
is it Grasphics card? Logic Board? or Ram?
im sure Apple Technician wouldn't know the answer...they'll just blame it to be software....

So i need some real solutions from users that's had experiences...much appreciated.
Click to expand...

I had the same thing happening on my Powerbook G4 before I retired it to a lighter-use computer. I know it was cooling related because the issue stopped when I had a fan directed so it circulated air under the machine.

I would keep after the Apple tech if you're still covered under warranty, and call 1-800-SOS-APPL. Generally, my experience with the in-store Apple support hasn't been great, but Apple in Cupertino is much better.
 
Veritas&Equitas - So now that it's been a few months, did the video problem come back on the new logic board?

I ask because my Macbook started getting much worse. It used to be every once in a while, now it is several times a day. Tonight I was able to get some pictures. I can't afford to take time off to drive 1+ hour (each way) to the closest Apple store, but a friend who works near one has offered to take it for me. I'm hoping it won't be a problem that it's not me bringing it in, but it'll have all my info and copies of the pictures I took of the screen tonight. Hopefully they will fix it for me.

I really need to get an AC plan for it (already did once, but that turned out to be an ebay scam). I have about 2 more months on the 1 year warranty.
 

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You could probably call ahead of time to clear it with them. My experience has been that they are pretty flexible.

I suspect this is something they see enough to recognize it. We had it happen on an older 15" MBP. Same story. Gradually got worse. They swapped the logic board. When I was picking up my laptop I saw another person coming in with the same symptoms.

As to the odds of it happening again, it just depends on the logic board you get. Luck of the draw, so to speak.
 
Ok, get a load of this.

I took the 320GB Seagate drive out and put back in the stock 160GB Fujitsu. I left in the 4GB of OWC RAM.

Not a single lock up since.

The odd thing is that my previous white Macbook had similar issues that were resolved when I took out the 160GB Toshiba drive and put back in the 80GB Fujitsu.

So, perhaps it was all due to issues with the Seagate drive? I may order a replacement 320 or 500gb Fujitsu drive and see how things go for a while.
 
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