will my mbp make it through finals??

[cms2]

I've been searching the thread and I've seen countless posts about various MBP screen issues, but I never had any problems with mine until today. I turned my mbp off, and then hours later I turned it back on, and suddenly I have this perforated (it's obviously a line of pixels, I guess) line running from the top left of the screen to the bottom. It's one pixel wide and it starts across the menu bar, just to the left of the "apple" menu. I've restarted it twice. It went away for a few minutes the first time, but then it came back. I restarted it again and could see the line even during the grey-blue apple start up screen and the "aurora" splash screen before login. I am trying to take a picture but so far no luck; it's too fine. Could this have something to do with the firmware update I ran yesterday or is that coincidental?

From what I've read on this forum I probably have a hardware problem with my graphics card: my main question is will my computer make it for another two weeks (law school finals)? I can't possibly take it in right now, much less have it sent off... But I'm terrified that the screen will stop working or something at the worst possible time. I use time machine, but I don't have another laptop to use if something goes horribly, horribly wrong.


I don't know if you need to know this but it's a 2.2 c2duo I bought last August. I think it's Santa Rosa. I really appreciate any help or advice anyone can give. Seriously, I'm about to have a break down.

 

[secretpact]

Wow man, sounds like your in a tough spot. Have you tried connecting an external monitor and seeing if the line appears on the external as well? If it's not your hardware that's faulty and just the LCD screen you'll be fine. If it is your graphics card, I don't think a line across your screen means that it is going to break down at any moment, but don't take my word for it.

Maybe you could borrow a friend's laptop to do your work on?

Best of luck to you though!

 

[taylorwilsdon]

Wow man, sounds like your in a tough spot. Have you tried connecting an external monitor and seeing if the line appears on the external as well? If it's not your hardware that's faulty and just the LCD screen you'll be fine. If it is your graphics card, I don't think a line across your screen means that it is going to break down at any moment, but don't take my word for it.

Maybe you could borrow a friend's laptop to do your work on?

Best of luck to you though!

Go on craigslist and find a used CRT or old LCD for $25 or less. Hook it up to the MBP - theres your failsafe if the screen does give out.

Then send it away to get fixed after you're not time-crunched.

 

[masse]

I'm sure they have computers in the library that you can use and just plug the monitors into your mbp...

Good luck with finals...i'm studying right now actually.

 

[cms2]

Thanks everybody. I'm sorry if my original post seemed a bit desperate... sleep deprivation, you know. Today the line has gone away. My plan is to just continue like nothing happened until the last day of finals then... well that day I'm going to get pretty lop-sop-doy but then the next day or so I'll take it in. I can't thank you guys enough for the replies. Best of luck to those of you studying for finals.