Strange vertical stripes

Argh, I wish I'd taken a picture of the problem--it hasn't happened since Friday, but every so often, when I wake the MBP (Penryn) from sleep, I see alternating bands of light and dark vertical "stripes" along the screen. It looks as if half the LED backlights did not activate.

However, if I shut the lid and then re-open, it goes away. What gives? Is this a hardware or software fault?

If it happens again, I'll be sure to take a photo. This is ridiculous.

15" MBP (Penryn), Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on Mar 2, 2008 3:47 PM

Reply
687 replies

Jul 1, 2008 1:36 AM in response to docfilm

some similar happened just before returning the book (because of rhe stripes) to the store, i started with battery screen became normally light and while the machine started i left the room for a while, when i came back screen was black.

It is the sleep mode i thought and pressed the button on the touch panel:

nothing happened, i pressed the power button once; saw nothing again..

adjusted screen on the key_board >screen became lighter (seeing the question if i really wanted to shut down)

Just wandering because i didnt have adjusted the screen that low. Didnt not more think about it because i returned the MBpro anyway.

Jul 1, 2008 9:54 AM in response to atomic wedgie

All,

I've done more digging to see if there is a better way to bring this to the attention of Apple. I called into AppleCare today and I discovered that Apple has actually created an internal technical bulletin, TS1258, that describes this issue. It was apparently last "touched" yesterday, although the rep didn't know if it was created earlier than that. The bulletin (which is for internal use only) apparently states that it is a known issue, but that the cause is not yet determined and that it is still under investigation.

The bulletin should be viewable to AppleCare reps worldwide, and it describes the specific symptoms of this problem (including a screenshot that is effectively the same as mine at the top of this thread). It should be much more accessible than the Apple Developer Connection (ADC) number that I posted previously.

At this point, the best way to get this issue addressed is to make sure that it bubbles up as a frequent issue to Apple. The only way to do that is to call into AppleCare (I suspect that their tracking is better than at the Genius bar) and QUOTE THE ABOVE BULLETIN NUMBER. They may not have been tracking against the ADC bug number, but the AppleCare rep assured me that they would be counting the people who referenced this technical bulletin. I also asked the rep if he could hold the case open so that it would get more attention. You can also use this number if you encounter people in the support structure who claim that Apple has not heard about the problem.

As a reminder of what Atomic Wedgie just wrote, this TS1258 bulletin describes the issue where half of the backlights intermittently fail to operate, as shown in the images at the top of the thread. Don't quote this number if you are having another problem.

REMEMBER:

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*IF YOU ENCOUNTER THIS ISSUE, YOU SHOULD CONTACT APPLECARE AND REFERENCE TECHNICAL BULLETIN TS1258. IF YOU'VE ALREADY CALLED APPLECARE BUT YOU DIDN'T QUOTE THAT NUMBER, PLEASE CALL THEM BACK AGAIN AND CREATE A NEW INCIDENT WITH THAT NUMBER.*
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If we all work together, we can hopefully get enough visibility to make Apple resolve the problem!

-Essd

Jul 1, 2008 11:41 AM in response to atomic wedgie

I have another story and another id number for the issue. May be they have localized codes.

The service centre said the apple is aware of the issue (really?) but they have yet to identify the fault. So apple asked them to ask for my patience because everything will be fixed eventually. So basically EITHER they do not know what the problem is OR it is too expensive to fix all the MBPs.

I asked for a replacement, but the shop told me it was not possible. This is Italy. As of this afternoon, I became a member of an association defending customers: that is another apple tax we pay.

I will wait a couple of months (the summer) and see how apple manages to fix this shame. After that I will ask for a replacement, with the help of a lawyer if needed.

mac.cardi

Jul 2, 2008 4:48 AM in response to Newbie08

To Newbie08: In answer to your question as to whether it's worth your while to purchase a 15" MacBook Pro, I can only answer from my own experience -- I had the vertical stripe issue, but with brightness set to 5 boxes or nearer to maximum I now NEVER experience the issue when I start up. A few weeks ago I forgot to adjust the brightness and got the stripes on start up; Shift-Control-Eject immediately fixed the problem.

In all other respects I find the MacBook Pro an excellent laptop -- fast, stylish, and of course able to run both OS X and Windows. In my opinion you're getting the best of both worlds -- a blazing-fast Windows machine as well as a Mac one. And I'd suggest that after a few weeks using OS X Leopard you'll appreciate that system's ease of use and stability.

best,
Jake

Jul 2, 2008 6:44 PM in response to atomic wedgie

Yep, add me to the list too. It just started happening on on my 1 month old MacBook Pro.

As a work around, it's handy having the display power-off allocated to the bottom corner of the screen. When the problem occurs, I just move my mouse to the lower left corner, the screen turns off, move my mouse again and presto, the problem's gone.

Wouldn't mind a fix tho Apple.

mitch

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Strange vertical stripes

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