Q: Strange vertical stripes

Well, I took my defective MBP to the Apple Store today and the sales guy turned it on, and we waited for a few minutes and sure enough, the vertical stripes showed up. It did seem to happen after the book went to sleep and then back again. However, this morning it happened a few seconds after booting up.

He said he had seen this phenomenon on older MBPs, but not on new ones (i had bought mine just days ago). He talked to the manager and I was given a brand new MBP! I was happy that I decided to return it now and not later after having installed apps and so forth.

The new MBP seems to have no issues. I've had it one for 6+ hours, it has gone to sleep mode numerous times and so far so good.

I'm glad I found this thread, otherwise I might have thought that was normal and kept the defective unit.

If anyone has one of these defective screens, take it back to Apple and complaint.

Answers to the questions found below. I'll be taking mine in to be looked at on Thurs. Will keep you all posted on what they say/do. Unfortunately I've already loaded all my apps, etc. This MBP was a special order with a larger HD installed, so if they offer a new one, I may have to wait for a while.

1. How often does it occur? Does it occur reliably?
Seems to happen after I change from AC power to battery power. Has happened to me 2-3 times so far.

2. Does it resolve if you perform a specific action? What is this action?
Seems to resolve after I put it to sleep for a while.

3. Does it always resolve by performing this action?
Took a couple of times of putting it into hibernation

4. Is the machine plugged into AC when the problem occurs?
Not so far

5. Can you cause the problem to occur by performing an action?
Haven't tried to duplicate intentionally

6. Is your display glossy or matte?
Matte

7. What type of video graphics hardware does your machine have? How much VRAM?
GeForce 8600M GT 256 VRAM

8. When did you purchase your computer?
Apple on-line

9. Do you have a photograph of the defect? If so, please post a link.
http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y195/mtseilback/Web%20photos/?action=view&curre nt=IMG_6365.jpg
http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y195/mtseilback/Web%20photos/?action=view&curre nt=IMG_6364.jpg

I took my MBP penryn 2.4 in to the Apple store today with pictures of the vertical stripes I had taken with my digital camera. It had happened four times, but went away with putting the computer to sleep. Of course the computer was behaving while I was there. They looked at the pictures, told me it would be easier to give me a new laptop since it was only a week old. I walked out with my new baby.

I am happy so far. I advise you should return a malfunctioning computer soon if you want a new one.

I got my new macbook pro today and I also have this problem.

I just purchased my new Pro last night and experienced these same stripes tonight I thought, I was seeing things. I plan on taking my machine back to the Apple store tomorrow.

This just happened to me with a brand new machine (it arrived on march 3, 2008). I happened after resuming from suspend. I closed the lid, let the machine suspend, and reopened it and the problem went away.

I'm going to wait to see if the problem recurs before taking it back.

Hey Atomic Wedgie, I had the same problem! Kinda. I just got my new MBP from FedEx yesterday. I let it warm up from the cold, plugged in the power adapter, let it charge, and then turned it on when the adapter was green. I ran through setup without any problems, but once I got to the desktop the dreaded vertical bars (they match the pictures on this forum) appeared! I was not thrilled to see my new baby so severely deformed. Anyway, I took some pictures, sleeped the mac by closing it, and when I re-opened all was well. I called support today and they had me reset the power management controller by shutting down, unplugging, taking out the battery, and then holding the power button down for about 5 seconds before restarting. Hopefully this resolved the issue and I'll never see those bars again, but I'm wondering if maybe I should still return it within the 14 day period? Or should I just wait and see and hope it doesn't give out after my 3 year warranty expires? I have a matte display, 512 VRAM, and I have a picture but no way as of yet to get it up here.

Sadly, my new MBP is experiencing the same issue. My husband just talked to someone at Apple on the phone and was told that even if we bring it to the store, they can't do anything about it because we bought it online. I guess that makes sense..

So I guess we have to send it BACK to them. We're taking it to the store anyway just in case they can help. I am not happy.

1. How often does it occur? Does it occur reliably?
It happens everytime we put it in "sleep mode"

2. Does it resolve if you perform a specific action? What is this action?
If we turn the power off, and then turn it back on, it seems to go away.

3. Does it always resolve by performing this action?
So far.

4. Is the machine plugged into AC when the problem occurs?
Not necessarily

5. Can you cause the problem to occur by performing an action?
Yes, putting it to sleep

6. Is your display glossy or matte?
glossy

7. What type of video graphics hardware does your machine have? How much VRAM?

8. When did you purchase your computer?
We ordered it online on February 26 and received it on March 3.

9. Do you have a photograph of the defect? If so, please post a link.
yes, but I haven't put it online yet. I will soon.

Went to the Apple store today with my problem. Here's what they had me do.

1. Shut down the computer.
2. Unplug it and take out the battery. (wait a few moments)
3. Reinstall the battery.
4. Reset the PRAM's by starting the computer up WHILE HOLDING down option+command (apple)+P (key)+R key.
5. Wait for the Apple welcome chime to ring two times.

I hoping this has fixed the issue. I would advice trying it if you are still having problems. I will post again if this didn't fix things.

AAARRRGGGHHHHH! After resetting the prams and doing the power-button-press-with-battery-removed, it's happening again tonight! I suppose they're going to have to send me a new one since this one was a special order.

OK, so I finally gave in and took my MBP back to the store. This does not seem to be a very common problem; the tech who was working on my unit showed the photo of the problem to all of the other folks at the genius bar and nobody else had heard of it. It apparently also does not yet exist in Apple's internal knowledge base (or some sort of "emerging issues" wiki that they also apparently have). Anyway, they were happy to replace it after doing some poking around. It seemed to help that the computer was only a day old.

So far, I've been going for one day without any problems (though it admittedly took about 3-4 days before the problem first appeared).

On the chance that it might be a software/driver/firmware-triggered issue, I think we should still try to collect information about other settings and programs that might be related:

If you are experiencing this problem, would you mind posting to the thread with the following info?

=========================================================

1) Do you have any virtualization software installed (VMware, Parallels)? If so, which one? Was it in use at the time the issue occurred? If not immediately in use, had you used it since your last full reboot? (In a previous life, I used a Thnkpd laptop that sometimes exhibited weird problems after running a VMware session, even after the session was shut down.)

2) What brightness setting do you typically use for the display? (Full, 7/8th, etc.)

3) Under System Preferences -> Energy Saver -> Options, what is your setting for:
* Automatically reduce brightness of the display before display sleep (ON or OFF)

4) Under System Preferences -> Display , what is your setting for:
* Automatically adjust brightness as ambient light changes

Thanks! If it's not an out-and-out hardware bug, maybe we can figure this out together.

err, I mean, "the computer was only a week old"...

1) Do you have any virtualization software installed (VMware, Parallels)? If so, which one? Was it in use at the time the issue occurred? If not immediately in use, had you used it since your last full reboot? (In a previous life, I used a Thnkpd laptop that sometimes exhibited weird problems after running a VMware session, even after the session was shut down.)
No

2) What brightness setting do you typically use for the display? (Full, 7/8th, etc.)
usually just below 3/4th total brightness while on battery power and just above 3/4th brightness while plugged in.

3) Under System Preferences -> Energy Saver -> Options, what is your setting for:
Automatically reduce brightness of the display before display sleep (ON or OFF)
On

4) Under System Preferences -> Display , what is your setting for:
Automatically adjust brightness as ambient light changes?
Off

My 15" MBP did the same thing, usually on battery power coming out of sleep mode.
I returned it (Apple Store SF) next day and got a new one. So far, so good.
The two people I spoke to at the store seemed not to have heard of it, but that is changing...