Q: Strange vertical stripes

All,

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*IF YOU EXPERIENCE THIS PROBLEM AND COMMUNICATE WITH APPLE ABOUT IT, BE SURE TO REFERENCE BUG ID# 5751843.*
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This is the tracking issue assigned to the problem through the Apple Developer Connection. It's important for you to include this information so that Apple can track all reports of this (especially if your contact claims to know nothing about the problem). Having more people report the issue means that it will hopefully have a higher priority in getting fixed.

I bought my Macbook Pro 2.4 ghtz Wednesday and it arrived Friday, April 25th. As soon as I turned on the laptop for the first time, I saw the vertical beams/stripes immediately. The software did not have time to load, so this suggests that my problem may be with firmware or it is a hardware screen problem.

NONE of the fixes described on this list remove the stripes. Not PRAM fix, battery removal technique, CTRL/OPT/EJECT technique, nor any others work. It's as if these stripes are permanent once I turn the laptop on.

So, I wish I had something to offer, as many of you have been able to at least remove the stripes temporarily with these techniques. Not my case. I guess I will have to ship it off and have it replaced or worked on.

I've been using Mac's since 1987. Love the platform, love the software, love the design, but this is not my first purchase where a problem of this scale has occurred. No company can be perfect, but I read a stat yesterday that claimed at least 17 percent of new mac laptops have hardware flaws that need attention. That's almost 1 out of every 5 laptops. So, when you go out and buy, imagine that for every 5 to 6 computers they sell, 1 of them will have dud problems of some sort.

Of course, statistics does not work so easily, as one stored could have no bad computers, and another could have 20.

Anyway. I'll keep checking this forum for more info, and will provide what info I learn, if any later.

Greetings,

Riffkat

Just wanted to say "me too" to the vertical stripes problem. I took my Macbook Pro to the genius bar a few days ago, and because I could not replicate the problem, they wouldn't/couldn't repair or replace the computer.

This problem only occurs when running on battery power, and has never occurred running Windows XP (A.K.A. The Dark Side) under Boot Camp. I call software fix as well...

Let's hope this gets fixed a.s.a.p.!

One more "me too". MBP less than 1 week old. Disappointing.

I could reproduce nearly 100% by simply closing the cover for 2-3 seconds and opening again.

Hope to see some formal acknowledgment and response from Apple.

Snap! Two week old MBP 15" 2.5GHz with glossy display - whilst on battery power I slightly closed the display and produced the striping at the bottom of the panel.
This led me to find this forum and what appears to be a rather large issue with this model.
I purchased this from the New Zealand online Apple store - I am somewhat bothered that they would sell me a $4000NZ laptop which they know to be faulty.

Guess I just going to sit tight and see what happens as I need this computer for work.
Looks like the issue has been reported for at least three months with no fix - 3 months represents half of the typical product life cycle for a computer - a very poor show indeed and a big pooo to Apple.

Aside from that I love this new machine - my old PowerBook G4 popped its cloggs but not bad for a Sept 03 machine (1.25GHz PPC 15").

Hmmm, I think I have detected a trend. Looks like a few of us are seeing this problem.

Hopefully we get word from Apple this can be corrected with a patch versus replacing all of these machines. I really don't want a refurb over an issue like this!

Come on Apple, let's hear the good news!

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I bought the MacBook last week and I'd had the stripes since day one.

After reading throught the whole thread yesterday morning, I called my Apple reseller (no Apple stores in Belgium) and explained my "stripes" issue.
He asked me to try to download the latest software updates through Apple menu/software updates (new to Mac here, so please bear with me).
I downloaded and installed everything without even checking what it contained - pretty much automatic, kinda frustrating 'cause I can't even tell you which specific updates I installed - and restarted.
Instantly the stripes were GONE.
No more stripes so far, and I've worked on the MacBook all day until late last night, switching back and forth from Mac to Win XP (just like I did most of the week, and I'd get the stripes pretty much each time I'd start OS X).
I too can confirm the stripes never appeared under Windows...which clearly points to a software issue).

This morning all is still good, no stripes yet.
Wait and see.

But I'd recommend going through the software update thingy.

Message was edited by: Curtiz

As I've stated before, I occasionally have this problem when starting up (never waking from sleep).

And as others have recommended, shift-control-eject instantly deals with it.

However, for those saying that it doesn't happen running Windows in Boot Camp, and therefore is a software issue, there's a problem with that theory.

Several times I have started up the computer holding down the option key (allowing me to choose between OS X and Windows XP) and gotten the stripes. Now once I choose Windows and Windows loaded, the stripes were gone. BUT I've noticed that during that process the screen goes completely black. I believe that this is the screen resetting itself (i.e. replicating the effect of shift-control-eject). If that is the case, then the fact of running Windows neither proves nor disproves that it's a software issue.

As I've said before, for me it happens infrequently enough that it's only a minor annoyance with an otherwise wonderful machine, but my real concern is that this is a hardware issue and/or may presage a screen that's going to have more serious problems soon, if not actually completely fail.

Apple needs to make a clear statement as to the cause of this problem, even if a solution is still a few weeks away.

Jake

In my case, I would get the stripes using power or battery, on wake up or startup (yes the dual boot screen too), but only in OS X, never in Windows. Once Win is started, a wake up never caused the stripes whereas under OS X it was almost always.
Fingers crossed, haven't seen them darn stripes since the software update yesterday.

Curtiz, you are the second one speaking about software updates. What MBP do you have? What update, in particular, made the stripes go away?

My update list is empty (has always been empty since last safari update).

mac cardi

Shame on me, but I honestly don't remember which specific updates I installed.
The MBP is 1 week old, and I'm new to OS X.

Here's the info I can find.

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro4,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP41.00C1.B03
SMC Version: 1.27f1

System Version: Mac OS X 10.5.2 (9C7010)
Kernel Version: Darwin 9.2.2
Boot Volume: Macintosh HD
Boot Mode: Normal

Hope this helps - still no stripes and I've been working on the MBP all day.

Put my on his list as well

MBP 15 inch matte Febr 2008

Jack

I can confirm that a software update currently will not fix the issue - My MBP was bang up to date when the fault occurred and there have been no new update since.

Thanks Brian for the work of compiling this list. It is meanwhile hard too keep an overview over this thread , with new "me too" posts coming in every day.

A real interesting question would be, how many had their MBP replaced and was the stripes issue cured by the replacement? IMO there wasn't a single report of success in the longer run.

Peter Gutbrod

Double post. Deleted.

Peter Gutbrod