Q: Strange vertical stripes

You can add me to the list of people it's happening to.

I've had my new MBP for about 6 days, and this evening is the first time I noticed it. It happened after I came out of sleep, and went away after putting it to sleep and waking it up again. It definitely was not as bad as the pic posted above, but it was clearly noticeable on web pages with a light background.

I had the same problem a few days ago. It seemed like half the LED's on the bottom of the screen refused to respond after waking up. This happened 4-5 times in a couple of days and i was about to take my new MBP back to the store. I looked in the console and saw that a few of my dashboard widgets were throwing off random errors (especially a live weather radar widget). I removed the last few widgets i'd added (FOREX charts, live radar) and the problem went away. Another day or so passed without an LED issue and i decided to test the widgets as the problem; if i couldnt prove to myself I'd found the error i was going to take my brand new mac back to the store. Within two sleep modes of adding back those widgets the problem returned. I dont know if this has completely remedied the problem, and it seems unquestionably odd that a dashboard element would cause an LED error, but for me, it's definitely seeming like i've found the culprit.

I'd appreciate hearing of others with this problem are also using these widgets, or if by removing new widgets they can get the problem to subside. I'm constantly watching for the LED problem to come back, but since i've removed those widgets a second time, i've not had the problem again. I had to completely disable the widgets (by clicking MANAGE WIDGETS and then removing the check boxes from the window) to correct the issue.

The vertical stripes didn't even show up in mine after waking my MBP. I was just looking at my mail, and incidentally this was while I was on the phone with Apple Tech Support - I also have an issue with a constant buzzing noise coming form the lefthand side of my notebook. I tried to adjust the brightness when the stripes appeared, but it didn't do anything. I've just ran (1) Disk Utility (verify/repair disk; verify/repair permissions) from the Mac OS X install disk and (2) the extended Apple Hardware test. No hardware problem was detected. I also reset the SMC and the PRAM. Hopefully, the vertical stripes won't show up again.

Another "me too".

It only happens while reopening the lid on battery. Closing and reopening the lid a few times solves the problem. It strikes me that setting brightness to maximum before closing the lid solves it on the first try, though that could be random chance.

I just reset the PRAM to no avail. It's happened around ten times now. Here's a photo: http://i32.tinypic.com/2v92mqa.jpg

All,

I am starting to believe that the problem is hardware-related. During the first week I had my MBP Penryn, I saw the problem a couple of times. I took it back to the Apple Store just under a week ago, and I have NOT seen the backlight problem recur since I returned it and started using a new unit (over the last six and a half days).

At this point, my recommendation to everyone is to try to take it back to your local Genius Bar within the 14-day period and convince the folks there to swap it out. Photographs definitely help.

For the record, I admit that I have seen a different video problem twice with the new model, but this new issue occurs under different situations and I am pretty sure that it is unrelated. (With this "new" problem, when returning from sleep mode on two separate occasions, the screen looked rather scrambled and the mouse pointer was generating all sorts of fuzzy static on the screen, necessitating a reboot--this is not good either, but at least it seems to be directly related to the sleep function.)

-SD

This just happened to me, after waking from sleep. The bands were darkest towards the bottom. Closing the lid and reopening it fixed it for now.

I agree that this is a hardware problem and will not be fixed with an update. I sent a photo of the vertical stripes to a relative who had worked on laptop displays at Apple in the past and he said it was a hardware problem. I have now had my replacement MBP penryn for over a week and it works great.
The problem occurred within two days of my getting the original MBP and was not a subtle darkening at the bottom of the screen. It was impossible to ignore, but would go away with sleeping the computer.
As much as I hated to return my new computer for an intermittent problem that made me feel I was nitpicking until it recurred, I am very glad I did. It is definitely more likely you will get a completely new machine if you return it within the 14 days.

hey this happened to me again for the third time... again, mine is the base 2.4 15" (march 2008) Penryn, w/250GB HD... the machine was plugged in... went to sleep... then woke up... with the vert stripes... ugh!

Experienced the same issue with my new MacBook Pro 15" glossy screen (Penryn).
I had booted it and used it on battery for a while. When I plugged in
the magsafe connector the screen developed the vertical stripes (every
other LED backlight lit up across the bottom of the screen). After
reading this forum I tried sleeping my machine for 30 seconds and
it came up without the backlight issue.

Will it return? Time will tell.

How can we get Apple to address this issue?

Apple sent me a special order replacement (to match my special order MBP, 250g HD) this week. However, after I got that one and turned it on for the first time I INSTANTLY noticed the buzzing noise that a couple of people have mentioned hearing on their new MBP. I didn't use it long enough to notice if this one also had the screen problem. I returned it (via FedEx) today and Apple is supposed to send another one (the 3rd one) out to me.

I continue to hold onto my original (new) MBP (see above) that has had the screen issues. However, it hasn't reproduced the problem in several days. Nonetheless, I'm still going to return this one once my new one comes in.

Hi, First of all I have to apologize for my bad English.
I do have the same problem here. I have been contacting with technician at apple care at least 3 times about the problem. (the computer is only 4 days old). The first technicians told me to try to hold control, command, thing, and test run the MBP. The problem happened again. So I called and talk to 2nd technician, he told me to repair HD, and call him back in 3 hours, but the repair HD only took less than 10 mins because the computer is so new. I called back then have to reinstall the whole system.
Now I have to called back on monday!! How did you guys get the exchange so quickly? It seem like they don't want me to get the exchange. How do you deal with them? The computer was brand new, If the computer is in perfect condition I would not bother call them and get these much trouble. They told me to wait until the problem happened again, but the problem is, I can't predict when it is going to happen! And it can't be reproduce. I really want to get an exchange as soon as possible, because I have to leave the US next next week to study aboard until September, and the computer is very important to me (Architecture student). Please someone suggest me what to do.

PS: This is my first apple computer, and this is just a nightmare, and really bad experience with Apple.
Please someone recommend me how should I deal with this problem (Both computer, and people)

Thank you very much.

Message was edited by: bbanksy

Ask for a replacement.