Q: Strange vertical stripes

Summary: I had the stripes. I got my display exchanged. I had the stripes again.

The new display *DID NOT* solve the problem, *as expected*. The excessive illumination in the lower left corner was considered to be "within specs", a characteristic of current LED displays. What's the point of using leds if they are worse than normal screens? What's the point of having computer screens lasting a plenty of years without dimming if they are BAD for the entire lifetime? My father has just bought another laptop with a screen incomparably better than the MBP, and it's not led-based.

With the first display I had to wait for longer than one month in order to see the stripes. With the new display I had to wait for less than 24 hours.

The stripes were different: less dark than with my previous display but still clearly visible. I was able to reproduce them by setting the screen intensity at max - six and sleeping/awakening the notebook (not all of the attempts were successful but the -6 is a key point in this problem).

Now the computer has been sent back to the repair centre. Obviously they are not aware of the dimension of this problem and my laptop is the first with the stripes. Obviously, like all over the world. I wonder what the point of this forum is.

This afternoon I will have to go and buy a cheap pc-notebook to have my work done. This is unbelievable: buying a mercedes for driving around in a fiat 500.

I will keep you posted about my ridiculous story.

mac.cardi

I been reading for last 2 months and only saw bad news. Repleacement do not solve the problem, talking to "Genious", reporting ADC bug, and so on, had the same bad experience.
Waiting for a firmware update maybe the solution, but until then and while Apple do not care about us, why don't think about any other solutions? All of us are tired of this bug, tired of having an expensive computer that is not complete.

Have any of you idea how to solve it???

Thanks!

<Edited by Moderator>

I've been following this problem for months now. I just want to say that aside from the random stripes, the display on my 15.4" mpb is stellar, I wouldn't trade it for anything else at this point. It's also the reason I am holding out for an official fix. With the complaints of poor displays, I don't want to risk having a bad replacement fix the stripes, but cause other problems.

Cheers

Today I sent an eMail to a "customer association" here in Italy describing the problem. Some weeks ago a person in France won a lawsuit against apple for a similar problem (unreproducible problem with the screen, but witnesses and pictures were enough).

But that would be a LARGE waste of energy and time. I do not want my money back, I only want a MBP that works well, without stripes or crazy back-lighting. I am not even sure whether a replacement would be a good idea: people keep receiving faulty screens (with some other defect).

mac.cardi

Well, 2 weeks I have had this computer and its like the 4th time it had happened, right now im in a summer camp, FAR FAR FAR away from a apple store, what can I do? if I wait till september will be fine? any ideas, I want this to be fixed ASAP, I don't want a defective apple product, so much money spending on it,... annoying, and yeah, Im suggesting people to change to mac, and look how apple its right now.... crazy...

please any advice on what should I do?, is there any way I can send the computer directley to the apple store? or what?


thx

Gustavo

Gustavo Pizano wrote:

please any advice on what should I do?, is there any way I can send the computer directley to the apple store? or what?

Gutavo,

first cool down. We are a lot here that have the problem and not just for 2 weeks. But frankly it is not a big issue in the daily work. Even if it would appear 5 times a day for you, it is just 5 times pressing ctrl-shift-eject and you are fine.

What would I do in your case?

If you are still within the return period and you either have an older Mac you can work with or could live with a another laptap, you might simply return it and get your money back. Then save your money till the issue is fixed or buy a PC or buy either a 17" MBP display or a last-gen 15" MBP. Both have CFL backlit screens, so there cannot be any stripes.

If nothing of the above applies to you, I advice against playing the repair game, if your current MBP is fine otherwise. You might end with a worse screen and the stripes still return, what happened to many who tried it.

I'm sure Apple comes up with a fix. If they don't till the 1 year warranty period expires, which will be in spring 2009 for the early Penryn MBP buyers, I for myself will start with the repair game until I either get one without the stripes issue or Apple might give up with repairs and offer me either a refund or an upgrade to the then probably available next-gen MBP, which would be fine for me either.

But frankly I don't think the fix will take that long. Probably when this thread strikes the 50000 hits mark

Until then, yes it is annoying when it the stripes appear, but is doesn't compromise the usability of your MBP noteworthy.

Peter

Further to my posting of 2nd June and my visit to the Apple Store in Kingston upon Thames (UK)
They took my computer in on the 13th June to investigate and repair the "Strange Vertical Stripes" and after completing work to the value of 922 GBP , fortunately covered by warranty, I received my computer back yesterday (24 June). So far everything seems OK - no sign of the dreaded SVS.
For your information they replaced the Display Clamshell and the 2.2 GHz Logic Board.
Will get back to the discussion if and when it goes wrong again.

By the way - hitting Ctrl-Shift-Eject never worked for me.

"By the way - hitting Ctrl-Shift-Eject never worked for me."

Does the screensaver do the job at all?

Screensaver ?? Have never tried that.
BTW Screen still functioning OK - no sign of stripes .........yet

This has also happened to me 3-4 times now, I've had my 2.5Ghz Macbook Pro for 2-3 months now.

Wondering if apple will fix it, but also, I've been relocated to Austria for work, and I doubt they will cover it here. I'll have to fly back to get it fixed if starts happening all the time?

Sorry for the repetition, but I figure new people are only reading the last page or two, so...

For several weeks now I've shut down my machine making sure brightness is set to five boxes from maximum -- doing that, I've yet to experience the vertical stripes again.

Sure, I'll be glad when/if Apple fixes the problem. But since I'm no longer experiencing it, I see it as a minor issue. In all other respects I find my MacBook Pro an absolute joy to use and an incredible piece of machinery.

Jake

It caught me too.

Bought a MBP 15/2.4/2X1GB/200-5400 refurbished showing just the same stripes which could be reproduced by this mac booth Program.
Phoned Apple support and they recommended to send it back.
No chance to get it replaced They send the money back It is not possible to leave the money where it is.

Another one must be bought separately, No alternative possible.

Message was edited by: Alfi

I too have a new MBP just a week old and have the stripes problem mainly at the bottom of the screen. Seems to be a power management issue. I have done the remove battery/zap pram thing and will see if it helps. Hope a fix is coming soon.

I am wondering if it has anything to do with the automatic brightness adjustment in the display system preference?

I recently purchased Macbook Pro about a week ago from Mumbai, India. And I got the lines like twice. I restarted my computer and it fixed the problem. So should I give it back for an exchange or simply restart my laptop everytime it occurs. I do not know how good the support system is in Mumbai, India.

Thank you.