Q: Strange vertical stripes

After posting a few times to this thread, I'm going to recant my earlier idea of this being a hardware problem. I experienced the dreaded stripes right away after the new Penryns came out, and I took my machine back to the store to get it swapped for a new one shortly thereafter.

Everything seemed to be fine for a long time, but just now on the replacement machine, I saw the dreaded stripes again. As with the last time, this was caused by my unplugging the power supply from the AC mains.

It's possible that this is a hardware defect, but it would seem to be present in a lot of machines if that is the case.

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I have some GOOD news though:
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You can actually make the stripes go away WITHOUT having to put your entire machine to sleep (which is inconvenient if you have a big download or something else in progress):

When the issue occurs, go to System Preferences -> Energy Saver and set the "Put the DISPLAY to sleep..." option to 1 minute. Once you've done that, simply wait one minute for the display to turn itself off, press a key, and everything will be restored to normal with full backlighting.

At first, I was unsure if this was HW or SW since it seemed to occur during a hardware event (unplugging the machine), but since I can fix it with pure software without a shutdown or sleep, this puts much more weight on it being a software/firmware issue.

I can add my name to the list. It's happened once to me, though seemingly out of the blue. I have not been able to reproduce it -- even after trying the procedures people in this thread listed.

In my opinion, I don't believe this is a hardware defect. However, I'm curious if there's a correlation between this problem and the type of display in the computer. Go to System Preferences > Displays > Color > Open Profile and look at line 13. Post whatever the Model number is (e.g. 00009c83)

I don't think we'll find a correlation, since the LED backlighting isn't part of the LCD display. Couldn't hurt to find out it happens across LG, Samsung, and Chi LCD screens (the three suppliers for Apple's screens.)

Mine is Samsung: 9c83

Mine is model # 00009C82

Nice deduction, essd.

However, it can still be hardware - the software fixes it only because it causes the hardware LEDs to reinitiate.

Anyway, it happened again - This time without my battery being in the red zone, and this time only in a very minor fashion. To reiterate, I've had it three times, once very noticeable, once all LEDS affected, and once minor (nearly unnoticeable). Each time it was from plugging in the power adaptor after a reasonable wait on battery. I do have auto-adjust brightness with battery, as well as ambient light conditions, and I believe that these options are what causes the controller to change the LED brightness in an incorrect fashion (perhaps occasionally sending too much voltage to alternating LEDs or what have you).

I really hope it's just a software thing, but maybe a hardware controller is faulty. It does seem to affect a large number of people, however, so I hope Apple recognises this and investigates accordingly, letting us know what a suitable fix is.

My screen is an 09C81.

My 1 week old 2.4Ghz does the stripe thing just about every second re-awakening. When I see it, I just close the lid again, count to 20 and open, and hey presto no stripes. I am logging every use and how often I see stripes, but since mine is BTO HD, and I have everything installed/copied, cannot just unplug and drag back to reseller. So in a bind, and hoping that a firmware fix is just around the corner. Would not be happy to get a new one and have the same problem. Screen is matte and has 9C83 as screen model. I need to make a decision and bring back quick to be inside the 14 days... Should I?

I have noticed the same problem. My model nummer = 00009C81

This happened to me too. It's happened about 4 to 5 times for me in the past 5 days or so. I've only had my computer for about 6 days. I don't know when it's going to happen, but it's always when it's coming out of sleep. Sometimes the lines are large and sometimes they are small, but they always go away once I close my lid and open it up again. I returned it to Apple and they're sending me a new one, but I have feeling that it'll have the same problems.

null

Heh - happened to me this morning but went away when I closed and reopened the case. My first thought was the unit was very cold to touch when I first turned it on, and it may have been temperature related.

I have had this problem as well. I called Applecare and they contact their engineers and at first tried to renege on their offer to exchange it by telling me that engineering claims that it is "a software issue" (I can see that) and that I will have to wait until an update is released. I then refused to "wait" to get a proper functioning laptop after spending 2 grand, and they then agreed to exchange it but could not guarantee it if the replacement had the problem.

They refused to answer whether or not the entire product line of this refresh is afflicted with the problem. I was very close to returning it for my money back had my options on the PC side not sucked so much.

You really got apple to claim it's a software issue? Did they say anything else?

Thanks.

I also have this problem, and here are some details I can provide:
1 & 2) This occurs when I resume from sleep mode; however, not all the time.
3) If the screen is closed and then opened again (after a brief pause), the problem goes away. Restarting also solves the problem. This has solved the problem everytime it has occurred for me.
4) The machine has been plugged in when the problem occurs, it also occurs when I put it to sleep, unplug it for a bit, then plug it in and attempt to resume working.
5) Put the computer to sleep, then wake it up again (only occurs sometimes)
6) Display is matte.
7) GeForce 8600M GT, 256MB VRAM

Details:
Chipset Model: GeForce 8600M GT
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0407
Revision ID: 0x00a1
ROM Revision: 3212
Displays:
Color LCD:
Display Type: LCD
Resolution: 1440 x 900
Depth: 32-bit Color
Built-In: Yes
Core Image: Hardware Accelerated
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Display Connector:
Status: No display connected

8) Purchased this computer at the end of February, 2008. (It's one of the models with MultiTouch)
9) I have a photo, but it appears the same as the photo already posted in this thread. I can post this if it will help.

Please let me know if there's any other useful information I can provide to help figure this problem out. Cheers!

Have the same problem here on my new 15.4" MBP 2.4 GHz Penryn: vertical "on/off" stripes at the lower edge of the LED display. It happened only once in the last 10 days when my MBP woke up from sleep mode without being plugged into the A/C adapter. Problem was solved by rebooting.
Hope that a firmware update will come soon, although the problem didn't bother me that much until now.

same problem with macbookpro4,1
ordered replacement

display
manufacturer 00000610
model 00009C82
manufacture date C2ADF080

set an active screen corner with sleep display option in exposé & spaces configuration to get rid of the stripes within 1 second

Yes, I have experience the same problem with the same fix (rewake or restart) but it happens again. So the fix is only temporary. It appears as if every other led is illuminated. Mine is distinct at the bottom of the display.