Q: Strange vertical stripes - Continued

Why is it so hard for Apple to give us some decent feedback on the issue. I'd rather know that they've sold me a faulty laptop, than just be left in the dark like this. It's is very disrespectful and has changed my views of Apple completely. They don't care about their customers, they just care about selling as much as they can, even though it has faulty hardware.
I mean, €2500 for a laptop that has a problem and not getting any answers or acknowledgements from Apple, that's arrogant and it SSSUUUCCCKKKSSS!!!

I also have the stripes! Brand new MacBook Pro - attached to an external monitor. The screen went dim - perhaps didn't fully recover after sleep but I am not sure - and the stripes appeared. They disappeared after putting the computer to sleep and then reopening.

Fatkav wrote:
Could it be that 10.5.4 really has helped? - at least some machines? Perhaps there are threshold conditions - and my machine now has fallen to the right side of the threshold. Probably many no longer have the stripe problem, but don't bother posting back. Plenty of new posters, but how many are 'cured' and no longer have the dreaded stripe problem?

I was one of the early posters, and 10.5.4 definitely has not helped me. I find that I go for long periods of time (weeks) without seeing the stripes, and then sometimes will see several occurrences in the same week. I am much more likely to see the stripes when using the battery, but that is my only consistent pattern (and even then, once or twice I did get the stripes when plugged in).

Again, folks, control-shift-eject is the easiest way to make the stripes go away. Makes the problem pretty minor -- unless in the end, this turns out to be a serious hardware flaw. Because of that possibility, I've already had to warn several people against buying this computer. Sad -- I've been a consistent mac-promoter since 1984.

Another identical story here.

Was only my 2nd day of using a brand new MBP that suddenly I saw the infamous vertical lines on the display. Since I already had a display failure experience with an old but expensive Compaq many years ago, I immediately felt this is a hardware problem and needs fixing while in warranty.

However, it was only a single episode and the lines disappeared after a restart (but moving the display back and forth wouldn't help, which is evidence against hardware defect if you ask me), it may well be a software issue that needs to be solved asap! Very annoying experience!!

ivassilis wrote:
However, it was only a single episode and the lines disappeared after a restart (but moving the display back and forth wouldn't help, which is evidence against hardware defect if you ask me), it may well be a software issue that needs to be solved asap! Very annoying experience!!

That is not evidence against a hardware defect. That is evidence against a defect in which the signal cable is damaged or pinched by the hinge assembly. There are thousands of potential hardware defects in the screen (which is composed of literally millions of electronic parts, including the transistors in the LCD screen itself) which would not have any response to the position of the screen.

Roberta Millstein wrote:
I was one of the early posters, and 10.5.4 definitely has not helped me. I find that I go for long periods of time (weeks) without seeing the stripes, and then sometimes will see several occurrences in the same week. I am much more likely to see the stripes when using the battery, but that is my only consistent pattern (and even then, once or twice I did get the stripes when plugged in).

Lower brightness levels aggravate the defect, and the default settings result in a lowering of the screen brightness when running unplugged to save power. I have found that lowering the brightness while the system is plugged in results in a similar frequency of occurrence as unplugged. (Lesson then is: if you want to avoid stripes, keep the brightness at full, turn off ambient light sensor, and keep the brightness at maximum even when unplugged)

Again, folks, control-shift-eject is the easiest way to make the stripes go away. Makes the problem pretty minor -- unless in the end, this turns out to be a serious hardware flaw. Because of that possibility, I've already had to warn several people against buying this computer. Sad -- I've been a consistent mac-promoter since 1984.

Strictly speaking, Control-Shift-Eject is also the easiest way to get the stripes (short of PhotoBooth). Any time the screen cycles, there is a chance the LEDs will not come on. When you perform this action, you are just rolling the dice one more time. I have completely given up using my MacBook Pro for work at this point because I am now in an infinite loop with AppleCare in which I send it back with photographs of the problem, they replace some random part, and I get it back still defective.

As far as the problem being minor, I disagree. The more serious issue is the probability that this is caused by an underlying manufacturing or design defect, and the intermittent failure of the LEDs to come on is a sign of a more serious problem in which they may stop ever coming on eventually (and surely a few days out of warranty, just to rub salt into the wound). Until there is a definitive answer as to why this is happening, it's not safe to assume this is going to stay a minor problem.

For California residents:

A buyer of this product in California has the right to have this product serviced and repaired during the warranty period. The warranty period will be extended for the number of whole days that the product has been out of the buyer’s hands for warranty repairs. If a defect exists during the warranty period, the warranty will not expire until the defect has been fixed. The warranty period also will be extended if the warranty repairs have not been performed due to delays caused by circumstances beyond the control of the buyer, or if the warranty repairs did not remedy the defect and the buyer notifies the manufacturer or seller of the failure of the repairs within sixty (60) days after they were completed. If, after a reasonable number of attempts, the defect has not been fixed, the buyer may return this product for a replacement or a refund subject, in either case, to deduction of a reasonable charge for usage. the time extension does not affect the protection or remedies the buyer has under other laws.

http://www.apple.com/legal/terms/repair/usretailrepairterms.html

<Edited by Moderator>

sorry it took so long, I was on vacations :-D. This is a brand new, month and a half old MBP. ****** the **** out of me. Taking into account that I started to use macs exclusively over past year I'm more than dissapointed. The good ol' Toshiba was brought out for more demanding and failure free applications, like the singning of the US-Poland missile-defense deal live streaming. The MBP cannot be trusted anymore.

Hi everyone - I have a good and bad story to tell... the bad part is that I too had the vertical stripes and thanks to this forum I was able to find out about it within my 14 days... so on day 14 I took my laptop back to the Apple Store, explained the problem and was able to show them the stripes. I also showed them the the post by 'essd' which read:

IF YOU ENCOUNTER THIS ISSUE, YOU SHOULD CONTACT APPLECARE AND REFERENCE TECHNICAL BULLETIN TS1258. IF YOU'VE ALREADY CALLED APPLECARE BUT YOU DIDN'T QUOTE THAT NUMBER, PLEASE CALL THEM BACK AGAIN AND CREATE A NEW INCIDENT WITH THAT NUMBER.

This really helped because they were able to reference the problem very quickly and find out what apple wanted to do. Thanks, essd!!!

The mac genius told me that apple would give me a new computer. He also said there had been a bad batch but assured me he would get my new one from the newest batch they had. I am happy to say that my new one has no vertical stripes. I think Apple may have narrowed down which batches are bad.

Quick Update

I have waited just over a week and have received a brand new MBP which was shipped from the Shanghai Factory. Coconut Battery reports it was manufactured 3 weeks ago which is correct. No striping issues or anything else and this is definitely the latest batch. Came with 10.5.4 preinstalled which shows it is the latest batch.

Add me to the list!! I'm DONE purchasing Apple Products..

A month ago I purchased a Macbook Air and suffered the Core Shutdown issues non-stop.. I couldn't even listen to iTunes and surf the web at the same time.

I returned my Macbook Air and went back to the "trusty" Macbook Pro. This Macbook Pro had a warped case... So bad, I couldn't even plug a DVI cable in for a dual monitor.

I returned this MBP and got a NEW MBP... 4 days in, I now have the dreaded black line issue as discussed in this thread.

Between my issues with my MBP's, iPhones and MobileMe, I have concluded that Apple's QA has gone in the toilet thanks to becoming so big so fast.

7x Ipods
2 Years so far of .Mac/MobileME
2 Macbooks
4 Macbook Pro's
2 x iPod Touches

1 Lost Customer.

Hi there Jimmy16. May I know what is the serial number string of the new batch of the MBPs?

Can you clarify is it the whole serial number you want or part of it as I think typing the whole number in is a possible security breach?

Problem 1:
Warped Case (didn't close all the way and I could open it with a gentle tug)

Problem 2:
Broken Caps Lock Key (very unresponsive)

Problem 3:
Vertical Stripes (infrequent but still happened)

I got a made-to-order MBP, delivered on Monday, declared DOA on Tuesday by the reseller. A new one is being shipped out.

I fear the worst now and will be testing the new machine rigorously.

FYI: In order for me to get the stripes all I had to do was close the case gentle up until the machine went to sleep, then open it up immediately.

controlshifteject got ride of the stripes quickly.
Photobooth tests did not produce them.
Power supply was always unplugged when it happened.
My theory: Power Management does not route the correct amount of battery power to switch on all the LED backlights when coming out of sleep - on the occasion when it happens to people who have power supplies plugged in, it is the same reason, poor power management routing.
The intelligence behind me theory: None.

thanks for this tpanza. i think i'll call in next week.

if everybody on this page calls to appleCare/support with this problem and the tech ref number apple is perhaps forced to finally do something about it..

let's make it clear we're sick of this no response, no cure, no acknowledgement Apple policy over this. we all paid too much too have to put up with this crap.