Q: Strange vertical stripes - Continued

I'm using a MBP A1260 (discontinued model-2008)
I've called Apple regarding this issue and they told me that the next version of OS X (the one coming after 10.5.5) should solve the problem, and that it's not an hardware anomaly.

Haven't people had this issue in Windows under bootcamp though ?

I have never heard of someone having this issue with Windows. I posted the question on this discussion a while ago and no one has responded with a positive. I have not seen it when running Vista on my MBP early 2008, that does have the problem from time to time, when running OSX.

Anyone out there had this turn up running Windoze?

While it does not happen all the time, I have been able to make the strips appear when moving the screen/lid up and down. That would seem to me to be more hardware then software. I hope that it is software, otherwise Apple have some really serious hardware issues to sort out.

Message was edited by: willowtech

Scotty Scotty wrote:
I have never heard of someone having this issue with Windows. I posted the question on this discussion a while ago and no one has responded with a positive. I have not seen it when running Vista on my MBP early 2008, that does have the problem from time to time, when running OSX.

Anyone out there had this turn up running Windoze?

Yes. I've had the stripes occur under Boot Camp on my old MacBook. However, I no longer have the stripes since Apple replaced my MacBook with an identical model. After a number of failed repairs (none of which involved replacing the backlight), they finally just exchanged the laptop. I was able to reproduce the stripes nearly on demand with my old machine, and haven't been able to on this one.

I have a really hard time buying the "it's a software problem" proposal. If it were actually a software problem, how come a new machine resolved it? My replacement MacBook Pro is identical in every way including a *restored backup* (exact copy) of the OS and apps as they were installed on the striped MacBook. Others in the thread have reported resolution from replacement lids.

People have been told that the next version of OS X is going to fix this since 10.5.2. For the record:
10.5.3: did not fix it
10.5.4: did not fix it
10.5.5: did not fix it
10.5.6: (going to go out on a limb here) will not fix it

From my personal experience and looking at this thread, only two things appear to work: entire lid assembly replacements and machine replacements.

I am here to join the list....

I bought my MacBook Pro about 3 weeks ago and it just happened to me for the first time. Basically I unplugged it and restarted the computer. After doing so there were the strange vertical stripes of doom. I tried restarting the computer two times and this did not fix the problem. After closing the screen down and opening it back up the problem was resolved. Has yet to happen again but I am very worried and wondering what I should do concerning the issue.

Does anyone have any insights?

I realised most of the time it happens after moving the macbook pro ( when I go to the restaurent or to school) Maybe there is something related to movement.

Now that the new macbook pro is available, we will see if they founds the problem. If not there will be a lot of new user that will have the same problem with the same type of screen

If they tell us that it does not do dommage to the computer, it ok for me to have this little problem, I love my LED screen it's good for the environnement and the colors are brighter.

Can go let us know what is the shortcut keys to use instread of closing the top of the computer, it will be easier to resolve the problem each time it happen

As I posted already before I have the same problem with my new MBP bought in September 2008. I had the stripes only twice until now and I was not able to reproduce it with Photo Booth.

I am not sure if this helps but I had the feeling that the stripes appear only when the MBP is very cold. I left my MBP always on the table and above was the AC. So in both cases my MBP was very cold when the stripes appeared. Last time the MBP was so cold that I knew already before that the stripes will come when I will start up and voila they appeared. Not sure if this is correct.

Second that! Every time those stripes appeared my MacBook Pro was colder than usual...
But I don't think that temp is in fact what is causing it! I think it is a second condition for it to happen!

In my case I know exactly when the stripes will appear...
I use my MacBook Pro in a daily basis and I usually have it plugged...
Sometimes, at night, I unplug it for a while before shutting it down because I need to move it somewhere else and use it there... So, my last use of my MacBook Pro at night is "battery powered" and then I shut it down until I turn it on the next morning after plugging it!

That said, what happens seems really simple to me...
The stripes appear with the combination of 2 factors:
First factor: working with my MacBook Pro's battery (wich reduces the ilumination of the screen)
Second factor: leave my MacBook Pro turned off for a long period (wich decreases it's temp)
In my case it never happens without these two factors... If I work with my MacBook Pro's battery, shut it down, leave it for a couple of hours and then tun it on plugged the stripes don't appear! It only seems to happen if I leave it turned off for a very long time...

* sorry if the text is "messy"... I hope it is "understandable"...

I bought a 15" Macbook pro 2.4ghz refurb in Oct 2008. 1 week later vertical lines appear when booting up.

It appears to only affect OSX and not Windows XP in bootcamp!!??

This video shows how the lines can be induced and that it seems to only affect OSX Bootcamp Windows XP is unaffected. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H62afsEjwZ0

That's because you don't have PhotoBooth (or any program that screws with the brightness that way) and the ambient light sensor function doesn't work in XP, so the brightness is usually just "up". First, set up your brightness to what it would be on battery in OS X, or the "sweet spot" for reproducing this problem. (6 blocks down from full -- use the F1/F2 keys to adjust it) Then, in Power Management, select to turn off monitor after 1 minute. It will take a while (a minute per try), but you should be able to get the stripes in XP as well this way. If you reproduce it, please post the evidence so that people can point to it when Apple claims it's a "software problem".

If you know a command line or keyboard shortcut to sleep the display in Windows. If you sleep the entire machine, Windows seems to smack the crap out of the display when waking, so it tends to reset the stripes in the same way that ctrl-shift-esc does in OS X. The only rundll32 command I've found for sleeping sleeps the entire computer, which doesn't help reproduce it as well.

I can no longer reproduce it at all because it would appear that my replacement MacBook doesn't have a defective backlight.

Hi all!

I have exactly the same problem. I bought my laptop 3 months ago and I'm having the following issues :

1- "Strange vertical stripes" problem (led backlight)
2- The mura problem (explained in detail here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7895530&#7895530)

The vertical stripes visited me only once (yesterday). I did not try to recreate the problem. I'm sort of waiting to see at which interval it occurs during normal use. However my MBP was running on batteries when this occurred. Keeping in mind that most of the MBP's we're talking about carry defective graphics chipsets from Nvidia this could be an issue with the 8600M GT's power management.

Did anyone find any cure for this?

I just saw the bands on my early 2008 MBP for the first time this morning. The machine had sat for the night suspended with a really low battery, and showed the bands upon waking. I was plugging in an LCD projector and when I had the MBP detect displays the problem resolved itself.

Count me in too.

Bought my MBP 2.5 8600GT512 on Jun 23. Refurbished. I probably got one of the other posters previous MBP. I'm ******.

The stripes have appeared twice for me, yesterday and today. I got the stripes both times by unplugging the magsafe connector. Closing the lid and opening it up again corrected the problem. I made a genius bar appointment even before seeing this thread. This should never occur even once. As far as it being a hardware or software issue, IT is definately Hardware. Since we are on 10.5.5 now and this has been happening for over several iterations of OS upgrades, if it were a software issue Apple probably would have addressed it already.

I'm going Sunday. Will post again afterwards with the results.

Count me too - I have refurbished MBP 2.6 (early 2008)from the beginning of this month and got same problems till that moment.

Just came from Toronto Apple store with new screen now. Mac genius had been informed about all these troubles and suggestions. He also had been informed about type of screen (Samsung) for replacement and the method of check (Photo Booth bla-bla-bla.) He also told that backlit (which actually makes these troubles) had been changed together with screen as one solid set as I understood.

I checked new screen in-store and in my place right and all looks like fixed. crossing fingers to keep this status quo forever!