Q: Strange vertical stripes - Continued

Keep us posted if it worked.

I have the same problem and I am expecting Apple to correct the issue....if only they would address it!

I should add that in addition to the vertical stripe problem, this MBP has other problems, like the display staying dark after waking from sleep, and brightness & display settings magically resetting themselves after a restart. I don't know if the issues are related, but it seems like a lot of power management issues in general. Anyone else have this combination?

THERE IS NOTHING THAT APPLE CAN DO AT THE MOMENT


that's what I have been told today from a service technician, who wanted to repair the defect, after I finally decided to bring my MBP in! He told me that he was enthusiastic to get this fixed because he owns the same model with the same defect. So he spoke to apple over the telephone for a really long time. Apple checked back internally if there is any news about this defect, but there's nothing but the silly support document!!!

So don't bring your MBPs in for service, GET YOUR MONEY BACK!!!!!!!!

Day three and still doing fine after the change in calibration profile. I will check back in on day 5. So far so good. Got this idea because no one had reported seeing the stripes when using Windows and gamma is one of the things different between Mac and PC settings (at least I think it is).

Well then, consider this a report of seeing the stripes in Windows (via Boot Camp, not VMWare/Parallels)

I strongly suspect the reason there aren't many reports of this in Windows is because it's a bit stupid to buy a MacBook Pro running OS X only to use Windows on it in the end. Many people who buy MacBook Pros probably buy them to run OS X. There are much cheaper Windows laptops out there.

One of the reasons I bought the MacBook Pro is because I can boot to Windows at work, and boot to OS X the rest of the time (as much as possible.) As intermittent as the problem is, and as little as I suspect most MBPs are running Windows, you simply aren't going to get a lot of reports. It doesn't mean anything.

(I also get the vertical stripes when I boot the machine, before ANY operating system is loaded)

I have a 2 week old MPB 15". The vertical stripes are definately a design fault. I would say that the reason that Apple can't repair this by a software update is because the fault is at the output side of the LED driver circuit. Apple may be are hoping that the fault 'goes away' and that all they have to do is replace a few machines where the user is less patient. Of course when the next model is issued the fault may well disappear - over time (probably at about the same rate as their reputation for being better and different in the marketplace disappears as users rebel against poor design and the focus on the cash-cow $phone). Its a shame that an issue like this should be going on so long. It would be understandable in a $600 cheapo laptop - its unacceptable in a 'professional level' machine.

Well there goes that theory. Could you please post a picture of the stripes when running Windows as this would be the first time some of us are seeing this phenomenon and will provide further proof to others that this may be hardware and not software or firmware based. I also bought the MB Pro because I like OS X but needed to dual boot to Windows because of work. All of our laboratory equipment runs on Windows software so I really don't have a choice if I want to analyze most of my data.

Jesse Munoz wrote:
Well there goes that theory. Could you please post a picture of the stripes when running Windows as this would be the first time some of us are seeing this phenomenon and will provide further proof to others that this may be hardware and not software or firmware based. I also bought the MB Pro because I like OS X but needed to dual boot to Windows because of work. All of our laboratory equipment runs on Windows software so I really don't have a choice if I want to analyze most of my data.

I cannot post pictures under Windows at this time because I have just shipped (today!) my MBP to AppleCare for repair. When it comes back with the same problem, I will try to get a picture up of the problem while running under Windows. In the meantime, setting your brightness to a little above half and ensure your screensaver is set to sleep the display, and if you set it down to 1 minute, you might be able to reproduce it pretty quickly in Windows. There's actually more control of the brightness via OS X, so it's easier to reproduce there. (Maybe there's a Windows utility to force the screen to sleep? Does the shortcut to sleep the screen work under BootCamp? I didn't even think to try until just now.)

It was a difficult decision since sending the machines in for repair seems to not work, and in the worst case results in a damaged machine in return. I decided that if I am to take any further action (such as asking for a full refund), I have to at least give Apple the chance to repair it contrary to the overwhelming evidence against it.

This whole thing is very sad.

I just bought my MBP on this past Sunday and saw this issue last night while running PhotoBooth. I have played with backlight a lot and taken almost 100 more photos in photobooth and have not been able to reproduce the issue.

At this point, should I return it for a new one within my 2 weeks (Apple Store is 50 miles away), or is this an issue that will only pop up randomly?

I sent my MacBook Pro in for repair. It's gone now, and I don't really expect it to come back any better, and maybe worse than when I sent it in. I suppose I am writing this so that future generations of strange stripey screen afflicted MacBook Pro owners can understand our struggle.

_*Super Unofficial "Strange Vertical Stripes" FAQ*_

* *What is the "Strange Vertical Stripes" problem?*

The MacBook Pro model introduced in early 2008 has a defect in which some of the LEDs do not turn on which results in a "spotlight" or "strange vertical stripes" effect. An description and image showing the problem is available on the apple web site at http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1258 although my description is much better.

atomic wedgie first posted about this in the Apple discussion forums on March 2 in the thread "Strange Vertical Stripes". The original thread around this problem hit over 60,000 views before the counter was reset, and had to be continued in this thread because the original thread was locking up browsers. People are reporting the problem with MacBook Pros purchased as early as February 2008, and as recently as July 29th. In all, six months without any solid answers.

+Some aliases for this problem:+
Intermittent LED backlight problem
Spotlight LED backlight problem (because it looks like spotlights)
Intermittent dark bands
Strange vertical stripes
LED/LCD/Display curtain issue (because it looks like curtains, it's like that old young woman/old woman illusion. Are they curtains or are they spotlights?)
MacBook Pro stripey failures

* *What can I do about it?*

You can take your MacBook Pro to an Apple store, or call AppleCare and have it serviced. Unfortunately, many have reported that the problem persists after both screen and logic board replacements. Some people are wary of sending their machines in for repair when there is very little to suggest that it will help, and brand new machines can come back from repair with scratches and dents and still have the problem.

* *No, really. What can I do about it?*

As an interim solution, there are a few workarounds:

When the LEDs fail to come on, give them another chance:

Hit CONTROL-SHIFT-EJECT (thanks jamesd) which will sleep the screen, then wake it and the stripes will probably be gone. If not, try again.

In the Expose & Spaces preferences, set one of your screen corners to "Sleep Display" This has the same effect as ctrl-shift-eject without the exhausting trip to the keyboard (thanks norf13)

Reboot your computer. Nevermind. That's horrible. Don't do that.

The problem can be reproduced with some reliability when the brightness is about half (Full minus 6 blocks is the rule of thumb here). Using PhotoBooth's picture function with said brightness setting can trigger the symptom, so the following steps may reduce occurrence of the problem:

Set your brightness to maximum
Set your brightness to minimum
Turn off ambient light sensor brightness and turn to full brightness

* *What causes this problem?*

The cause is unknown, although there are many theories, with the most interesting ones involving bunnies. The important thing is that sometimes not all the LEDs in the backlight come on when the display does, and it looks and smells like a manufacturing or design defect.

* *Does Apple acknowledge this?*

Officially, yes. The tech support note TS1258 (thanks essd) discusses the problem. If you are a developer, ADC bug id# 5751843 specifies this problem (thanks again, essd) In reality, the response from various Apple store employees and AppleCare employees has ranged from "I've never ever seen or heard of this before" to "We know about it and we're not taking machines for repair because we don't know what to do about it." Lacking Borg technology, it is difficult for Apple to update all tens of thousands of employees with all the relevant knowledge of everything that is happening. As made apparent by recent commercials, Apple still relies on interoffice memos (containing MacBook Airs) to communicate this sort of information.

* *Is it an operating system problem? Does 10.5.x fix it?*

The problem occurs on a cold boot before the operating system even loads, and has occurred in Windows via Boot Camp. While installs of various versions of OS X result in apparent changes in frequency of the problem, reports are mixed. The problem has been observed on all available versions of Mac OS X for the MacBook Pro (Early 2008) from 10.5.2 to 10.5.4, clean installs, and upgrades. Diagnostics report normal operation.

* *Is it a firmware problem?*

Without knowing the cause, firmware cannot be ruled out, but it is very unlikely that a firmware upgrade can resolve this problem. At best, the firmware sends commands through DPMS, and short of removing the ability to adjust the brightness, there aren't a huge number of possibilities for the firmware to change how it interacts with the display. Also, there is some evidence to suggest that the exact same problem occurred with some Dell XPS M1330 models and is simply a (large) bad manufacturing run of backlights (thanks Mark) Mark says, "The technician that came out said that it was pressure points on the screen during manufacturing and certain screens were damaged. Mine had exactly that pattern… like every other LED was out."

* *Can I reset the PRAM/SMC or repair permissions fix it?*

You certainly can. You can also light incense and pray that it will stop, scold the machine, or withhold software. Some people have reported luck with sacrificing a PC laptop. Since the problem is intermittent, you can even pretend it helped for weeks or even a month at a time. If that helps. I had the flu once and repair permissions fixed it, so I think it's worth a shot.

* *Does changing the background picture fix it?*

No. Changing the background picture to something with a lot of variations in brightness can hide the problem better than solid color backgrounds, but it is a backlight problem and the LEDs are not lit regardless of the background. In fact, if you take a picture of the problem, then set that as your desktop picture, then you may never see the problem again. You could also make a picture of spotlights at the top of the screen and then it looks intentional. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

* *It is only a problem with glossy|matte screens?*

No. The problem is well reported among owners of both glossy and matte displays, although it's a sexier defect with a glossy display.

* *Are you angry?*

Yeah, I'm angry, and disappointed. There are rumors of a new MacBook Pro coming out, and mine has been defective since I ordered it new six months ago. It's not very defective, but it is. But you know, this stuff happens. And in all, this is really annoying, but there's a lot worse. CTRL-SHIFT-EJECT or sleep your display and the problem goes away. You could live in Darfur. You can't CTRL-SHIFT-EJECT Darfur and make the problems go away, so count your blessings.

* *But Apple stuff is perfect. It's flawless. Steve said that Apple buys the best displays!*

Was that a question? Welcome to "Did you know!?"
Did you know that Apple buys the same NVidia, ATI, and intel chips everyone else does? There are only a handful of companies that manufacture LED backlights, and hard drives, and optical drives, and all that... It's true that identical panel models are sorted into grades (a lot like eggs, but not laid by chickens). Panels come in medical grade, grade a, grade b, and it's entirely likely that Apple buys higher grade panels for at least some of their products. Still, that doesn't mean there aren't production problems or design defects. Apple just reported 2.3 million Macs sold, and we know that at least half of those were laptops. If you figure a failure rate of 1% that's around 10000 defective panels. With less than 1000 posts in both threads, and figure for every post, ten people aren't posting, that's about a 1% failure rate, which actually is pretty high, but I'm not sure it's the end of the world. In any case, I've seen these nightmares with Dell, Toshiba, HP. Nobody is immune, not even Apple.

References:
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/04/28/some-macbook-pros-show-vert ical-striping-display-issues
http://digg.com/apple/Appleignoring_display_problems_on_latest_MacBook_Pro2008
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1423301
http://forums.mactalk.com.au/29/47358-faint-vertical-bands-mbp-screen.html
http://forums.mactalk.com.au/29/50726-have-i-got-mbp-lemon.html#jmp0
http://gadgetsinternet.com/2008/04/01/macbook-pro-led-screens-show-stripey-failu res/#jmp0
http://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mg2729smallnx2.jpg
http://sites.google.com/site/verticalstripesissue/
http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/03/31/problems-with-led-screens-on-penryn-macbook -pro/
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20080508102646188
http://www.macrumors.com/2008/06/17/15-macbook-pro-vertical-striping-issue/
http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/334/C14951/
http://www.ricroberts.com/articles/2008/06/09/macbook-pro-strange-vertical-strip es

Got the same problem, too. Thanks MaxxD for the nice FAQ. What annoys me is the fact that I have one of the most expensive laptops sitting here with such a blatant misbehavior. I am still wondering if I should send it in for repair. I guess I will, otherwise Apple will never notice how big of a problem this is.

hi maxxd

Thanks for this overview. It should be made the first post of this new thread. Will save a lot of people a lot of time and hopefully will inspire more people to post their "me too" stories forcing Apple to finally come up with a solution. APPLE ARE YOU F-ING LISTENING?????

On another note: your witty attempts to put these problems in perspective, work, I'm happy to report

My mbpro, bought mid March 2008, has same problem. decided to finally google it and see if i was the only one. and as with almost all things in life, of course i was not.

Cheers

Great post MaxxD.

<Edited by Moderator>

I'm also having this problem, for what it's worth. Picture here:

http://www.rockythebeaufacat.com/blarg/screen.jpg

I'll just have to add myself to this. I got my new MBP a week ago and ****, this is more than annoying!!!