Q: display anomalies

Hello All,

I've been following this topic for quite a while and wanted to post my experience.

I too had been experiencing the problems that everyone else here is having: horizontal lines, CMYK blocks, display black-outs, freezing, and the most annoying little burn spots on my display (presumably from overheating.) I bought my MacBook Pro 2GHz in July 2006 and did not purchase any sort of Apple Care. I started having the problems around November of 2008 and didn't think much of it. After it got worse I reinstalled OS X and then eventually still had the exact same problems, of course. I made several calls to Apple Customer Care and they all told me the same thing, go see a Genius and since I live in College Station, TX, I decided to put it off for a while. I installed SMC fan control and that seemed to help. Eventually I got fed up with it and decided to take my computer to the genius bar (early August of 2009.)

*Let me summarize at this point: My computer is 2 YEARS out of warranty, I have a dying logic board, and dark splotches on my display. Oh, that and the fact that I am NOT paying 800 to have my logic board replaced, forgot about that.*

So I went into the Apple Store in the Woodlands and sat down with a genius for about an hour and half and left with an agreement that it would be fixed for FREE, contingent upon me putting the original HD back in (I had done an upgrade.) I drove home to College Station, replaced my HD, and brought it back to the Woodlands. I received my computer back today (2 weeks later) and saw the most beautiful bill ever:

*Tier 4 Accidental Damage: $0.00*
*Labor: $0.00*

*And in the notes: Replaced logic board, Display.*
It's like a new computer!

Now, I didn't do anything terribly special to convince the Genius of the fact that I shouldn't pay for this repair, but I think a few things did help.

1) I was extremely polite. I told him that I knew it wasn't his fault and I'm sorry if I made it sound like I was blaming him. I apologized for making him miss his lunch break. I made small talk while he ran tests.

2) I wouldn't take "no" for an answer. About 5 seconds in he told me he couldn't do anything for me because I was out of warranty, to the tune of 2 years. I then explained that I was indeed out of warranty, but believed that this was a manufacturer's defect as opposed to user error. Eventually, I got him to admit that I had chosen a lemon, a defective computer. At that point, it was fairly simple.

3) I knew what I was talking about, as does everyone here. But don't attack them.

4) I shut up. I told him everything I knew, what I thought the problem was, and how I wasn't really responsible for this problem, and then I shut up. I was silent for about 3 or 4 minutes as he did tests, and it got pretty awkward. But sometimes, silence is incredibly powerful.

5) I was polite. He got paid the same amount whether he helped me or not, so what's in it for him? Why on earth would he feel inclined to help someone who is rude? Just be nice to the poor Geniuses.

6) I got lucky.

I hope this helps someone, but please know that Apple does take care of its customers. I am sitting here with a new logic board, display, and all my money still in my pocket to prove it.

Please feel free to ask any questions.

Am i going completely insane... or have the last 6 (THAT'S SIX!) posts been deleted... I have them on record in my inbox... can any one explain please, i'm being very polite...

I'll remind folks again of the "non technical" reference:

http://www.sfmslaw.com/pages/cases.php?id=779

Cheers, John0

yes John0 - the LAST SIX POSTS HAVE BEEN DELETED - with NO NOTICE OR REASON GIVEN, i've had enough... please notify me with your info so i can take this matter up with some interested 3rd parties.
bennett

also - you will notice that apple has now begun reviewing the posts on this forum BEFORE they are posted to the site... something it DOESN'T do on its other forums.
love the fact that they kept the page long thread from the happy MBP user who got his mac fixed for free by being polite...
i chastised mcgjc for suggesting that this post was some kind of Apple disinformation tactic but NOW i'm not sure...
b
i just need 50...

I didn't mean to tick everyone off, I just thought I'd tell you how I got mine fixed. As far as working for Apple, I don't. I'm a student of Accounting at Texas A&M.

I don't know why the last posts were deleted, but the post right after mine just basically made fun of me (imagine that) and then claimed that he has always been polite so I posted "That was nice" after his. That's at least 2 of the missing posts.

Enjoy

Message was edited by: aaronfrancis

Same problem...since Apple has done nothing about this I'm just gonna purchase a Dell desktop tomorrow so I can have a computer that works. Hopefully we can see a good resolution to this problem soon.

There is a new "mini" coming out from Asus, it's only supposed to be about $300 with linux on it. It should be pretty fast, and maybe it can be setup for running other OS. But as a cheap solution or a temporary fix it might be a good idea. I basically run my laptop at home anyways. There is always other options, if you get too fed up from nothing happening here.

I've been "dealing" with this issue FOREVER! Mine started doing the whole line and random square patches and freezing back in 2007. I believe this is definitely a chipset manufacture problem. I have try dealing with AppleCare and in Store. None will take this problem seriously.

I have also signed up with the class action case link posted by other users.

I have a hard time believing that "no one" has complain about this problem to Apple or ATI. Simply put, they are trying to brush a problem under the rug.

On the technical side, has anyone else been able to suppress the problem? Any other way to keep it cooler? I'm a photographer and I use this Macbook Pro 17" on location to do my editing and once Photoshop get heavy on usage it will continue to freeze. It will continue to freeze till I let it sit for hours to "cool down". I have Fan Control running and it's max'd out at 6000rpm. Like some have mention I can simply have Firefox running Itunes and it would start to have the screen problem, and eventually freeze.

mbze430 - sometime ago i wrote a rather long post listing the various things i have done to try and minimize this problem - you can look at it here http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=9574285#9574285 for a detailed account - but briefly, here are my tricks in no particular order:
1) Fan Control Pref Pane - Base Speed 2000; Lower Threshold 47°; Upper Threshold 70° (i prefer Fan Control to SMC Fan Control b/c i don't have to keep tweaking it - set it once and forget it).
2) CoolBook - i haven't done any systematic before and after studies with this app but it seems as if its helping... try for yourself. for a list of my settings (the settings for this app can be very confusing) you'll have to find my earlier post as it takes a while to write em all out.
3) i bought a ThermaPak Heatshift pad (amazon has em) - it uses a chemical process to absorb heat, so no noisy cooling fans and it's not too bulky to carry around - it seems to reduce the operating temp by about 5-7° which is not too shabby... it also allows me to once again use the MBP while lying in bed! this alone makes it worth the $29...
4) a lo-tech tactic - *shut down your machine whenever possible*. i never used to shut down my mac laptops... just let em stay on with screen savers or put em to sleep - but i've found that leaving my MBP on even while sleeping makes it run way hotter than if i shut it off between uses.
5) get iStat - it doesn't help with cooling your machine but it gives you a very comprehensive readout of your cpu/gpu/battery/heatsink etc etc temperatures.

anyway - the upshot of all these tweaks and tricks is my MBP runs at around 50-55° consistently and only really complains when i stream video for more than 20-25 minutes or work on a particularly large PS project (which is often!)... BUT i almost never get more than a few of the pixelated horizontal lines appearing and disappearing - very nearly no freezes and crashes at all!

the only times its crashed or frozen was when i was streaming HD video for longer than 25min or using PS with really large files that caused PS to swap RAM in and out with virtual memory...

so - it's nothing to brag about for a "top-of-the-line" machine of course... BUT it's a noticeable improvement, and it makes the machine usable again about 75% of the time.

so until Apple caves in and gives us all new logicboards or new machines or discounts on new machines or whatever - this'll have to do...
good luck,
bennett

I have the same problems with heat and video with ATI 1600 chip- bennett's tips for running cool are very good ones, and I can only currently use my machine for the most basic stuff- If I try to run Aperture or anything heavy, I'll get the diagonal square pattern and a freeze up.

I just posted about it in another thread here: http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10066064#10066064

-- Shawn

< Edited by Host >

Just a thought -
Has anyone with problems upgraded to Snow Leopard?
I noticed it makes my machine run noticeably cooler, so I was thinking it might help with the heat problems.

Yup, I just got the few pixel high weird display lines with a fresh install of Snow Leopard in Safari.

I have also my MacBook Pro repaired for free.

I live in Argentina, but I have bought my MacBook Pro 17" in New Zealand, 2 and a half years ago. The machine was not under the 1 year guarantee and I haven't got AppleCare (that extends the guarantee to 3 years).

After having really strong screen problems (the machine was impossible to use), I took it to an Authorized Service Agent in Buenos Aires (MacStation) and in 3 weeks I have my MacBook Pro 17" repaired. They have replaced the logic board and consider this as ”customer satisfaction”. Therefore, it doesn't cost me a penny.

I am thankful with Apple and its local Authorized Service Agent, MacStation.

My grateful to Apple post about having my machine fixed gratis seems to have been removed. How odd.

They also deleted my post about how they deleted part of another of my posts. Even odder.