Q: display anomalies

Add me to the list, I'm having all the horizontal lines, color splashes, freezing and heat issues listed. I have loved this Mac Book Pro for four years and lobbied for Mac to every friend I know. But it looks like it is the end of the road. I am disappointed that while under Mac warranty I came to the mac store with the same problems I have now (just not as bad) and the "geniuses" were unable to diagnose the problem and advised replacing the hard drive. Now, after loosing everything and re installing the operating system twice and countless forced restarts I am 8 months out of warranty and not wanting to put more money in to this computer with new mac book pros and HP Envys coming out. If mac can't fix this problem they might be loosing one of their biggest fans.

I thought this thread had died, as i wasnt getting anymore emails about it. How weird........ i certainly didnt unsubscribe myself...so who did?

Oh yea, my MBP is now sat on a shelf, it stays there and is never used. It looks great but isnt worth what i paid for it.

Message was edited by: spagbol23

Add me to the list. Horizontal lines. screen freezing. I wish I had stumbled upon this thread before upgrading to Snow Leopard.

Though I upgraded so I could sync my wife's iPad, so there wasn't much choice really.

I'm hoping Apple will come up with some correction for this, but remain doubtful considering this is a 49 page thread going on for a couple years now. I shouldn't have to buy a new macbook pro just because I upgraded the OS, especially when my specs meet system requirements listed by apple.

Add me to this list. Exactly the same problem, with a first gen MacBook Pro with the ATI Radeon X1600. I reported it to Apple via the link in this thread.

I posted a message earlier that I guess the Moderator did not like. Nothing too naughty, just detailing the problem and mentioning briefly some of the other issues this laptop has had. Thanks, Apple.

I've got an appointment at the Genius Bar tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Any luck Alan? I have the exact same problems everyone has listed here. I have been to the Genius bar before and they will not help, say I have to pay some $600 to have apple fix whatever is wrong with it, not to mention I have to put in all of the original apple hardware products the computer came with.

Is the solution to this problem buying a new graphics processor chip?

Add two more users to this list. My wife and I both have 15" MacBook Pro's (1.1, Core Duo). I just installed Snow Leopard last week on both machines and the video glitches have appeared. At first I though it was something isolated to her computer, but I noticed the cursor on my computer was garbled this morning. She plays a lot of Flash games on her computer so the fans are going full speed often. I understand this problem may be a heat issue so it makes sense her computer would have the problem. My computer was a bit of a surprise, because I don't play Flash games, but I have noticed the top left corner of my computer seems very hot lately. I too had AppleCare on these machines but it ran out a while ago.

I also recently installed Snow Leopard, just a few days before the display problems occurred. My wife has a twin machine to mine (both first gen 17" MacBook Pro), and has been running Snow Leopard for some time with no display glitches.

So I brought this issue to the local Genius Bar and they seemed to be unaware of the problem, but were aware of the Nvidea card issue. Since my laptop was out of warranty, they offered a one-time $310 blanket fee to fix whatever was wrong with it if it was not caused by misuse or accidental damage. I was told this takes about a week before I get my machine back.

I'll update later to let you guys know how this works out.

Their offer doesn't sound that good, considering the whole machine is now worth maybe twice that much (tops). For the update, my MBP 1.1 is still running "good". As in "it hasn't died on me yet".

Hot summer may kill it though, I'm quite pessimistic nowadays.

Yeah, I thought about that. However, it was worth it to me to have a working laptop that I can use, especially if it turns out I don't have to re-install everything and update. I really shouldn't be spending the money right now to get a new system, and if I did it would most likely be a new desktop.

UPDATE:

I got my machine back today. Apple had it for exactly one week. The Product Repair Summary that returned with my laptop states that Apple replaced the Logic Board (Item#630-7406) and the Video Display Panel (Item# 646-0310). I see no mention of the Radeon X1600 graphics card in the description of replaced parts.

So far it seems like the strange flickering lines and color bars are gone. Also, the machine has not frozen yet. But there are still issues with garbled graphics in Flash. This was while I was in Safari 5.

I mentioned previously that I'd installed Snow Leopard a few days before all these issues cropped up. I'm wondering if this leftover issue is a software issue or hardware issue.

I'm going to test out Flash in Firefox next, to see if the issues I'm experiencing are isolated to Flash in Safari.

So you payed the $310? I would do that but I have put in a new hard drive and new Ram and they tell me I need to have only apple products in my computer. I have heard that Snow leopard uses the video card much more than previous versions to help speed up its performance.

Hello everyone, thankfully i found this thread with useful information, just to let you know that i too have the same issue with horrible lockups and freezes and stripes exactly like the ones on the Youtube videos and pics (The fade to white crash happened to me the other day, i just freaked out) that just want to make you pull your hair out.

I was reading the thread and noticed that some fellas have gone trough 2 or even 3 Logic Board replacements, and the issue just reapears a couple of months later, so i dont know, is there no real solution for this?? only that apple would do something to compensate the great amount of money that people had put into repairs and replacements for a machine that should be, as many of you said, a "luxury vehicle" instead of a lemon.

I do agree that for $2000-$3000 bucks the quality should be up to standards, so hopefully we'll get a response eventually, i signed some petition that is now up to 101 signatures hoping for a response.

Best Regards
Eduardo

PD: I read the copper coin solution, this is just hilarious, i can't believe that people have to go throug all that just to get a "quality product" going.

Hi Alan,
Which Apple store did you take it to? I also live in Seattle and have the same problems as everyone else with my first gen MacBook Pro.

Adding myself to the list. Macbook Pro feeling hotter than usual. At first weird trapezoids then large pixels filling the whole screen. Then can't get beyond startup with garbled graphics.
Took it to see a Mac genius, sent for repair $310 flat fee.

Yes, we just submitted a MacBook Pro for a “Depot Repair” or “flat rate repair”. They fixed it 100%, even replaced part of the external case since it had a slight ding and this covers everything you submit that needs fixed.

We also think that it’s unfortunate that someone has to pay any amount to repair something that truly is a manufacturer defect (ATI’s graphic card), and after suffering years of issues from the beginning, but at least this is an option that Apple offers and it will keep you from having to ditch the whole thing.

It looks like this MacBook Pro may live like new for a while longer, but we really think keeping a computer longer than 3 years is where you start to see significant performance and new technology limitations. It is a great for surfing the web and checking your email… and as long as new versions of Mac OS X support it, we’ll probably keep it around.

So, after a long time of helping others with their sick MacBook Pro’s ATI, as well as dealing with one of our own, we consider this resolved and will be satisfied that Apple did have an acceptable option even though it was not covered for free. We will be hesitant and are not big fans of ATI GPUs… heck, NVIDIA had problems of their own that they initially denied, but at least it was addressed and Apple offered extended repair coverage….