MacBook Pro screen blinks

My new MacBook Pro display screen is blinking or flickering every few minutes now. I've only noticed it when I've switched to the integrated 9400M graphics processor. I don't recall seeing any blinks when using the discrete 9600M GPU. Usually it is only the top half or so of the display that blinks or flickers for a split second. Anyone else having the same problem?

MacBook Pro (Late 2008), Mac OS X (10.5.5), tv, iPhone, iPod Touch, et al

Posted on Nov 28, 2008 5:28 PM

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1,610 replies

Mar 31, 2009 6:58 PM in response to munchnstuf

Hi,
I bought my MBP way back in October, got it in one of the local stores since Apple could not deliver my online customized MBP without defects.

I do not have the flicker that some suffers at brightness levels from 2-5. But my MBP does occasionally (randomly) "Blinks" (like a blink of an eye, total black-out for split second).

Rarely the entire screen blinks, other times (again, the frequency is random) top half of the screen would blink.

I do not know when did this problem start to occur, didn't pay attention to it until it does it from time to time repeatedly.

The problem I have only seem to occur when the 9400 graphic card is chosen.

Mar 31, 2009 7:05 PM in response to Yu Jen Dennis Hsiao

Mine is brand new 15 inch 2.93 and mine actually blinks at you on my 30 inch display. Looks like a refresh rate issue . My guess this is more a graphics card issue which a new firmware could fix. No I am not bring it back . Mine has two SSD drives. 6gbs of ram in it and right now my only machine. But this does need to get fixed the shimmering effect I am not really seeing on a consistent basis. The blinking is random and just above the half up I get about a 20 wide strip going across the screen on the blink.

Mar 31, 2009 11:15 PM in response to munchnstuf

HI Everyone,

So I spoke to an Apple MacBook Pro product specialist and engineer, and they both felt the issue is a hardware problem rather than software. They had me go in to my local Apple Store for a swap. I oringinally had a 9C84 screen and now have a 9C85 screen WITH absolutely no problems (no flickering) and NO light leakage, which is usually the case with the 9C85 screens. I prefer the 9C85 screens as, per my experience, are not as yellow and display truer color. The blacks are really black, unlike the gray tones on the 9C84.

It's a W89 (11th week of the year) model. I have been running on my replacement unit for a few days now. I will keep you posted on any updates. Glad to have been able to land me a good unit after over a dozen replacements, I kid you not. Keeping my fingers crossed....I wish you all the best.

Some spec's on my MacBook Pro, in case you are wondering:

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP51.007E.B00
SMC Version: 1.41f2
Serial Number: W8911xxxxxx
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

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MacBook Pro screen blinks

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