MacBook Pro screen blinks

I'm having this problem too and I'm pretty sure mine is related to retrieving a lost mailbox off of Time Machine. My comp had a hard time digesting all of the new messages being added in Mail. Everything slowed down temporarily and Mail disappeared and was inaccessible. When it finally reappeared with the new emails, I noticed the intermittent blinks. I'm thinking about taking into the Genius bar, but I'm concerned that it happens so infrequently that I'll be unable to reproduce it on site. Any idea what could be causing it?

I'm seeing the same problem on my macbook pro late 2008 that I just bought this weekend:( The screen just blanks out very quickly(for about 300ms) from time to time.

I can not relate the problem to any specific application, the macbook pro was running just find for maybe 2 hours in the morning before this started to happen. Now its occurring with a frequency of maybe 10 minutes or so:(

This is my first mac and I really like the machine and the OS so far except for this issue.

I will call Apple on Monday to check if there is any resolution to this problem.

mine has started blinking recently at an annoying rate - sometimes 10-20 per minute - this started a few months back and I thought it was a software issue - but since I have started looking into it - it appears the gfx card is at fault - an Nvidia 8600m GT - I think I'm going to bring it in for repairs before it dies completely.

Just a quick update, seems like the problem goes away if I switch over to the 9600m GT graphics chip.

I have now been running for several hours without any flickering...

Yes, I am having the same issue aswell, seems to be getting worse. The big question here is if there is a software solution which can be resolved via an update or if there is indeed a issue with the graphics cards? Maybe the dual graphics card construction wasn´t such a great idea? or is this just a faulty batch of early machines. if this keeps persisting then maybe I will have to get a replacement.

Also om my screen there are "sparkling" artifacts over the screens at times.

Just to add on to my last post, after switching over to the faster 9600M card things appeared to have been resolved, however this is of course not a long term solution.

The key Question remains: is this a software issue or is it due to a faulty NVIDIA 9400M graphic chip?

does the screen actually blank out on and off? or is it just a mild pulsing?

Flickers and blinks, top half of screen goes black for a milli second then whole screen might do the same, then it´s ok for 10.20 seconds and it starts again.

As stated, when using the faster graphics chip all is well.
Software? or faulty slow chip?

This article just came out, scary reading:
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/11/29/nvidia-heat-causing-macbo oks

Who knows if this is true or not, but it sure feels like there could be some truth to this since the problem goes away when using the 9600 GPU.

If the 9400 GPU's are barely with-in spec this could explain why not everyone are experiencing the problem.

I gave Apple here in Sweden a call this morning. Seems like I will have to go through the normal software check-up procedure tonight with the Apple support, and then see how to proceed from there.

I have the same problem, but in my MBP, only blinks the screen when work with the gforce 9400, I hope that problem will are software.... if any have a solution please say we!

thaanks

My MacBook Pro blinks as well, but there doesn't seem to be any specific event that triggers it. Not to be dumb but how do I switch to the 9600 GPU to see if that stops it? Thanks!

Hi,

you can change the graphics chip via the systempreferences under the "energy saver" lightbulb icon.

In addition to earlier postings in this thread, I changed over to the faster graphics chip and the blinking and visual artifacts dissapeared. The good news is (at least for the moment) that when i changed back to the native chip the problems seem to have gone.

Another thought is that, after reading the link/article on malfunctioning N chips, the problem seemed to have to do with over heating, which to my mind seems illogical as i had usually had the problems directly after a (cold) start-up.

So considering that the problems dissapered after switching back and forth between chips and that the original problems occured while the comouter was still cold, does imply some sort of soft ware problem. Come on Apple, let´s have a fix.

i use the fast graphic chipset and every 5 minutes my screen blinks black then
comes right back again.. occurs most all the time, no matter what i am doing
or if its idle.