Q: MacBook Pro screen blinks

My Late 2008 macbook pro has been to the gods at apple 2 times in the past month and a bit as the trackpad was broken and the machine more than occasionally wont turn on.....first time they fixed the trackpad YEAH!! replaced optical drive and replaced the logic board.......machine still didnt want to turn on.....it was sent away again and they replaced the logic board again   waited 2 weeks this time got it out the box etc etc charged it up AND.........it didnt turn on lols    managed to get it to go on by pressing the button repeatedly for about 10 mins which is what made me send it away in the first place and it hasnt been off since ( bout 5 days) and now i notice.....youve guessed it that deadly flicker you guys have been on about. At first i thought it was my eyes but now i know its there bout once every ten minutes or so...SO for the third time apple will be getting called and the machine sent away as i need it desperately for work...........

Update!

Despite the guarantee had expired the damage to the screen has been recognized under warranty and now I have a new screen after 48 hours at no cost!

Thanks Apple

Nice! But the question is will it start to blink again? Then you will use again the 9600 and same story. I hope you won't have the problem again. It is maybe the answer for all of us. Get your screen to snap by using the 9600 so that Apple actually starts looking at our computers...

of the 2008 unibody MBPs there are some that have half the problem and some that have all of the problem...

but ether way you will have a problem

The wrong soldier was used on both GPUs (9400M and 9800 GT) (nVidia's fault) after a little heat stressing this breaks down and cracks causing flickering or complete failure. The later 2008 boards and the replacement boards, had this fixed for the 9600M but not the 9800GT which so far appears to be less affected?? this was found with an X-Ray someone did of a revised board to determine the composition of the soldier used on each of the components.

However I think most of the flickering problems that people have now with the 9600M (even on the revised boards) is a separate issue, as it only happens with specific kexts, prior to 10.6.4 you will not get this flicker... and somewhere along the line up to  10.6.8 (at least for me) i think they fixed or worked around the flicker. It was usually quite easy to provoke this flicker with embedded flash videos for some reason... some videos even caused complete freeze ups.

So make sure your OS is up to date.

I have the 10.6.8 OS.

It has never flickered on the 9600M GT. But the problem has always been on the 9400M. And it is still flickering today...

blehm i got my 9600 9400 9800 s mixed up.

Did you have your logic board replaced? it might be one of the older ones with bad soldier that needs replacing.

I've had a screen replacement and two logic board replacements so far. Both of the logic board replacements took two weeks each since the depot had to wait for a part. I've been without my computer for over five weeks for all the replacements, four of those being the entire month of August. It's getting ridiculous. The issue is still present.

I didn't get anything replaced because I don't have apple care. The warranty is out and I need to pay around 700€ to get the logic board replace. So it flickers...

So what is the deal here?  My MBP 2008 model just started blinking on the screen.  Its just (within last 6 months) been back and had the logic board replaced and this is the first time I've ever seen anything like this.

I took the computer apart and unplugged and replugged the monitor, put it back together and now its not blinking at the moment but the back light is 1/2 its normal brightness and won't turn up any higher. 

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Ah I see we are now up to 88 pages of posts in this thread, the largest in the discussion forum by far.

Isn't it amazing that the Mac magazines don't mention this.

Whatever happened to investigative journalism?

I originally posted on this problem back in October 2009, and now we are nearly two years later and the problem has still not been fixed by Apple.

Reading the posts over the years it seems to be the solder on the 9400 chipset that turns faulty in use.

There really isn't a sensible fix for it, as the design is faulty.

So those with Applecare get new laptops, and the rest of us get nothing, or worse, a fruitless repair loop.

Of course the laptop is still usable, if you admire 2 hours batttery life and a hot lap, and don't keep sending it for repair.

But it is not what we paid for, is it?

I still think, as I mentioned earlier, that the best deal would be for Apple to give owners a good discount on their next MBP.  I am thinking like 500 Euros.  That way we and Apple could both cut our losses and put this behind us.

How about it Apple?

My ordeal is finally past.  I am typing this on a new 15" MacBook Pro.  I want to commend the staff at the Knoxville, TN Apple store for their efforts in resolving my issues.  To recap, I've had flickering when running on the shared graphics for the past couple of years and had resorted to mostly running on the dedicated graphics.  However, as I was traveling more, I needed battery life.  While traveling, I also found out that the ethernet port on the laptop was no longer working.  Here's what Chris and Dan at the Apple Store did:

• They took it in and replaced the main logic board (MLB) to deal with the ethernet port issue.  There were problems with the laptop not working correctly (MLB couldn't be initialized0.

• They ordered another MLB and installed it and had the same issue.  I had to travel for business so they got the laptop working for what was needed but some things didn't work (couldn't get into the iTunes store, couldn't upgrade SW (not that I needed to), etc.).

• When I returned after my week's worth of travel, I dropped it off again on Saturday and they installed a V2 MLB (the previous 2 were V1 MLBs) and had it back to me on Sunday.

• I had to travel again for business and pleasure and over the 2.5 weeks I was gone, I logged the times that the screen flickered and even captured video on a few occasions.

• When I returned, I told them the flickering was still occuring and they said that, since I had Apple Care, there was nothing else to do but provide me with the equivalent current model.

Since the 3rd MLB that was installed also exhibited the same issue, I don't know that it's the solder on the boards.  I don't know what the issue is but it definitely was an issue for me.  And Apple took care of me.

I got the base 15" but bumped up the RAM to 8GB, paying the difference for the RAM.  No more flicker and a nice (very), new laptop.

My suggestion is, if you can take a digital camera that records video or an iPhone, capture some of your computer doing it and note the date and time (I kept the recording going and activated the date-time on the menu bar so that it was captured right after the event).  Present your case and keep working with them.  If you don't have AppleCare, that could be an issue but it would be good if Apple were to do something like you suggest (discount on a new MBP).

You are lucky! Apple did it's job for your situation. But they always do something as long as you have apple care. Since that thread has started a lot of people got screen, logic board, or even the whole computer replaced. In those cases Apple does it's job.

The problem is when it comes to people not having apple care. The problem seems to be identified as a soldering default. Are all the people not having apple care responsible for the manufacturing default? Therefor they have to pay to get a working MacBook pro?

It seems that the problem is so big for Apple that they don't want to do anything because it would be too much money and logistics involved. But how much will they loose on long term customer satisfaction? Like Bill spears said, the thread is still active after more than 2 years. Still nothing is done and my screen flickers ... Or my battery lasts 1h30! I can choose!

I'm confused. You guys keep talking about screen flicker or battery life.  What are you doing to get the screen to work that causes the battery to stop working?

Thanks,

Switching from the integrated graphics to the discrete (separate) graphics card.  It consumes much more power.

I have a similar issue with my late 2008 15" Macbook Pro. The screen flickers on the 9400 graphics card, and is completely fine on the 9600 card. My mother wants to take my laptop in for repairs, but I keep telling her that a lot of people with my model have taken their laptops in for repairs, and nothing fixed it. I'm perfectly content with working on the 9600 card. I don't think its worth taking my computer in constantly just to get it back and see the flickering again.

Granted, I still have apple care, but I am a graphic desginer who also does freelance work and can't have my computer away from me for to long. A few days is bad enough, but a week? To much. The only problem I have with the 9600 card is that it makes my computer run a little hotter. Sure, if I take it in a bunch of times I'll get a new laptop, but again, having my computer away for a long period of time is a hindrence.