Q: MacBook Pro screen blinks

Just got an early (refurb) 2009 17" MB Pro delivered, and it appears to flicker when the 9400M is active. I found this thread, and I am wondering if maybe the RAM in the machine could be faulty? Since the 9400M uses shared RAM, rather than the dedicated nVidia RAM on the 9600, could this be a potential root cause?

Anyone tried replacing the RAM (or reseating it) to solve this flickering issue?

Hi all,

just got a call by an apple technician. Just a short update. He told me to send him a video of that flickering/pulsing of the screen which I did.
As I said today he called me and told me to go to a service provider and let them check all the hardware. If there is nothing I should send him another detailed description of my problem.
So, they let me go through all those irrelevant procedures which are not gonna resolve anything of that screen problem.

Someones got luck with exchanging the Macbook?

I don't know if it's solved, but since I upgraded to Snow Leopard I haven't had any problem! I hope it got fixed with the update.

I just put 10.6 on my late 2008 MBP and the upper screen blinking with the 9400 was so frequent I had to go to the 9600 chip and run hot. This is not good. It was just occasional with 10.5.8 and all those before.

aehaas

This is not good indeed. I think I'll hold off on installing 10.6 for now.

I encourage anyone who has this problem to CALL Apple tech support/Applecare and report this to an actual person, if you have not done so already. Get a case number. If enough people do this, then it will be harder for them to give the whole, "Well, that's news to us" trip.

Man, I was gonna look at upgrading my PM 2.0x2 to a MBP for more power and portability but with all these problems I am reading about, forget it. I will stick with my smooth runner for now.

This is sad...

I too am having this issue, it starts right from boot, before the apple logo so it must either be firmware or hardware

2 weeks of having a new 17" built in june and they haven't fixed this, its not on.

This is why I'm holding off on expending my time and effort (Apple store is an hour away) to try to get them to replace the logic board, because what are they going to put in it if the new ones are having the same problem?

What we need is to somehow try to get Apple engineers to figure out what the problem is and solve it! Of course, how to do that...

Why does it say this question is answered? I may be dumb but I don't see the answer - just 25 pages of people with problems. Me too. It is just occasional at the moment, few times a day, and it has just recently started doing it, after 10 months almost daily use. I don't recall it happening with 10.5.7. So maybe something odd changed with 10.5.8? Fix please Apple.

Just Spoken to AppleCae and got the usual, install, pram safe mode etc...

He's not heard the of problem before? Why do they always say that, really annoys me.

My MacBook Pro 15.4" just started to have these blinking/flashing/flickering problem. It goes black randomly for a few milliseconds and then comes back on. And yes, it is usually the top half of the screen. The problem started after I installed Snow Leopard. Apple should address this issue...

I have since installed Snow Leopard, and the problem does appear a bit more frequent now. Before, it was localized to either the top of the screen flashing, or the bottom (Dock area). Now, it seems the whole screen at times flashes for a few ms. The problem showed up in the 10.5.6 load that came with the MB Pro. It is the same or worse in 10.6. Also, it appears more frequently when I open the MB Pro from a sleeping state.

I did find something interesting, though: when plugged into an external screen, the MB Pro LCD continues to blink/flash; however, the external display does not! I would think it would be consistent between the two.

I have an appointment with a local Genius Bar tomorrow, so we'll see what they have to say.

Ive noticed that too on my MacBook Pro 17 connected to Apple's 24" screen, the laptop display blinks but the external does not.

Please let us know about the Apple Care appointment, I cant see this being hardware as such, maybe firmware but I am reluctant to take the laptop in for replacement only to get another with the same issues.

Well, I took it in today to the Genius Bar, and luckily, it acted up immediately. I explained that I had updated through 10.5.6, 10.5.8 and finally 10.6, so the drivers should be updated. It seems to be a hardware issue (to me). Although, I did read an article at http://www.pbcentral.com/news/viewnews.cgi?id=EkklupyyZARGdcTbdY today that says the drivers could still be the cause (due to trying to handle the dual GPU setup).

The Apple rep talked to his manager, and they are ordering me a replacement MacBook Pro. Apparently, you cannot order parts for a refurbished computer, to repair (company policy?). Anyways, I should have a replacement in 5-10 business days, hopefully. Glad I brought it in, and here's hoping for no problems with the replacement machine.

Im having the same issues - any luck resolving this?