Q: MacBook Pro screen blinks

re: screen not turning on
that happened to me the other day, i did a few reboots and zapped the pram and it came back thankfully

now that i really notice the blink its happening about once every minute
just enough to distract me from the work on my main monitor

and this only started since updating to 10.6

Yup - I've had similar, as per my post above with images :

http://www.hpwebdesign.co.uk/macbook/macbook.html

Although that has only happened a few times, although when it has its happened a couple of times within a few hours.

I am currently on the better performance chip, rather than better battery chip, and it hasn't happened.

But I do still have other tell tale looking symptoms.

1. In Safari, open up a few tabs with the top sites. When you close the newest tab, do you get a flash of the first tab?

2. In Finder, if you have it on cover flow view, when you double click to drill down through folders, does the cover flow window flash?

3. In the BBCi Player (UK tv catch up service), I get graphics distortions when jumping back and forward. (see the third clip in the link above).

Does anyone else have these sorts of symptoms?

i've switched cards a few times now, it happens on both of them now.
i amm REALLY dreading having to deal with apple care again, last time i had no machine for over a week

Ok, I took mine to the Genius bar in the Edmonton Apple store yesterday. The dude said he'd not seen an issue like this and thought it might benefit from a new logic board. He also noticed another issue I was having with the MBP taking a long while (20 seconds) to sleep and thought it might be related. I only have the screen blinking issue after the machine wakes from sleep so maybe he's right.

I should have it back in a week or so. Fingers crossed!

FWIW, I do not think this issue has anything to do with sleep. In fact, I'm pretty/basically sure that I've seen the black flash after turning the computer on, and BEFORE ever sleeping it. This thing is so random, that if you've only seen it after sleeping (for example, I only turn off my computer once a week, sleeping every night instead, so most of the time, it's "after sleeping"), you might think it only happens after sleep, but I don't think that's the case.

I am also confused as to why some people say that logic board, or even display, replacements make this problem go away, since it is clearly happening with new machines. What, do they install a different logic board for a replacement than they're putting in new machines? I seriously doubt it. Same with displays.

Also, at least for me, this problem did not happen within the first few months of having the computer. It started after a while. And some people are reporting that they've never noticed it until installing 10.6. So, I have to wonder if those people with new displays or logic boards might not have (or see--let's remember, it happens in the blink of an eye, so it's easy to miss if you turn your head, or, well, blink) the problem until a couple months go by.

If only Apple would acknowledge this problem, even internally, and find what's causing it, and, of course, find a fix for it. It's such a frustrating little bugger.

@walker736 Your logic is sound for sure. It seems however that the problem manifests itself differently (frequency wise at least) for different people.

Before I installed snow leopard I'd agree with your assertion that it's probably not related to sleep. I only had 1-3 blinks per day on Leopard and it wasn't really possible therefore to perform a test. After clean installing Snow Leopard it blinks 5-10 times a minute but only after sleep, never from a fresh boot. With that many blinks, it's extremely easy differentiate whether the issue exists or not. When it's blinking it's impossible to miss they're so frequent.

It points to software that there was such a radical change between OS upgrades. I'll just have to wait and see what my machine's like when it's returned.

Tim - I see what you're talking about.

I'll certainly be curious if the problem is gone when you get it back, and if it stays gone...

The URL does not work. Can anyone view it ?

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1937591&tstart=0

"After clean installing Snow Leopard it blinks 5-10 times a minute but only after sleep, never from a fresh boot. "

I have exactly the same issue. It blinks most after waking up from sleet. Over time, it gets a bit better.

Guys make sure you fight it out with them - at the end of the day they don't really care if your laptop is blinking or not and they will do everything possible to get out of repairing it for you.

I had one 'genius' who saw the issue tell me it wasn't a big deal and it was definately software - this is before he had even touched the computer. His idea of a fix was to set up another user on my laptop and told me to go away.

I'm on my third repair now - and they are finally paying attention to what I have been telling them from the beginning and looking at replacing the logic board - but it's taken me three months and a lot of jumping through hoops to get to this stage with them.

Infact the only way that they started to take the case seriously was to complain about the shoddy service and to call apple care.

I'm waiting for my laptop to come back from repair - if the logic board change doesn't fix the issue I'm pushing to get a refund on my laptop because this is frankly ridiculous.

Also Arin - if it's a software issue I'm pretty sure an archive and re-install isn't going to solve the problem - Call up apple care and tell them that what's going on - I keep being told that this is not a common fault - so much so that it makes me wonder whether apple doth protest too much...

Iain - my screen looked exactly like your images - if you add in light leakage on top of it, that was the first repair - then once I got my laptop back the blinking began...

Just thought I'd report that today I started up my computer from being off all night. I had not noticed it blink the last couple of days (which does not mean that it didn't, only that I didn't see it happen). Today, it has blinked 5 times and I have not slept the computer once since it was turned on.

This is so &(*&$^ frustrating. It seems like anyone who has had any success at getting a machine fixed or replaced has had to go through a lot of aggravation from Apple. The closest store to me is 1 hour away. That's 2 hours just to go to an Apple store, for a problem that, by its nature, cannot be replicated on command.

Arghh!!!

Well, my replacement MacBook Pro finally came in to the Apple Store after nearly a month. So, we'll see if it fixes the blinking problem or not. Definitely not trading this (otherwise working) one in if the new one is worse or the same.

Hello, thanks.. I guess it makes sense and I was almost sure the guy was just trying to send me away. I booked another appointment and will surely push for a serious repair. If I won't get it I am planning to contact Apple Care. This problem is just ridiculous and should be approached with seriousness from Apple.

Message was edited by: ArinS

Well, let me say that Apple's customer service really shined today. The folks at the Genius Bar went above and beyond the call of duty in fixing the issue I had with my 17" MacBook Pro blinking.

My replacement machine is top-notch and does not exhibit the blinking issue on either graphics card. Sleeping/waking the machine works fine, and I'm running it blink-free on the 9400M currently. Will be keeping my eyes on it for the next few days, to make sure. But, it does look like this one doesn't have the same issue.

Thanks, Apple!