Q: MacBook Pro screen blinks

Hi, I serviced mine. Motherboard was replaced - the problem disappeared. It is not blinking anymore. Seems like it has been fixed.

Hi everyone
I had the same problem (screen blinking) for over a year, my warranty expired on may 2010, yesterday a genius at the apple store told me it may be firmware related and that i had to wait for the next EFI release. OK, this is a dumb answer, i mean how can you tell a customer who spent 2400 euros on a machine to wait for a fix that no one knows when it will be released, i convinced him to run the apple tests on my machine just to check if the problem is software or hardware.
the same evening a tech from the apple store left me a message on my phone to tell me that he needed my signature to change the m@therf@(kin'board and that it will cost me 700 euros.
No way i going to pay for something like that in a machine worth 2400 euros, i am going the the apple store this morning and i will tell the guy that:

i have three iphones at home (3G, 3GS (for my wife), 4 (mine)) a mobile me account, another macbook (my wife's), tons of software which i BOUGHT in order to work, 500 euros spent on the app store, an apogee soundcard which works only on mac, an ssd replacement (my first drive was killed by my macbook pro), 8gb of ram to be able to do video editing ...

Now i am using my old linux amilo laptop (5 years old with 1 GB of ram working like a charm) to write this message, so that my experience may be of a benefit to others:

when you buy an expensive machine you must expect top notch reliability, at the first "abnormal activity" you must ask for a replacement not a repair.

I will post a message when i return from the apple store (Carrousel du Louvre)

Good news, they're going to replace my mobo for free.
After an hour of negatiations the manager was very comprehensive,
A lesson learned:
- stay polite with the genius and the manager
- be sincere (that was'nt difficult, i was worried)
- if you own other Apple products, be sure to mention them
- next time i'll buy an Apple Care

i'm only hoping that the new mobo won't be problematic

as you told:

stay polite with the genius and the manager
be sincere (that was'nt difficult, i was worried)

I had try to make like you...but none want help me and they say that i have to pay because Apple does't make any reparation program!

At this poit i hope, as Genius say to you, in the next firmware update...but i don't think that this update will solve the prolem.

If someone have any other news, plese let us know!!!!!!

Apple, WAKE UP!

danielep
How much they ask you to pay if you want to repair it, I need to fix my Macbook Pro **** apple I pay $2,000 for this junk now it's out of warranty
Thank you

I can't believe Apple chose to ignore it Latest build doesn't seem acknowledge it either. I switched high end graphic (9600GT) for a while it didn't blink at all but temperature got really high and the fan went mad.

I've been searching for a solution for almost 2 years now and tried everything. None worked.

Same problem with blinks, after talking to apple and got mine MB replaced. But after another week, the blinking problem comes up again.

they ask me 800 euro ( more than 1.100$)...is unthinkable!!!

I'll pay two years ago 2.200 euro (3.046$) for this mbp...i've no words!

now i understand...
The problem is for the people (like me) that are out of warranty and Apple do not recognize the problem like a defect.

I am so frustrated by the problems with the 9600 gpu. I paid extra money for this on the late 2008 macbook pro and now it is sluggish and will regularly cause blinking. If I am watching youtube on battery it will regularly freeze, looping the sound and forcing me to hard restart. Watching any video in iTunes and I get a freeze of sound and video sometimes as often as every 5 minutes, on battery or AC. My computer is just now two years old, and I didn't get applecare because my first computer, a black and white Mac SE lasted for 16 years, and I had an orange iBook that lasted me 5 (my powerbook and macbook before this died due to unfortunate dropping).

I will be going about my daily work and everything will stop for a couple of minutes so the computer can take a breather.

If I drop down to the 9400 it gets immensely better. Faster. No stuttering. But I paid for the top of the line and I shouldn't have to settle for a hobbled computer, and when I do photo editing or rendering, I could really use more power than the 9400 gives me.

Just add me to the 60 pages of upset individuals with one of these lemon GPUs (that I think NVIDIA should be blamed for).

Well said Rambo -

You have describe the situation we are all facing with this GPU. However I should note that poor performance, stalling and hesitations are not part of the symptoms I have experienced. In my experience, such behavior is system software related. Although it won't help with the flashing, you should try a clean system install to eliminate the performance problems.

Then, at least, you'll be able to enjoy the performance of the 9600.

I did a few reinstalls simply to try and get iTunes to play movies, and it did not help. It has good days and bad, but it all seems to work fine on the 9400.

Hi,

I have the same problem on mine.
I went the an apple store, and like danielep they ask for about 800 euros.

So obviously nothing is really possible if you don't have warranty anymore ...
But the guy from the Apple store kept saying to me that it happens but not a lot ... I think this discussion shows that it happens too much anyway!

Hopefully Apple will take care of the problem!

Ok, so before I put on my paranoid hat, what happened to the latest posts that have been mysteriously deleted this week? This thread was up to page 60 last time I checked.

Hi,

Another 'fix' (hardly a real solution) is unplugging the AC - computer doesn't flicker when running on battery power!