Q: MacBook Pro screen blinks

Blink, blink, blink.
Sigh.

Mine does the same thing and I can't seem to fix it.

Yes it is very stupid, the only way for me now is to have High perfomance mode all the time. But the battery is getting empty fast, so impossible to work a lot without having to be plugged.

And also the ventilators are working faster too ... which means more noise all the time ...
Not very nice when you think about the price of the machine and when you work 10 hours a day on it ...

But Apple thinks it is not a problem for the computer but that sometimes **** happens. That's what they told me.

I know I'm coming in on the tail end of this, but what has been the reaction of Apple if you have Apple Care. I've got a late 08 unibody and I'm getting more and more "lines" that flash across the screen, upper half and lower third, and at random times. I can't seem to duplicate it but the frequency of this happening is increasing. I also am running the 9400/9600 combo card. But I've got Apple Care and wondered if it was worth my while to bring it in? Thanks.

My late '08 MBP 15" does the same thing. Seems to have only started recently after one of the various OSX updates. Really annoying, only notice it when it is plugged into the wall.

blink blink blink is no more!

It has now been replaced by ...

wait for it...

... beep beep beep... dodgy ram/logic board so it won't even boot... only a few weeks after the second logic board replacement... it is currently in for repair. Apple have been good about repairing the computer, but how long is this going to go on for?

aaaaghhh

I have a 2010 17 inch MBP i5, which started doing this dimming problem. It will dim and then instantly return to bright within half a second. In fact I noticed that when it would randomly dim then brighten, if I unplug it repeatedly it would reproduce the flicker effect. I reformatted, reinstalled and re-updated one update at a time. When I ran the Magic pad/trackpad update it started up with the flicker again.

The only thing that makes me think it's not hardware related though is that we also have a 2009 13 inch MBP which is fully updated and rarely used as much as the 17 inch. I decided to test the update theory by watching that MBP to see if it happened. Guess what. It did. Even the previous generation 2009 MBP flickered as well. Neither one of these MacBooks had the problem prior to the Magicpad/Trackpad update.

I've hidden that update in order to avoid accidentally installing it and the computer has been running without flickering once. I ran the 10.6.5 update a few weeks ago and now the flickering is back. Thanks a lot Apple for not testing before releasing this update. So now all that time I wasted re-installing was a waste. I don't have time to go and re-install again because Apple can't get their heads out of their you know whats. I did my due diligence by not installing that update after spending several hours trying to figure out that it was that update. Then they went and release 10.6.5 which caused the same problem. So now I'm expected to reinstall once again. What about the next update. Are we supposed to just never update our systems again because of these stupid Magicpad drivers. Apple needs to address this.

We all spend a lot of money on their products, so they need to look into this and not be telling us that we can either send out computer in just to have them give us a refurbished one that will have the same problem or to waste our time re-installing our OS. One of the reasons I switched to Mac was because I was always having to reinstall Windows due to exploits, or trojans or bad software or just plain OS problems. I don't expect Apple computers to be perfect but when I call support or take it in, I don't want to hear, "we're not getting any other reports of this happening". And I definitely don't want to hear them tell me that they'll have to send my computer in and I'll be without it for up to 10 days and when I get it back it will have a refurbished clamshell. Obviously this is a software issue. I outlined what causes it and how to reproduce it. There's no reason they can't fix it now. What is it going to take for Apple to look into this. How many of us need to actually experience this before they take it seriously?

If you're right pudge77, it's weird that nothing is done.
Let's hope something will be done!

THanks for your infos!

Interesting find. How does one remove it without wiping out the OS and starring from scratch?

Pudge, it might be worth pointing out that you're experiencing a different (but similar) symptom than the rest of us.

In my case, half of the screen goes BLACK for a fraction of a second, and only when the integrated graphics chip is selected, and even then, usually only when the CPU is heavily utilized.

Have you tried an SMC reset?

I can't really fault Apple for rolling driver updates into the OS update "package". I suppose there weren't many other people out there experiencing your problem, otherwise the problem would have been addressed by now.

I don't really understand how you expect them to fix your problem without access to your computer, though.

From what you've described, it sounds like it might even be a hardware problem with your machine, that just wasn't brought to light until the new drivers were installed...

*In the worst case, if you get no relief from Apple, you can spend some time on Google looking at how to manually remove/disable/roll back KEXTs, which ought to be a solution for you, even if it's a bit "messy" and all...*

Actually I posted my reply because I did see someone post something similar to my problem earlier in this thread. Or at least the way they described it, it sounded like it.

Also in my first response you'll see I tested this issue out on a previous generation MacBook Pro which was a 13 inch and has a different type of GPU. If it was a hardware issue then that would be too coincidental. As it turns out there are alot of people out there per these other forums that are having this problem
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=12609823#12609823
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=12609365#12609365
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=12529272#12529272
, so yes I do expect Apple to resolve this without inconveniencing me by making me send my computer in when I need it for work and telling me I will be without it for at least 10 days. They did access my computer because I did take it in to the Apple Store. Not to mention if they replace my clamshell with a refurbished one and I get it back with the same problems, which a lot of people claim happened, then my brand new MacBook is no longer "Brand New".

It is obvious that it is not a hardware issue unless it is a widespread hardware issue, in which case Apple should replace my unit with a new one, not a refurbished one as mine is not even a year old and within the warrantee period and they sold me a faulty unit.

So yes, Apple needs to address this.

I'm having this problem after almost two years (Macbook Pro from late 2008).

What can I do about it please?

dutchbb wrote:
I'm having this problem after almost two years (Macbook Pro from late 2008).

What can I do about it please?

As far as I can tell: nothing, except live with it and/or use the 9600 graphics if the blinking gets too annoying.

charlie

Are you serious? They sell me an expensive product with a manufacturing error and I need to 'live with it' ?

I've defended this brand for a long time and mostly like their products, but if this is true everything will change. If nothing is done about this issue they can be sure I will post about it on my website which is visited by thousands. And I will never defend or recommend this brand again.

yawn