screen flicker resolved?

what model do you have? 2008 or mid 2009?
When did you buy it?
please provide some more technical info! That goes for everybody here.
How are we supposed to help if we don't know what kind of machine you have?

a late08 one

Unfortunately I think that it would be a hardware issue then.
I got the mid 2009 model and I got just confirmed from apple that it is a software issue.
The flickering of whole the screen (or upper part in some cases) at low brightness levels is believed to be a hardware problem on the forums everywhere.

But I still have to write a reply to the apple spokesman so I shall ask what's up with flickering of the whole screen at low brightness levels. Maybe he has an idea...

I'd just like to confirm that my problem relates to the whole screen, and is a constant shimmer (or very rapid flicker). It is not the other problem (which seems quite common) which relates to the whole screen blinking (i.e. actually going black for a fraction of a second). I would imagine that the blinking problem would be something relatively straightforward to fix - whether it be by replacing the screen, logic board, or whole machine.

As an update to my situation I have tried going back to the machine briefly a couple of times, just to confirm that it is the machine that is the problem and not some other unrelated change in my life, and it's definitely the machine.
So I intend to call Apple again and seek an answer. It’s got to be something that’s covered in their knowledge base. If they can’t say if and when it’s going to be resolved then I will have to return it.

Can anyone else confirm that the problem still exists in the mid 2009 mbps (13" included)? I assume that it does.

I don't have that problem (yet). I only have the scrolling flickering problem.
I have the mid 2009 15" mbp.

Oh, exactly the same thing happens to mine, exactly as you mentioned ! Unfortunately I can't turn it back to Apple easily since I live in middle east ( thank God for being still alive ). I would be so thankful if you inform me about your problem, obviously you'll get to the solution much easier and faster than I can do. If you do so, I can understand whether I should go through the painful procedure of sending it back to Apple or a firmware os software fix will save us all !
Thanks a lot.

William- the control, shift and eject combo worked for my issue too. To be clear, my issue was this- random flickering to black of portions, or whole screen on a 2.66ghz 17" MBP using the 9400M graphics system. Not the low light constant flickering that happens with the 'adjust to ambient lighting' setting selected. When I selected the 9600M GT graphics I did not see any flickering.

Thank you SO much for the suggestion, cheers right back at you!

Rich

So I'm not the only one!
I'm having the same problem with my new 15"MBP . Suddenly flash as screen suddenly goes black for a few milliseconds. Apple suggested battery removal and resetting pram, as described by other posters, but it doesn't seem to have helped.
I can't link it to any particular action (like scrolling) or any brightness setting. Annoyingly, it's not predictable or reproducible, except in use for a period of time. I don't want to spend much more time on this trying to find a remedy.
I'd like apple to fess up, find a fix and let us know!

Yeah, the ctrlshifteject screen reset solved this issue for me, too. 🙂 Sometimes it re-appears, but after this key combo, its again gone for the next days. It really seems to be a software / firmware issue.

I’d like to revise my original comments a little. I said in my original post that “I still can’t quite believe that Apple have released something so badly flawed. Obviously not everyone is susceptible to the flicker but I would have thought a significant percentage of the population must be.” Obviously some people are affected by this issue (flicker/shimmer, not ‘blinking’) - like me and others that have posted on this thread and on other sites. But I wonder whether the percentage of people is lower than what I had originally thought. In my discussions with retailers, Apple affiliates, and Apple themselves I have encountered people who have heard of the issue, but have also encountered people that have never heard of it - suggesting that it is not ubiquitous.

Also I’ve been dealing with Apple with regard to the issue and by and large they’ve been very good. And that’s probably a better measure of a company - ‘it’s the putting right that counts’.

I see that there are rumours that Apple might reintroduce matte screen options for models other than the 17” Macbook Pro. Does anyone know whether the current 17” Macbook Pro with a matte screen has the same shimmering (flicker/shimmer, not ‘blinking’) issue as the 13” and 15” unibodys. I realise that it also uses led backlighting but wondering whether the different screen resolves the problem. If someone could test the 17” Macbook Pro unibody with a matte screen using the http://www.csse.uwa.edu.au/~lucas/background.html pattern I’d very much appreciate it.

I had the 15'' unibody when it was first released and noticed the flicker problem right as the 'welcome' screen was starting up. I brought this to the Genius' at the Apple Store in Omaha after my troubleshooting and they were convinced it was the screen. I didn't think this was the problem since it flicked only while using the lower setting on the graphics card.

They replaced the screen.. problem persisted. They replaced the logic board and I have not had a single flicker or problem under any settings since. Pretty proof positive. I encourage everyone to get their logic boards replaced.

Yes, similar effect on my mid-2009 13" MBP. I see the shimmer and almost a diamond matrix effect too. I'm used to seeing it on some other LCD panels, though. Goes away when I stare at one place for a few seconds. I think it has to do with a kind of dithering that may be applied to help some panels achieve high color gamuts and pixel depths. Could be way wrong here.

Yes, same issue on Mac book pro. Glad to hear someone else has same issue. I call it blinking but flicker is better. This is 3rd. mac book pro and same issue with all three

I have the same issue. Blanking screen. I have confirmed that this ONLY happens when the laptop is in the 'Better Battery Life' graphics mode. (slower graphics card). I switch to the performance mode, and never see it.

Can anyone else confirm this action?

I had the same problem and agree that selecting 'Performance' has eliminated the problem. This is great when working of mains, just not so great for running off the battery.