screen flicker resolved?

Mine did the blinking you are describing from the very first power-on. Likewise it makes no difference what GPU it's using nor running with or without battery, nor charging or charged battery. It flickers wildly now as well, and has also exhibited some bizarre screen artifacts. I originally posted in a thread about the screen flicker, but for some reason my post was removed from the thread and put in its own thread which is being ignored since there is already a highly visible thread on the issue. But you can see some pictures I got in it.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1927969

Hi,

My MBP 2.4 2Gb with better battery setting had flickering issue very rarely (so rare it was not an issue for me), when switching to higher performance setting youtube freezes and only power button restart resolved the problem. Not temperature or added RAM related problem. It went for a logic board replacement after a technician confirmed the problem (I do not know how they tested it because it was an issue that happens erratically and seldom, I believe they have some graphic card tests).

The new one arrived three days ago ... so far so good with both cards, and apparently this chipset passed their tests. The technician said it was his first MBP having this problem. I purchased it early January.

Cheers

I called Support today and I was able to reslove the issue. Well my screen has not been flickering since I followed their suggested steps which were;

Step 1 - Shut off your computer.

Step 2- Remove your battery

Step 3- With your battery removed press and hold the On Off button for 5 to 10 seconds. I held it for 10.

Step 4- Put batter back in

Step 5 - Very important - As soon as you turn your unit on press and hold at the same time Command, Option, R, and P you will release these 4 keys only after the computer starts for the second time. So while you are holding these keys the computer will start the white screen will appear and then restart as soon as it restarts or you get the black screen release the keys.

Step 6 - Turn off the computer again.

Step 7 - Press and hold the On OFF button until you get a fast blinking On light at the bottom right of your unit or crazy noise from your unit. Which ever comes first then you release the power button.

These steps should clear up the flickering. So for it has for me. Good Luck.

hello, what kind of flickering were you experiencing?

thanks

Top half of my screen was flickering.

i think that is a different flicker then.

Mine is a quick pulsing like screen refresh rate issue but more obvious. Mine seems to be the same flicker as the original poster.

Apple support denies this problem!!

I have the same problem: screen flickering on MBP late 2008. When I placed the MBP to a Apple authorized service provider in Australia, they couldn't find the problem.

So I contacted Apple support, but they said they haven't heard nor know anything about screen flickering problem on MBP late 2008 model. Denial of each case until each customer can prove the problem?? I remember DELL notebooks had similar problems about 7 years ago, but they at least just fixed without a question.

Anyway, I had to take the MBP again to the service provider to demonstrate the problem by myself. This time they saw the problem and agreed to fix it. Very frustrating experience with my first Mac.

Good luck on anyone in Australia having the similar problem. Prepare for some fight with Apple support.

It seems like I'm/my MacBook suffering from the same problem like yours.
I called Apple Support, they just guided me trough the PRAM and VRAM reset, and wasn't able to get me further advice, i called then the Helpdesk from the distributor where i buy my mac, they had also no other advice as bring the Machine in which would mean it' will be away for one week at least.
Do you got any answers in your case? did u brought your machine in? Did they replaced anything?

The most annoying thing on all this is there is so much evidence being some issues with the nivida 9400 / 9600 chipset and weather applecare hotline(germany) or the distributer (switzerland) did mention there where known problems with the chips:(


BTW.
This is my third Apple now, and its really sad they use users as beta tester for their machines. First was about 7 years ago an G4 Motorola Processor, there where no issues at all and its working fine until that day. Second was late 2007 an Macbook 13inch white it has to go in service after 8 months because some pieces of the body where damaged and broke just from the opening and closing of the lid. secondly there was liquid display oil leaked into the display which caused faulty zones of the LCD. So they had to replace the display and the whole body. The display went to the same issue just two months after replacing.

i havent done anything with mine. I've just been living with it. Until I hear some sort of definitive answer on the issue, i'll probably continue to live with it. Other than this problem it's been pretty good. I really hope someone can find a fix for it though.

thank you for your reply. i li,e it pretty much as well beside that issue (it's still a mac;).
I think I'm waiting a while as well with further action, its no sense to get my logic-board replaced or such if it will be just an firmware issue or if they would provide me with an other faulty card instead.

donnyb wrote:
I got my MBP 2.8Ghz back today. Fast service! The Main Logic Board was replace. I'll post an update if the problem returns. If you don't hear from me then the problem is gone.

No response from donnyb, so we can assume that his problem was fixed with a motherboard replacement...???

I have a working Theory here that apple is operating the power supply for the screen at or near 100% of capacity and it simply can't handle it. Notice if you turn the brightness down from 100% just a little not even a full "chunk" using the Displays PrefPane instead of F1, it stops.

Of course there are still other issues with the NVidia Chips, but this may not be directly related.

I will not be surprised if Apple releases a firmware update that just drops the maximum brightness to 95% (resetting the scale as such) and it will then be declared "fixed".

Part of the problem is that people are having different problems. My machine only has flickering when it is between 2 and 5 brightness notches up from black. It doesn't do it on the highest brightness settings.

I believe my flicker issue on my Unibody Macbook Pro has been fixed. The Apple Store replaced my LCD (which did not solve the issue) and then replaced the Logic Board. This seems to have fixed the issue. I am no longer seeing any flickering when using the 9400 graphics card as I previously was. I have only been using it a few hours, but so far so good. I'll post back if anything changes, but you can assume a new logic board fixed the issue!

I wonder if this doesn't however lend credence to my power supply theory, in your case however producing a noisy output.