screen flicker resolved?

I bought my mac last week and received it about 3 days ago. I'm experiencing the same pulsating problem some of you are talking about. It's not very noticeable, but it's just enough to irritate. I have not experienced any black outs or flickering, just very subtle changes in light. I notice mine the most with desktop backgrounds with very bright hues and when my brightness levels are set very high.

Anybody have any ideas?

don't know what to say, don't know how to fix it, seems to be a very common problem. I have it too.

hello guys.

i bought a 2.4 MBP beginning of Feb. since then i have kept sending back the machines. Reason: screen flickering. exactly that one on the live score site and also when its just white i can see the flicker some times and my eyes start burning after a while. never had that eye burn with another screen before.

so i did some checks, i have an old dell laptop (inspirion 14", 2004) result: no flicker
tested also my dads powerbook (g4 12" 2004) result: no flicker
asked my frd to test his 2007 MBP 15", result: no flicker

so i called up apple support withing the 14 days. quick, they said they send a new one. ok, perfect. got the new one (N° 2) a week later, same problem. called them up again and they said send a new one (N° 3). Now I just got N°3 and i see the same problem AGAIN. Called them up and said every machine is checked before it is shipped (pfffffff.. my ***).

so i went out to do some more checking. went to an apple store and checked their MB and MBP. the MBP had a horrible flicker, even worse than all 3 i had so far. Strangely enough the MB 13.3" didnt have that flicker.

for reference, the site i used to test all models mentionned:

http://www.csse.uwa.edu.au/~lucas/background.html
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/inversion.php

source and other forum describing the same problem:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=341463

I am really **ed off about this. i didnt pay more than 2000$ for a machine having such problem, waited for more than 1.5 months and after 3 defect units still left with no functioning machine. apple gave me a little discount, 110$ and asked me to try one more unit. if that one will not work i will just ask for my money back. its a shame cos apart from this defect the machine is FLAWLESS, but let me tell you, for 2000$++ it is simply unacceptable to say its normal, cos its not. ive tested it on many machines, especially older apple products and they are perfect what concerning the screen.

all screens were 9c84 models

cheers, kongnator

Kongnator --

I just want to re-iterate that there are multiple issues that many people refer to as "flickering".

For example, flickering that involves the ENTIRE screen -- as if it is dimming -- that most likely is a hardware issue.

However, the problem described sometimes as "flashing" of specific AREAS of the screen, like during video playback or scrolling, that is a SOFTWARE problem:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1754963

As an Apple Developer, I'm not permitted to speculate on Apple Software that may or may not be unreleased. However, there is a great deal of hope for the software issue to be resolved soon. When the next release of Mac OS X becomes available (10.5.7), the first thing everyone should do is to test to see if the problem disappears.

One way to distinguish between the global screen DIMMING issue and the localized screen flashing and scrolling distortion issues is to run the free "Quartz Debug" utility, that is part of the free XCode developer tools install. In this program, there is a menu item to DISABLE QUARTZ EXTREME. If you run this utility, and disable Quartz Extreme, and the flashing disappears, then the issue is the software issue.

If you choose to test this using Quartz Debug, you should re-enable Quartz Extreme, because otherwise graphics operations, like dragging windows, will become very SLOW.

Also, generally, the software problem tends to disappear for a little while immediately after a RESTART. However, different software usage patterns affect the software bug differently, so your mileage may vary.

Stephen Greenfield
Write Brothers, Inc.
www.screenplay.com

hi stephen

thanx for your answer. my "flickering" is a high frequency type, whole screen. looks like an old crt tv effect or similar if you check out the speed a flourescent light tube flickering after having served for a few years.

now i see what youre trying to make me do here, software update, install additional software etc etc. ok, but you see i simply disagree that you pay more than 2000$ for a machine, that is now available for almost half a year, and there is still the same issues since from the beginning.

the worst of all is if you go to an apple shop, do the background check and show one of the sales people they will tell you they see that the first time. on the support hotline they will tell you that every machine is checked before shipped and they are not aware of such problem.

thats why they kept sending me a new machine cos they thought it was a single defect, only with very few machines. but as i can see it now, software or hardware there is an issue with the entire fleet.

i wouldnt moan about anything if the previous generation MBP had the same problem of flickering, but it hasnt..

i lost 1.5 months worth of work, let alone the hassle of being home 3 times for UPS to deliver and 3 times for TNT to pick up the defect machines.

so i m not very pleased with the situation, still giving apple one more chance to show they actually can deliver a worthy product. if not, well, guess its back to pc then..

NO one is happy with the most recent MBP graphic performance or support from Apple on this issue. Many times a day I have to recycle through the display resolution to stop the snow or double vision. I wish I had known this and certainly warn others on buying a MBP or expecting any support.
Apple should take them all back in mass and give our money back.

upitee

i just dont get how they could let all this stuff slip out so easily, they had what 3-4months since the release of the 15 and 13 unibodies to get the 17s perfected...

i like the system overall, id like to keep it but I agree...just sort of out of hand with the amount of small to large scale issues.

color profiles, dust in the dispaly, systems coming damaged physically (scratches nicks, dents etc)


:\

upitee.

As others have said, there are multiple issues going on here with the MacBook Pro displays. There are flickers and flashes, web browser scrolling distortion (which seems software based), external display flickering...

My own problem was with the MacBook Pro 15" display flickering (only with the NVIDIA 9400, not the "better performance" 9600) anywhere from once a minute to once every half an hour or so. It is precisely what donnyb posted on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EATI_kh6GOw.

I can say, beyond a doubt, that in my case it was the logic board. I had it replaced two days ago and the situation has gone away completely. This was NOT a software or firmware issue, so I would definitely recommend taking it into an Apple support location if you have the same problem, and specifying that the main board needs replacement. I would suggest that you NOT let them replace the display since that does not seem to be the issue, especially if you are happy with your current one.

I hope that this helps.

I posted here http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1924473&tstart=0&messageID=926 7291#9267291...same problem with screen flicker out of the box day 2 use.

hey guys,

at november 4th i ordered my first macbook pro 2,53. since then i had 3 flickering machines and 2 with light leaks at the bottom of the display with my first order.

after that i had to return the last machine, got my money back and ordered for the second time.

since 14 days i have my new 2,66 machine and it flickers again...even if its not as bad as the 2,53 machines, but it flickers!!!



SINCE 5 MONTHs I TRY TO GET A FINE & CLEAN 2000.BUCKS.WORTH.WORKING MACHINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that's awful, is it the same pulsating/strobing flicker as well?

flickering between 1 and 5 points lighting...not as strong as with my first 3 machines, but strong enough that i want a new one without this issue!

I had the backlight flicker issue recently on two 15" MBPs (a wk 9 and wk 12 '09); returned them both as it's very irritating in low-light conditions.

I called AppleCare about the second one and was told that it is a known issue, the engineers are looking at it, and they think it's something that can be fixed with a future firmware update. Unfortunately there were no details available on when that firmware update may be forthcoming.