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Wire Moore Author

Level 1

15 points

9400m Nvidia screen flicker

This is a followup to a previous thread about "9400M display flicker on Snow Leopard" The previous topic was marked "Solved" and archived.

This problem is not solved.

Macbook Pro 5,1 2008 with 2.4GHz and nVidia 9400M + 9600M GT, OS X 10.6.4.

I continue to have the intermittent main display flickering exactly as described in the previous thread. This is not a back-light problem, and the flicker is a momentary blanking, about as fast a blink of the eye, of a portion of the screen and affecting the top half of the built-in display.

Additional notes:
- Apparently random, between 5 seconds and several minutes cycle.
- No symptoms occur when running Energy Saver > Better Performance, 9600M GT
- The top of the display is more affected than the bottom.
- The portion of the display affected varies.
- Sometimes occurs at the same moment the display turns on, while the system is booting.
- If using a mini-display port to VGA connector, the external monitor will loose then regain sync about once an hour, occurring less frequently than the built-in display flicker.
- If using a mini-display port to DVI connector the external display always works properly regardless of built-in display flicker.
- The built-in display flicker is independent of any external display behavior.
- These symptoms are not affected by swapping out system RAM.
- SMC reset does not fix this problem.
- Didn't waste time resetting the PRAM, it has nothing to do with the situation.
- The effect is not thermally correlated, it happens hot or cold.

(see text of topic), Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Nov 2, 2010 12:41 PM

46 replies

Jan 13, 2011 9:39 AM in response to Wire Moore

Does anyone have problems with the 9600M GT in their late 2008 MacBook Pro? Occasionally my screen will garble and the whole computer freezes up and I have to do a hard shut off. Usually the cursor is still visible and moves around, but the computer is completely unresponsive. This has been getting more and more frequent, and is exactly like what happened to me with my previous MBP that Apple replaced due to the faulty 8600M GT (the one the NVidia class action lawsuit is about). Eventually the graphics chip just died, and though the computer worked fine (could navigate using VoiceOver), my screen stayed black all the time. I'm afraid that was not the only bad batch of NVidia GPUs.

Jan 14, 2011 12:38 AM in response to cookj128371

@cookj, indeed. The problem you are describing occurs rather frequently with 2008 MBP owners.

Here's a blog post about the problem and fixes people have tried:
http://www.goodbytes.be/index.php/blog/article/applefails_heres_why_late_2008_macbook_pro_screen_flickerproblem/

Until this point, there's no real solution except for going back to MacOS 10.6.4 it seems. That was the version with the least GPU problems

Al'x Gi

Level 1

0 points

Jan 18, 2011 11:29 AM in response to jorrelemargi

Hi,
though I run on 10.5.8, I am posting here since I do not think the problem is software related. I have a late 2008 15' MBP with the Nvidia 9400/9600 graphic card.
Like many others, I had the flickering screen issue when I was running on the 9400 chip and which stopped when I switched to the 9600. And then one day, running on the 94000, my screen got black. Having no spare monitor available to check if the problem came from the screen or the graphic card, I went to the Genius Bar.
There we plugged an external screen and we got a clear display on the external screen but impossible to get something on the MBP screen. The Genius told me that my screen was dead, that my guarantee was passed and that I could only use my computer as a desktop with an external screen.
Back home, I plug an external screen and switch to the 9600, reboot, and miracle, I can display on the MBP screen. Running some tests, it appears that I can switch between 9400 and 9600 while only closing the session but if I reboot the mbp running on the 9400, I got a black screen.
Going back to the genius bar, I show the issue to the new Genius and he answers that I need to change the logic board to fix the problem. Since my MBP is not under guarantee any more, I now run on 9600 all the time and I have a ridiculous autonomy.
I am planning to switch to snow leopard and will report on that soon.
I am really disgusted about the poor hardware quality for such an expensive machine. I have not read about anybody else having the same issue but in my case the "flickering screen" problem got a lot more serious!

Jan 18, 2011 2:33 PM in response to Al'x Gi

Hi Al'x Gi, unfortunately several people on the forum reported that replacing the logic board didn't make any difference. In some cases it even made the flickering appear more often...

Jan 19, 2011 9:09 PM in response to jorrelemargi

That's my case, they already replaced the Logic-board twice and the flickering continues, also the computer frizzes every-time this happens, only the cursor responds but noting else works, I need to reboot the computer when this happens.

😟

Jan 20, 2011 2:31 PM in response to Destructiva

hi desctructiva,

can you let us know what exact macbook model you have? (late 2008?) and what macos version your are running.

That way, we can see better where the issue happens and I can add it to my blog post about this problem as well: http://www.goodbytes.be/index.php/blog/article/applefails_heres_why_late_2008_macbook_pro_screen_flickerproblem/

Jan 20, 2011 3:12 PM in response to jorrelemargi

hi there jorrelemargi

yes, is late 2008, the specs on my MacBook Pro are the following:

*Hardware Overview:*
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro4,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 6 GB (but I've tested with 1GB, 2GB, 3GB and 4GB memory cards working in perfect conditions in other machines and failed with each configuration).

Graphics/Display
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT:

Chipset Model: GeForce 8600M GT
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0407
Revision ID: 0x00a1
ROM Revision: 3212
Displays:
Color LCD:
Resolution: 1440 x 900
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Built-In: Yes
Cinema HD:
Resolution: 2560 x 1600
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Rotation: Supported

I've noticed that in this thread the architecture of the computers was different from mine so I've opened my own thread detailing the problem here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=12962305

Thanks!

Message was edited by: Destructiva

Jan 20, 2011 3:18 PM in response to jorrelemargi

Just to make clear that they've replaced twice the Logic-board at the Apple Genius Bar assuming that it was the nVidia issue.

Message was edited by: Destructiva

Riky1986

Level 1

0 points

Feb 10, 2011 6:44 AM in response to Wire Moore

Hi Guys, I write you just to say my impressions about the Screen Flickering of Late 2008 Macbook Pro, 'cause I've solved it finding the likely cause.

I've fought with this issue from December 2008, my screen flickered many times a day suing Nvidia 9400m and one day, such as *Al'x Gi*, the screen became completely BLACK. First of this happened, I noticed that sometimes the screen flash while I dislocated it and move it.

(with 9600m no problems)

After many and many tries (I think about a hundred, unmounting and mounting my MBP) I have found a solution putting a thickness between the logic board (in the part of Logic board over the sticks of ram).

This solution let me think that is a contact problem or something about connectors, anyway..

Now I have no more flickering and flash problems and the Mac works like new.

I hope this can help u and ask to me if you need any further information (images for example)

Mar 23, 2011 10:53 PM in response to Wire Moore

I get screen flickering when on the 9400m on 10.6.7 This has never been an issue until now. I would say it happens on average a few times per minute. Very annoying.

Mar 26, 2011 4:36 AM in response to JeremyAOE

10.6.7 did NOT fix the issue... Please send in your complaints to www.apple.com/feedback so that at least somebody notices at apple after two years

May 14, 2011 8:04 AM in response to jorrelemargi

I sent my complaint yesterday and hope that Apple will work on it. Apple just released Preview 10.6.8 but I have doubts that I will solve the problem.

May 25, 2011 4:45 PM in response to Wire Moore

I am going to visit the genus bar tomorrow to have them fix my dead superdrive, swelling battery and hopefully this 9400 screen flicker. I will report back with what happens.

JBF80

Level 1

4 points

Jun 7, 2011 4:34 AM in response to bonzaisushi

I've been suffering from this for years. My Macbook Pro is a late 2008 (2.4Ghz) model.

I actually had this flickering screen issue with a Macbook - I had Applecare on that and took it back time and time again - went through the whole palarvar or haing to re-install the OS multiple times, taking it in/out of the Genius bar (all I can say is most of them are less than genius...) they replaced the logicboard several times as well as the screen inverter and some other parts. They actually kept claiming not to be able to reproduce the issue and I had to keep providing video evidence!

Eventually the Applecare people agreed to allow me to have the RRP for a new Macbook (substantially less than I'd originally paid for it) credited towards the purchase of a Macbook Pro which still cost me a fair amount.

After about a month I started getting the same flickering issue on the Pro - not so often but I was aware of it. Given all the hassle I'd had triyng to have the Macbook flickering issue resolved without success I couldn't face another round of trekking back/forth to the Apple Store, backing up, re-installing, chasing them via phone etc etc only to find they still couldn't fix it and I needed the machine for work so I decided to live with it.

Recently I've started using my MBP a lot more often and the flickering has been getting progressively worse (and more annoying). After reading a few forum threads I've switched to the 9600 graphics chip and the flickering has completly stopped - it just gets very hot and the battery runs down quickly. I've taken to using a Belkin CushDesk to stop my legs burning! Seems like this is obviously an issue with the 9400 chips and heat, very dissapointing.

With this and the awful reception I get on my iPhone 4 I'm just about ready to give up on Apple.

Jun 10, 2011 5:22 AM in response to JBF80

just got my original apple mini displayport to dvi adapter and am very happy 😀 with this adapter 10.6.7 works (macbook late 2009), but with my noname adapter only until 10.6.4 very strange...

does someone need a noname adapter?^^

9400m Nvidia screen flicker