9400m Nvidia screen flicker

that is an issue wiht logic board being v1 nvida. they need to use the v2 9400m board. FYI

Today I noticed the flicker, my MBP is late 2008, and was running with the 9400 card. The logic board was previously replaced due to RAM failures and kernel panics. Now it is out of warranty, and unfortunately I didn't buy Apple Care, as I thought I was buying a top quality Mac. I will be monitoring it, and see how it evolves.

I have the same problem with my MacBook Pro 15" (late 2008), in another discussion was told to use the Nvidia 9600M GT instead of the Nvidia 9400M, however, although less frequently the problem continues to occur.

I have been to Genius Bar for a few times. Each time they told me, Apple will be releasing firmware update which would fix this problem. I also have been there when I still had the warranty (didn't get apple care). But now after almost 3 years, there is still no fix to this issue... Just wonder how long thoes of us who have this problem have to wait.. Very very dessapointed by apple being irresponsible.

I too am having the screen flicker with the 9400m video card. My 15" macbook pro was bought in Nov. 2008. I haven't noticed the flicker when using the 9600. This is very annoying. The battery life using the 9600 is substantially less.

Just thought of a test. Has anyone tried doing a boot camp and running a windows OS? If it is truly a hardware issue then we should see it in Windows as well. If I get some time I may give this a try. I have never set up Boot Camp before so it might take a while.

That will prove nothing unfortunately since only the 9600 is used in Windows and it's not switchable like when running OS X...

I was a Mac Genius for over 2 years in a high volume store and was known for possibly being too thorough or trying to get to the bottom of everything. I got my current MacBook Pro after deciding to upgrade to the new unibody design. Well, that was my first mistake. I knew logic boards wouldn't fix the issue, but they had to do it anyways because many of the employees now just aren't as technical and base their knowledge off of what is in Apple's internal knowledge base or information from other stores/genii. When this information isn't known to them and they don't research tech problems on their own time like true IT geeks do, they remain blissfully ignorant of it....which leaves people like us who know better extremely frustrated.

I have so much respect for their processes, company, support, and design, but I can't avoid having a negative view when it comes to handling these "unacknowledged" problems that happen from time to time. They have spent triple the cost of my MBP on parts that I knew wouldn't fix it in the first place and now before we talk about "other options" they want me to have the MLB replaced again since they say it hasn't had 3 repairs for the same problem yet(even though it technically has since they tried replacing the clamshell(aka screen assembly) as well). I may have worked slower at times, but my repairs rarely came back for repeat repair and I rarely ended up with a frustrated customer once I explained to them how I found the problem and how I was confident it was finally solved. It was inevitable that quality of care would have to be traded at some point for speed, but that transition would have been much better if they had hired more well-rounded and experienced IT people for more money instead of going more towards the "my neighbor's son is good with computers" type.

I've avoided bringing it in to replace the MLB another time since I knew it wouldn't resolve it, but now that it's 2.5yrs into it's 5yr life-span, it's clear they will not be offering an official fix for this problem. Products are considered obsolete at the 5yr mark and they can't even order parts for them, so if you were holding out hope for a firmware update or official response like I was for a while, your time is up. The ony way they will address this problem is on an individual basis and calling and demanding a solution, so I would regretfully recommend all of you arm yourselves with video proof, youtube examples, and online discussions, and go into Genius Bars and contact AppleCare about it. Otherwise you will be stuck dealing with the issue and eventually might be stuck with 1 or both graphics chips not working. (The only upside is it sounds like it'll be a long, slow, process for the 9400 to get really bad or completely stop working.)

Anyways, I set out to just inform you that Windows would only use the 9600 but I guess I couldn't help spouting off on this annoying problem I've been dealing with as well. I'm sure most of you can relate 😉 Good luck everyone!

I have this problem now on by unibody 15" MacBook Pro 2.8 Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB (mid-2009).

The problem definitely seems to be a loose connection as when using the 9400M chipset (energy saving graphics settings set for 'better battery life'). I get the garbled display where colours look strange and there is a very rapid 'flickering' kind of like looking at a faulty flourescent lighting strip when it's about to blow (the same sort of rapid flickering that would probably trigger a siezure if I were unfortunate enough to suffer from photo-sensitive epilepsy).

The picture goes back to normal when I squeeze the bottom of my MacBook upwards; it seems that doing this is closing an otherwise loose connection.

I've attached before and after pictures below (pretty obvious which is which):

That's not the same problem we're talking about in this thread, but if it is doing it on the 9400 only, then it might be showing that these things do have an issue with solder or during manufacturing the 9400 chip.

Same problem of flickering. When I switch to nvidia geforce 9600M GT, I don't have any problem.

My question is: does somebody know if it can affect my computer on long term bases. The flicker is no longer bothering me since I switch to 9600M GT but I'm worried about my bad 9400M creating hardware problems.

Am i safe now that i switch?

Sorry for my english...

Has anyone heard of this affecting the late 2009 (GeForce 9400 not 9400M) 21.5" iMac? Is this only a problem for the MBPs?

same problem here with a late 2008!!

Sir, can I have the picture of the padding? I'd like to try that too!

Thanks in advance.

Just seen an EFI firmware update to address this. Wonder if it will work...

That's only gone and fixed it.... Finally, only took them 4-years!