Sebastian Kox
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Internal screen vertical interlaced

Just out of nowhere my internal screen now and than turns out vertical interlaced. Either with black or white lines, alternating between normal screen at one vertical pixel row and a black/white line on the other. Like the interlace filter from the old days.
It's seems quite random, no heating issues or special software and the MBP is mostly sitting on my desk.

The mac keeps on functioning and the external display doesn't show the problem.
PR-ram/SMC reset didn't resolve the problem, it just stops and shows up again after a while.
Any idea's what could be wrong? I saw another post covering the same problem, but it wasn't solved.

Thanks!

Sebastian.

MBP 15" 2.6, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Dec 2, 2010 7:45 AM

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Sebastian Kox

Q: Internal screen vertical interlaced

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  • by Sebastian Kox,

    Sebastian Kox Sebastian Kox Dec 2, 2010 8:07 AM in response to Sebastian Kox
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 2, 2010 8:07 AM in response to Sebastian Kox
    I've been able to make a picture of it, it's at:

    http://www.oneseconds.com/mbpro.jpg

  • by S.U.,Helpful

    S.U. S.U. Dec 2, 2010 3:18 PM in response to Sebastian Kox
    Level 6 (8,360 points)
    Dec 2, 2010 3:18 PM in response to Sebastian Kox
    You have the early 2008 MBP with the 2.6 GHz processor? Then you also have the NVIDIA 8600M GT graphics chip, which is covered by this program:

    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377

    You will need to contact Apple and arrange for your Mac to get the special test that diagnoses the NVIDIA problem. If this is what you have, the repair will be done at no cost to you.

    Good luck!

  • by Sebastian Kox,

    Sebastian Kox Sebastian Kox Dec 3, 2010 1:05 AM in response to S.U.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 3, 2010 1:05 AM in response to S.U.
    Yeah, I read about it. I'll bring my laptop in and report back how it turned out!

    Thanks.

  • by belliny,

    belliny belliny Dec 11, 2010 11:07 PM in response to Sebastian Kox
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 11, 2010 11:07 PM in response to Sebastian Kox
    Hello~

    Did you have any good news about vertical interlaced problem?
    for me? they just failed to regenerate the problem and sent back with no treatment about it.

    How about you?
    any news will be great helps for me.

    Thanks in advance...

  • by Sebastian Kox,

    Sebastian Kox Sebastian Kox Dec 14, 2010 12:57 AM in response to belliny
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 14, 2010 12:57 AM in response to belliny
    Just got my Macbook pro back from the service centre. They couldn't find the known nvidia problem after a test. Luckily I was able to make pictures of it, and the problem showed up in the store. They figured out it was a screen problem. The solution was to replace the screen.
    I found that too costly (about E. 500) while my macbook is out of apple care.
    For the same amount of money I just bought a cheap second hand model from the same series and I'm going to replace the screen myself with the help of ifixit.com. Don't try this at home if you haven't got any experience with opening up macbooks!
    If the problem still seems to occur after that replacement I'm going to report back.

    Hope this helps!

  • by belliny,

    belliny belliny Dec 20, 2010 9:42 AM in response to Sebastian Kox
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 20, 2010 9:42 AM in response to Sebastian Kox
    Ah.... it's very helpful message...
    Thanks ^^

  • by Ben Haines,

    Ben Haines Ben Haines Jan 10, 2011 8:57 AM in response to belliny
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 10, 2011 8:57 AM in response to belliny
    I too have the exact same problem.

    Oddly it started over Christmas but would resolve itself after a few minutes. A few days back it happened again but hasn't gone back to normal.

    Off to Apple Store tomorrow to see what they say. I'm hoping its the NVIDIA issues or else $$$

    http://www.benhaines.co.uk/MBP-Screen-Problem.jpg

  • by Ben Haines,

    Ben Haines Ben Haines Jan 10, 2011 9:25 AM in response to Ben Haines
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 10, 2011 9:25 AM in response to Ben Haines
    Just found another post about the problem. Seems this person's issue was identified as the NVIDIA one and replacing the chip resolved it.

    http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-14%3C/t-726198.html

    I have to admit I'm skeptical. If it is the NVIDIA chip why does the image on an external monitor look fine?

  • by Eddie Stromboli,

    Eddie Stromboli Eddie Stromboli Jan 30, 2011 1:09 PM in response to Sebastian Kox
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 30, 2011 1:09 PM in response to Sebastian Kox
    I've got the graphics chip in question and my screen started doing this last week - same symptoms as described by everyone else. Sometimes lasts 2 minutes, sometimes 2 hours, happens once or twice a day so far. Time to call Apple...

    ian

  • by Sebastian Kox,

    Sebastian Kox Sebastian Kox Jan 30, 2011 2:19 PM in response to Eddie Stromboli
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 30, 2011 2:19 PM in response to Eddie Stromboli
    The problem just reoccurred, same issue, but now the screen has a pink shade and horizontal lines flickering as well. Replacing the screen obviously didn't help
    Did any of you guys had any results yet?

  • by DougBarned,

    DougBarned DougBarned Feb 25, 2011 3:53 PM in response to Sebastian Kox
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 25, 2011 3:53 PM in response to Sebastian Kox
    Hi there Sebastian — Did you ever resolve your issue?

    I'm in the last few weeks of my Apple Care and this has started happening to me, though I can't replicate it and it's not all the time. Would they believe me if I just took it in store?! Judging by screenshots found elsewhere this is the Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT issue.

    I'm not sure how to proceed - any suggestions anyone?

    Many thanks

    Doug

  • by Sebastian Kox,

    Sebastian Kox Sebastian Kox Mar 1, 2011 4:39 PM in response to DougBarned
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 1, 2011 4:39 PM in response to DougBarned
    The solution of the apple store was to replace the screen. They couldn't find the nvidia error. I didn't have the problem occurring as often and long as before the replacement, but it did happen again a few times. I would recommend to get your system checked while in Apple Care, and give them a print of your findings/the Nvdia problem.

  • by picturix,

    picturix picturix Mar 3, 2011 5:22 PM in response to Sebastian Kox
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 3, 2011 5:22 PM in response to Sebastian Kox
    Hi all,

    since approximately 4 weeks I have exactly the same problem like you guys describe. I already described it here

    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2765765&tstart=45

    but unfortunately nobody answered. Without having "apple care" or any other guaranty, after seeing a couple of pictures from the NVIDIA BUG PROBLEM and talking to some people, I decided to replace the display. Unfortunately the problem continues.

    I think it is not very likely that the NVIDIA BUG Problem is causing such an consistent imaging error like we see it on our screens. All screen shots I have seen were with more chaotic imaging errors like colored blocks or a completely scrambled pictures.

    Anyway...

    Even the Aplle support seems not to be able to figure out what the exact problem is.

    What is with your screen shots ??? Are they OK?
    My screen shots are fine and not showing this vertical interlaced pattern.

    I think they are two components, other than the screen or the grafic board, who could also be the issue.

    The DISPLAY DATA CABLE and the LED DRIVER BOARD..... what do you think about ?

    I appreciate any suggestion,

    thanks

    Chris

  • by DougBarned,

    DougBarned DougBarned Mar 6, 2011 12:18 PM in response to picturix
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 6, 2011 12:18 PM in response to picturix
    Hi Chris

    My screenshots are all fine, but I've managed to get a photo of the issue now, and it's happening more often, so I hopefully won't have a problem showing them what's going wrong.

    On the second occasion where it 'went funny' the lines were green and the patterns were of a more random nature, so I'm not ruling out the graphics card issue.

    I've got a Genius Bar appointment on Wednesday, so will let you know how it goes!
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