LION: Macbook Pro 2011: Video display artifacts

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mhulse2011 Author

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LION: Macbook Pro 2011: Video display artifacts

I just got a new Macbook pro 2011...

Long story short, I re-installed Lion from the recovery disk and now I am getting intermittent screen artifacts.

These "artifacts" ussually appear at startup and/or after my computer has gone to sleep and then come back out of sleep mode.

The strange thing is, these "artifacts" will go away after about 20 minutes of use.

Actually, as I type this message, my screen is starting to freak out and deo weird things (similar to the things you see in the screen shots below).

There have been times when my whole screen will be distorted and my computer becomes barely usable!

What the heck is going on here? I am running the latest Lion version.

This is kinda annoying... I spent too much $$$ on this computer to have these types of problems.

Please help?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.1)

Posted on Sep 26, 2011 11:46 PM

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Answer 1

mhulse2011 Author

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Sep 27, 2011 12:16 AM in response to mhulse2011

Whoa... This is not good.

When I visit Youtube, the videos barely play! The sound is normal but the video frame rate is like one frame every 5/10 seconds!!!!!

Not only that, but the background of the webpage is black (if I move my mouse around or tab through applications, the background will correct itself).

What is going on here?

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Answer 2

ds store

Level 7

30,815 points

Sep 27, 2011 12:27 AM in response to mhulse2011

There is a "Lion artifacts" thread in the Lion forum a mile long. 🙂

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Answer 3

mhulse2011 Author

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Sep 27, 2011 1:35 AM in response to ds store

Doh! I did not even think about posting this in the Lion forums! 😟

I guess this is more of a Lion problem than a MBP problem. Sorry about that.

Not sure if I can move this thread over there. Oh well... More bad luck for me! 😀

Thanks ds.

Micky

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Answer 4

mhulse2011 Author

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Sep 27, 2011 10:44 AM in response to mhulse2011

I should clarify, I re-installed Lion three times with no luck.

I zapped p-ram with no luck.

I updated to latest version of Java with no luck.

Apple suggested taking it to a Mac certified store to get hardware tested... I got an appt. at 12:30 today, so we'll see how that goes.

Micky

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Answer 5

mhulse2011 Author

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Sep 27, 2011 2:07 PM in response to mhulse2011

Well, looks like there is nothing wrong with the hardware of my Mac.

Apple tech folk suggested waiting for next Lion upgrade.

(Apple said they would return my MBP if there was a hardware problem... I am boiling this down to a Lion issue.)

They also said that I could downgrade to 10.6.6 or 10.6.8 (even though my MBP came with Lion pre-installed... suposedly, the firmware on my MBP will jive with those older versions)... Of course, I will probably have a hard time finding an installer for those specific versions.

I hope Apple fixes this problem in the next release!

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Answer 6

mhulse2011 Author

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Sep 30, 2011 8:17 AM in response to mhulse2011

Lion just had another "episode".

I was using Photoshop in full screen mode when the screen flickered a few times and then some artifacts appeared on the botton-left of my document.

This is SO annoying.

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Answer 7

Jan 19, 2013 3:49 PM in response to mhulse2011

did you ever get a fix to stick? I've had this issue since upgrading to ML and 16GB Ram.. irritating 😟

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Answer 8

El Deanio

Level 3

806 points

May 31, 2013 2:12 AM in response to mhulse2011

I upgraded my iMac (mid-2007) from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion. Have been getting awful artifacts ever since. In all accounts too. The only time the artifacts don't appear is when my iMac is booted into Safe Mode. This suggests it may be a software issue. But if it is, after having tried all sorts, I can't find the offending item.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11373233/MacDiscussions/Screen%20problems%20 post%20Mountain%20Lion/Screen%20Shot%202012-12-11%20at%2010.39.54.png

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Answer 9

mhulse2011 Author

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May 31, 2013 11:33 AM in response to funkright

Hi folks,

Do you get artifacts when booting into Lion's recovery mode? That's one way to test for a hardware issue (it's most likely a software issue if the recovery mode has no issues/artifacts).

IIRC, I was getting the worst artifacts when I turned ON automatic graphics switching.

For iMac users, you should check this thread.

Next Mac I get, I'll be sure to test it's capabilities within the first week (i.e. Photoshop/other graphic-intensive operations), so that way it's easy to return if there's something wrong.

Btw, if you do get artifacts in recovery mode, then call apple! Hardware defects might be covered under your warranty.

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