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Flashing checkerboard pattern

For the last couple of months, I have noticed that my Macbook Pro will occasionally flash a quick checkerboard pattern, for just a fraction of a second. It is usually some garish colour scheme. I'm not able to reliably reproduce the image, but it pops up a few times a week. I mostly notice it when using a web browser (not just Safari but also in Chrome), where it will pop up in a small section of the screen, usually coinciding with some video or image on a web page. Is this an issue I should worry about? Or normal behaviour? (One thought I had was that it is related to an invisible overlay on a web page or something like that.)

My major worry is that there's something wrong with the graphics output in my MBP. It is still under AppleCare, but it is such a hassle to get the work done (I don't live near an Apple Store) and my work depends on my computer. Plus, it's been in for Apple Care repairs a couple of times already.

This is a mid-2010, 13" Macbook Pro. I run Lion (10.7.2).

Thanks.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Jan 5, 2012 8:33 AM

35 replies

Jan 29, 2012 6:17 AM in response to David Drysdale

Well, I took in yesterday morning. They are running some diagnostic tool that goes for 24 hours, so hopefully I will hear back soon after the store opens this morning. I tried to express some of my frustrations with how frequently I seem to have hardware failures on this machine in hopes that now, after what looks like the fourth time, they'd just replace the whole machine, but no such luck as of yet. I will see what they say today, though.

Shootist007

Level 6

16,703 points

Jan 29, 2012 6:34 AM in response to David Drysdale

They really should replace it. And if they do you will get a brand new MBP, lucky you.

Good luck.

Jan 29, 2012 6:49 PM in response to Shootist007

No such luck. They say they were unable to reproduce the error and all the hardware checked out. My screen shots were enough for them to offer to replace the logic board and graphics card, but unfortunately I had to head back home (the closests Apple Store is 2 hours away). I guess I will have to deal with the awful store here. The Apple Store gave me documentation detailing what they did and what their recommendation was (i.e. the part replacement) but I think I am going to call Apple directly and see if I can do any better. The repairs today, without AppleCare, would have been over $500. So glad I have AppleCare, but I'm not impressed with a laptop that breaks down so frequently, and I'm not crazy about a product that seems to make the warranty so essential simply because these breakdowns seem so inevitable. I'm a long-time customer, own several Apple products of my own have convinced many people to buy Apple products, and I'm pretty disappointed with how this hardware's holding up. Plus, I depend on my computer for my job and being without it for any length of time is a pretty big inconvenience. But, I will try the phone number posted upthread and see what they tell me.

Feb 12, 2012 10:32 AM in response to David Drysdale

Took my macbook to the Apple store in Covent Garden, London. Essentially, they offered to replace the logic board pretty much as soon as they saw the screenshots i posted above.

they quoted me 'up to 14 days' to replace the Logic Board - It took them 9 days - left it in on a wednesday, got it back on friday.

No problems since i got it back.

Shootist007

Level 6

16,703 points

Feb 12, 2012 10:38 AM in response to darkblueslider

darkblueslider wrote:

Took my macbook to the Apple store in Covent Garden, London. Essentially, they offered to replace the logic board pretty much as soon as they saw the screenshots i posted above.

they quoted me 'up to 14 days' to replace the Logic Board - It took them 9 days - left it in on a wednesday, got it back on friday.

No problems since i got it back.

Good for you. Was it a free replacement?

And does the new board have the same 8600 graphic chip or something different?

Feb 12, 2012 10:57 AM in response to Shootist007

Yeah - fortunately i had an extended Warranty. (otherwise £326 GBP i think was the figure)

it's a like for like replacement, so yeah, another 320M.

Shootist007

Level 6

16,703 points

Feb 12, 2012 11:09 AM in response to darkblueslider

Oh yours wasn't replace because of the faulty NVidia graphic card.

Well good luck with the new board.

Jun 26, 2012 5:53 AM in response to David Drysdale

Thought I'd check back in... They replaced my logic board back in March and I was still having the problem. Now they're going to replace the RAM. Sigh. I keep hoping at some point they'll just replace the laptop. I don't have a lot of confidence in this machine going forward. It's on its third hard drive, and now has a new logic board, new memory, and it has also had a cable inside replaced. I think I bought a lemon.

Jun 29, 2012 6:21 PM in response to David Drysdale

Good news, everyone! After the local Apple Store said they'd replace the RAM, I called Apple directly and told them what was going on. The guy on the other end said they should have offered me a replacement before they replaced the logic board! (Makes sense—with all the repairs that AppleCare covered, it probably cost them more than the cost of the computer anyway.) Long story short, I'm typing this from a new Macbook Pro that I received in the mail, free of charge, as a replacement for my ailing old one. I'm incredibly impressed with Apple right now—this is one of the brand new 13" machines, a bit of an upgrade from my mid-2010 model.

fced

Level 1

2 points

Jul 11, 2012 3:35 PM in response to David Drysdale

Same problem occur to me on my macbook pro mid 2010, with GT330m

It occur 2-3 times and when i wanted to sreenshot, the problem have been gone, or may be this problem doesn't show on system screenshot "Apple"+"shift"+"3"

I have never seen this problem with Snow... so i suppose it's an driver problem, compatibility with lion may be or something like that...

Is this dangerous ? for the macbook pro ?

Thankyou

Ced

super_yo

Level 1

5 points

Jul 11, 2012 11:06 PM in response to David Drysdale

Hi all,

I have the same problem with my mini (mid 2010). I suspected that there were problems hard ... I hope that Apple will do something this time!

Chu_Jung

Level 1

0 points

Jul 17, 2012 5:11 AM in response to David Drysdale

Hi,

I have the same problem with my MacBook Pro, 13 inches, early 2010.

I never see that with Snow Leopard, just with Lion 😟

A French boy.

fced

Level 1

2 points

Jul 17, 2012 10:23 AM in response to Chu_Jung

Problem is Lion Problem,

gone to Snow, no problem, even with cinebench, novabench, stresscpu, and computer hot (97° celsius cpu temp)

Tried ML, no problem, everything is clear...

Definitively there is lot of problems with Lion, i don't want tu burn my Macbook Pro (anyway i have Applecare, if i have any problems it's Apple which will pay)... I asked for refund about Lion (buyed it the 15 june)

super_yo

Level 1

5 points

Jul 17, 2012 9:53 PM in response to fced

Oui je suis d'accord Lion n'est pas pas une bonne version. Beaucoup trop de bugs. Je suis MacUser depuis le MacPlus et Apple me déçois de plus en plus. Je ne pense pas rester chez eux. Mais je pense que le problème est hard plutôt car j'avais également des petites anomalies avec Snow...

Yes I agree Lion is not a bad version. Too many bugs. I am a MacUser since Mac+ and Apple disappoint me more. I do not stay home. But I think the problem is hard because I also rather small anomalies with Snow ...

fced

Level 1

2 points

Jul 18, 2012 6:00 PM in response to David Drysdale

Thankyou for your answer, here there is so much hypocrit peoples, sooner with their answers i was thinking i was paranoiac or i imagine things that is not real 🙂 ....

If you think it's an hardware problem, don't hesitate a minute, go quickly to an Apple center, and ask for a replacement... if it's an factory defect Apple will do a replacement without problem they are very serious about this point...

I live in a country where there is no Apple official support, so peoples which sell Apple hardware here are here only to sell us computers, not to repair them...

Ced

Flashing checkerboard pattern