MacBook Freeze with lines on screen

Otherwise, I am VERY happy with the computer. I have
no "whine."

Don't worry. I am sure that your replacement unit will be equiped with the notorious whine.

I have this!!!!

http://cimota.com/macbookpro/

Thank goodness I'm not alone! Odd taking solidarity in the shared misery of others. I've called Apple....let's see what they come back with!

I have exactly the same thing. After reading all of this, I am going to take a picture the next time it does it and get a DOA replacement.

It's all stock. I doubt it is the ram, I think it is the video card.

OK.....Like.....it has not done it since my last post, over a week ago. I have done everything I can possibly think of to induce it and it works fine now....what's that all about? LOL!

I too have this same problem, but it ONLY happens when I wake my MBP from sleep. To resolve, I close the lid again to put back to sleep, and then wake again, and I get my normal desktop.

I really don't want to send my unit in for repair, but I guess I have no other choice.

OK.....Like.....it has not done it since my last
post, over a week ago. I have done everything I can
possibly think of to induce it and it works fine
now....what's that all about? LOL!

It could have been a software problem. It would be unusual but not impossible to have a hard crash corrupt the screen. In general, modern operating systems prevent this kind of crash but who knows. Also, believe it or not, you can get a crash from cosmic rays. There is a finite chance that a high energy particle hits your CPU/GPU/RAM/Video RAM and causes a crash. This is relatively rare but not impossible. If it doesn't come back, there isn't much to worry about, it was "just one of those things."

I woke my computer from sleep (for about 3 hours) and my screen has dashes all over it. I had to do a hard restart to get a normal screen.

My MBP arrived this morning about 9:30, and almost immediately I noticed small, funny colored bars in a pattern across the screen coming and going. Looks like first picture posted. Within three hours I had a light show going on, pretty but obviously the thing is broken. Goes back to Apple tomorrow.

Send it back, it's bad hardware.
Had it on mine too.
Got a new one, life is grand.

Scott

PS - Serial number: W8615xxxxx

Thanks for these posts. After only a couple of weeks of owning this same computer, in the midst of editing pics in Photoshop, my screen permanently did what you've all displayed here. The pictures were very helpful in confirming it was the same disease, but, in my case, the disease was swift and fatal -- no amount of rebooting, removing the battery, or waking from sleep could wake my computer from his nightmare. I think you must be correct that it was the video card, since at some point in every reboot there is a fully lighted blue screen for a few seconds, proving that the display is still capable.

I took the computer to my local Applestore where they took one look and offered me a replacement computer, then transferred all data and programs from dead computer to brand new live one and handed it over to me.

If Dave is happy, I'm ecstatic! Yesssss! Thanks to the good people at the Applestore! I'm even happier because I live in So Cal and don't need a laptop to keep me warm! Thanks for posting this, though, Dave. It was great to know all of my data would still be there.

Louisa

MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Same problem here. The folks at the Apple store could not reproduce the problem at all. Offered to send it in for repair. The problem does not seem to be happening to me as often any more. I'm going to request a repar ASAP.

I've had my macbook for 4 days and just noticed the same problem. I can reproduce the diagonal line by moving my screen up and down a little. Once the lines appear my computer freezes.

I was trying to get a photo of the hardware test saying "No trouble found" with the lines in front of it but my timing wasn't good enough.

Well, here we are almost a year to the day and i'm just now experiencing this problem. Thanks for the detailed follow-ups everyone. Very helpful for someone new to this issue..

I have a 15in MBP (2GHz Intel Core Duo, 120GB) and, save for a free battery replacement, have had zero problems until now. Like the others here, i woke up one morning to the pattern described in the first post. A hard shutdown and reboot did not cure the problem but later in the day everything worked fine. Then the same issue the next day: diagonal lines and freezing followed by periods of working fine. I'm now at about 48hrs after the first time it happened and this is what i get when i boot...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thejosephboys/740255978/

...note too that the machine is all but frozen upon booting. I can move the cursor around but it can't open anything. (Cursor appears as a white rectangle near the center of that image.) Lastly, when i tried booting the thing as a HD the other Mac i connected it to did not recognize the contents of the (MBP) drive. (Warning message: "You Have inserted a disk containing no volumes that Mac OS X can read.") So i'm unable to back up any of my data myself.

But i just recieved a call from a co-worker with some good news. He asked someone in his dept (someone that used to work at an Apple Store) that said the thing to do is to have the Apple Store folks remove the HD and back it up right then and there - BYO HD, obviously - before sending the comp off to Atlanta or Houston or wherever. Typically, according to this source anyway, replacing the logic board doesn't necessarily have to involve the HD. So there's a chance that my/your data will be okay, but backing everything up before sending the machine off for repair is obviosuly the way to go here...

I'll write more later with updates/progress/etc. Thanks to all of you for sharing your experiences and giving me some guidance as i deal with this issue myself..

Brandon


MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.9) 15in, 2GHz Intel Core Duo

MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.9) 15in, 2GHz Intel Core Duo

MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.9) 15in, 2GHz Intel Core Duo