Graphics glitch Mountain Lion MBP

I don't have Perian installed on my machine. I thought that perhaps because I had the graphics card set to better performance, instead of better battery, that was the cause, but it's doing it on both settings.

I decided to call Apple Care, the first person (girl) was very helpful, she had me reset my PRAM, do a disk repair and even a full reinstall of Mountain Lion. She told me that if after the install, the problem still persisted, to call back (as she had given me 90 days of support for Mountain Lion). However, when I called back, because the issue still kept happening (surprise), I got a guy, who barely spoke english, which was the first time this has ever happened when I've called Apple. He was very rude and didn't really seem to fully understand what I was trying to explain to him, regardless of the fact that my entire case was on the computer in front of him. After explaining to him that I had one logic board fail over a year ago, that had since been replaced, my computer had been working fine, that is until I installed OS X 10.8. He said that is impossible as this is a hardware issue and Moutain Lion is software. After trying to explain to an "Apple" rep that the software in Mountain Lion contains drivers for "hardware" and that, that could be the issue, he refuted the possibility. I then pointed out that I've posted on the Apple support forums....want to know his reply, you'll love this.

He said and I quote: "We" [Apple] don't reference or acknowledge the forums for issues like this, because our competitors can change their names or make accounts and post false information in our forums, attempting to degrade our products and make us look bad."

Can you believe that?? So regardless of the fact that my logic board has now failed twice in 3 years, he tells me since I don't have Apple Care extended support, I'll have to pay out of pocket. Frustrated and annoyed by the most unprofessional Apple rep I've ever encountered, I hung up the phone and will be making a trip to my nearest Apple retail store (an hour away) this evening. At least I'll have someone who speaks english and I can actually show them the issue first hand, as the computer can't go more than 5 mins without the glitch showing up.

To see if you are having similar issues: Go to YouTube and type this in exactly (or copy and paste it)

"MacBook Pro graphic issue after Mountain Lion install" minue the quotes. It will be posted by me, mtwewerka.

I just thought I'd share this issue with the CSR at Apple with you all, oh, he also said he has never heard of this issue. He said since ML has been released, he's been taking calls for days and I'm the first person that's reported this problem. After reading all of your responses, I can only assume he's lying. However, in case he isn't, if you haven't already, I highly recommend you call Apple at 800-APL-CARE and tell them of your issue so we can get this noticed by a few representatives. Seeing how I run my own tech new blog, believe me, I'll be spreading the word...just not with the same level of hostility as I am on these forums.

Mike Wewerka (aka Michael Blake)

Well here's the 180 (degree) report, after going to the Apple store. I visited my local store on Tuesday of last week. I showed them the computer, the screen shots and even the video I shot (that's on YouTube). They took my computer and decided to run some stress tests over two days. So I went down on Friday, which was my first available chance to pick it up, as it's an hour drive. Upon getting there, the genius brought my computer out. He said they did a full factory reset and then installed Mountain Lion and after a full day of testing, basically running movie trailers and YouTube all day, with email and web surfing, they said they didn't experience the problem.

I was like, great! But I noticed they didn't install iLife on to my computer after they wiped it. So the genius hooked it up to their network (hardwire) and as he began to install iLife, the problem happened again. He was baffeled. So, he said, "Give me a minute." After waiting for about 15, he came back and said, "How big was your harddrive, do you remember?"

To which I replied, "Yeah, 320GB."

He said, "Oh, great... would you mind if we just gave you a brand new computer?"

I was blindsided and excited, I said, "Um, nope."

So after a little work, I ended up walking out with a brand new, mid-2012 15-inch MacBook Pro with an Intel Core i7 quad-core processor, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB harddrive. I was estatic. Now this may have happened because I've already had a logic board replaced once, the fact that I had to drive 4 hours in total, the fact that he read the transcript from the (rude) Apple phone support guy and that they failed to fix the issue after I brought it in, either way, in the end, this was amazing customer service. The fact that my computer was a mid-2009 MBP, with no Apple care and completely out of warranty and they still took care of me, I'll definitely be an Apple customer for life.

Before I left, I said would I get to keep the battery charger, as mine has the metal wiring exposed (which shouldn't happen) and he said, unfornately no, that they need to send every back with my computer. But, if I bring my charger down, he'll swap it out for a new one, free of charge. That's awesome.