vertical, coloured lines

Im having the same problem. Started today. Apple is sending a box will be 7-9 days!!
Don't know machine was running great most of the time but I did notice it has slowed down the last few days. Its faster now that I zapped the pram. Lines every time I boot now. I won't shutdown much now.

I need someone to test this fix.
Need to boot in Single user Mode by holding down the Apple and S keys at the same time. after that run a sbin/fsck -fy and when done type reboot.
See if it fixes the problem. It did for me I beleive the machine was stuck in trying to access open firmware or something. Please let me know.
Thanks all,
Rick

macbook 2ghz 2gigs of memory Mac OS X (10.4.6)

After turning the Brightness down and I shutdown or reboot I will get the stripped screen. I then have to zap the pram to get video back to normal. Not a fix I know. Tryed trashing the Prefs but no change.
This is all I know right now.
Rick Levitt

As Posted by another person the fix is to an ARCHIVAL reinstall of the System and then your software updates. This will fix the Vertical line issue.
I have to call Apple and cancel my repair. Anyone have any other conclusions please share, but this should do it.
Peace,
Rick Levitt

The trick with resetting the startup disk via the install-DVD worked fine for me too!!! Before that, I was stuck with the vertical lines and had to reset the PRAM on every startup.
Thanks for the hint!

Cool, I'm glad! This way we can at least stay with 4.7. When I called apple about it they seemed to be aware of the problem but they seemed a little confused as to why I was calling. "Why are you calling us if it's working now" was the attitude! I'm still amazed that people are going through the hassle of exchanging the macbook or completely reinstalling 4.6 to fix it.

White Macbook Mac OS X (10.4.7) 2.0GHz | 2GB RAM | 100GB 7200RPM HD

I haven't tried this yet. I had the same problem and it was suggested that I change the startup order. This is how you do it: Stick your Installation DVD in your drive, then select “Startup” finally select Hardrive. This has fixed most problem for most people I spoke too.

My computer is currently at a service centre. I will call them tomorrow and have them try doing that. I’ll keep you posted.

hey! I found the solution by myself. my macbook is also happened the same today. so I had to figure it out what cause is. it turned out openGL, some graphic performance malfunction to occur to display. so how you can resolve this? follow next.

1. turn off macbook
2. reboot with pressing command + option + P + R (well, so far everybody knows, right)
3. go to system perferences > Display > change to any resolution one or more, then back to normal (1200X800)
4. restart for test
5. it will be no problem at all. everything will be normal.

in my case, it turned to normal. I tested five times. now still normal. you try it!

My MacBook has been at the Service center for a week, so I called to see what was taking so long and they said they are replacing the logic board and it is on backorder, and they don't know how long it will be before they come in. 😟

sorry to hear. here is thing to be different. like you said, when logic board went to malfunction, you can't even see any thing on the screen no matter what you restart or any situation.

vertical lines appearance on macbook is less possible that logic board goes bad. I think that you just got bad one. but it is also case by case. if you read all posts here, it's only happened when you reboot. then reset PRAM. it's gone. everything is normal. most people here didn't have any problem before updating to mac os x 10.4.7. so new update causes something bad for graphic performance.

I don't know how many days you had macbook to use. but I have used mine closed to 30 days. it was just happened after updating 10.4.7. I had no single problem so far. even many people have mooing, buzzing. I don't have them at all.

therefore, I think that Apple must re-dispatch quick update to prevent such ting from display as soon as possible.

video of the problem here:

http://web.mac.com/mikedcurtis/iWeb/Site/MacBooknowHoseBook.html

I've had the same problem, but ironically, it only appeared deep zapping PRAM (3 times in a row) as requested by Apple tech support, while trying to solve a random shutdown problem. Actually "shut down" implies a level of grace that wasn't present - it would spontaneously power off, losing all unsaved documents without warning. It started doing this last week, and got progressively more frequent. I called in to tech support, a very nice and polite woman worked with me until she had me zap PRAM 3 times and THEN the lines started occuring. Bonus irony points that when I got put on hold after that, the line and song playing was "You've lost that loving feeling and it's gone...gone...gone......woah oh woah oh woah."

It would not boot from the install DVD, either - neither by holding down the C key nor the D key (for hardware diagnostics). So they sent a box and it got shipped out yesterday, I'm curious to see how long this takes. I'm going to LA on business at the end of the month, I hope the other user's indicated backlog on mobos does not persist, I need my little road warrior back before I go!

-mike

Hi, I just had the same problem today, clearing the physical ram 3 times did work in clearing the lines, however I called tech support at my local apple store just to check in with them.
They said it was a memory issue as the memory is used from the Physical Ram and to check that the Ram was correctly installed.
I'll keep an eye on it, obviously. I did check the ram and it was fine, didn't need pushing in any further, so Ithink I'll be calling Apple Support tonight to see what their response is.
I'll keep you posted on the results.

Here's a summary of the problem with my MB:

1. No problem with 10.4.6
2. Updated to 10.4.7
3. Reset pram after a crash and restarted normally (problem seems to appear after a pram reset under 10.4.7)
4. Next day, vertical lines and failed to boot
5. Forced shutdown by holding the power button
6. Had to reset pram 2-3x to complete boot up
7. Problem reoccurs on next restart
8. Followed archurban's solution - reset pram -> change display resolution to anything other than 1200x800 -> change resolution back to 1200x800 -> restart
9. Vertical lines problem has not reoccured in the last 6+ shutdowns and restart cycles

PS: thanks archurban for your help.