Colored vertical lines on PB 17" display

Hi Hardy,

This issue has been building for quite some time. There are quite a few post entries informing PowerBook owners how to contact Apple and register their cases. As far as I am aware, no one has received any indication from Apple that they are going to acknowledge that there is a problem. These posts started in order to find a resolution for the issue from the Apple Discussion community. Now that it is clear that expensive repairs is the only solution, the discussion has grown to also act as a platform to share our experiences, advise owners on how to best register their complaints with Apple and talk about Apples response to queries and, yes, vent our frustration, justifiably as far as I am concerned.

Whilst this is really a tool for discussion with fellow users, it is clear that it is actively monitored by Apple staff. This is evident due to the number of posts that are edited by the host, sometimes removed or locked, as well as the large number of discussion threads that have been completely deleted. This censoring is not often due to vulgar language, personal attack or any other of the usual reasons. More often it is due to mentioning other sites that detail the problem or provide a location for us to collectively document cases.

I and others have had posts removed for mentioning the highly similar cases of display problems that have occurred on several of another computer company's laptops. The faulty machines closely share manufacture dates, have the same display size as well as some other, I consider, key specs. The company I am talking about has agreed to take responsibility for the problem, and is repairing the machines at their expense. A work colleague of mine bought one of these very laptops around the same time I bought mine. His display started to develop lines and bars a couple of months after mine did. Whilst his machine is now being repaired almost for free (his model was not one of the ones listed, so he had to pay $45 US for a warranty extension), my laptop has reached the point of being almost unusable with no sign as yet that Apple will take responsibility for fixing it. By the way, it would not surprise me if this

Another reason why this discussion perpetuates is that besides not receiving any positive signs for a resolution by calling Apple, there is no other obvious place to provide online feedback to Apple. They do have a feedback page, but it only provides links for some of their hardware, including Intel machines, but nothing earlier. There is not even a single category like other or older models to allow customers who own such machines to provide feedback. I find this quite strange, maybe even telling. This discussion board is our clearest choice to share and make Apple aware of the scope of the problem and our opinions online as far as I can tell.

I hope this helps to clarify why so many of us use Apple Discussions to talk about this display issue. I and may others will still be doing as you suggest and call Apple to see if there is any change in position or to report new cases. I agree, talking one on one is the best way for the individual to inform Apple of their problem, but unless they change their stance on the issue, it is unlikely that you will see an end to affected users posting their comments here. I hope mine remains in its entirety this time for you to read.

dude...

ive started getting vertical lines a couple months ago. A quick trip to the bathroom and then EGAD!!! A VERTICAL LINE! is it a glitch? is it a bug? nope...just a faulty LCD...one more appeared the next day...

It did not get worse until 3 weeks ago when 3 more lines appeared. And now, one is flickering on and off, this one is another purple one along with the other 4 blue ones.

I called apple, and to use them to send it in would be VERY expensive, they also denied that this was a problem. its $500 to send it in using my apple store. I went to Unitek and they said it would be a flat fee of $450...and honestly, i dont have the money. I am a student and i need a computer, a FULLY functional computer. I am on summer vacation but i have summer school (getting useless classes over with) and i still need a computer. I have no other computer and if i send my computer, my grade will severely suffer. Thanks apple for ruining my chances of a good career. Right now im a DJ and i need my computer for work.


Its not a graphics card problem, i made sure by connecting my computer to an external display. No vertical lines there. I ran the hardware test, no malfunctions in the logic board. The malfunctioning transistor in a pixel must have caused a chain reaction.

On one of our machines we now have 22 vertical lines (when I last posted I think we had about 5) - another (2 years older) 17" powerbook has NO vertical lines, so this has got to be a new manufacturing defect. This is getting ridiculous. Some of the machines we purchased just over a year ago for a lot of money are now becoming unusable - how can this not be a problem and why is nothing being done to help us? Are we not being heard by Apple? Do our phone calls make no difference? This has cost us lost revenue in our business already and could cost us thousands more because of the time we are unable to use our machines, and as a startup we absolutely cannot afford that.

after suffering the vertical pixel line issue on my 12in powerbook for almost a year, incredibly I now also have white spots:
http://www.apple.com/support/powerbook/displayprogram/
don't know whether to laugh or cry...

3 weeks ago a vertical pink line appeared on the display of my 17" powerbook (W85...). yesterday a 2nd line appeared, yellow. so far only two lines...

nobody can tell this is just coincidence that so many 17" powerbooks from this manufacturing series have a display defect. it's not apples fault that this happens. also dell laptops from the same time frame show this defect (guess they used the same displays as apple did, they match in size, resolution and build date). but, as some users have already pointed out, dell DOES recall their laptops for repair.

the way apple ignores this problem is snotty. i'm an apple user for about 14 years now. i owned a performa, some powermacs, three powerbooks, some ipods 😉 i always liked their products, and actually i never needed any support because none of my machines ever broke. until now. the way apple treats this problem lets me think twice whether i should recommend apple computers to my friends in the future.

PB G4/1.67 17" (W85 serial), PB G4/800 15", PM G3/350 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

I have reported this issue to Apple UK via telephone to service & support -- got a case number 81104133 only after I insisted on getting one!
I can confirm that as of today Apple do not recognise this problem as a fault or a bug. This is both disappointing and inexcusable.
Let's hope they will eventually do the right thing if we all keep asking them to respond.

As I heard you have to report this issue to Apple US. I also have a case number, but nothing happened.

maybe that's important for the records (e.g. the apple guys reading this discussion), but i guess every user here with a defect screen has already tried this:

- capturing a screenshot shows no defects on the resulting image (shift-cmd-3) -> the video memory is not affected

- the same is when connecting to an external display, no visible defects on the external screen (both in mirrored and extended desktop mode), the defect on the built-in screen stays

- the lines on the built-in display stay in their position even when changing the screen resolution

- the lines are visible from the 1st second the screen comes on when booting until the display goes to sleep or the computer shuts down

- the lines are visible no matter which user logs in, the lines are ALWAYS there

- the lines stay there no matter at what angle i open the display -> no weak/loose contact

PB G4/1.67 17" (W85 serial), PB G4/800 15", PM G3/350 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

It's because of the observations you've listed that I know this has got to be a hardware issue with the screens themselves—and the screen is just about the most expensive piece of equipment inside the laptop. It seems that Apple has decided, since most of these are occurring after peoples' warranty periods, to ignore this and hope we'll go away. However, after having spend about $3K for a computer that lasts for exactly one year (several times over), and being personally responsible for over 1,200 Mac sales in my area alone, I am incredibly upset about this position. We cannot afford to spend so much on a computer that is failing like this, and expecting us to "just give up" is really unfair.

i got my first pink line about a month ago, and today after a bit of flickering, the second one appeared.

i have a W8 serial number and bought my 17" powerbook in may 2005... so around the same time as everyone else with this problem.

i bought it in the US and now am in canada, i just phoned tech support for apple here in canada and the technician said she had never heard of the problem but that it should "definitely" be completely covered under apple care.

so i guess i'll find out when i take it in. i am a massive supporter of apple, like most of the other people who post here, but i'm extremely disappointed by their inaction so far. hopefully they will resolve the issue soon if enough people log complaints.

17" PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

17" powerbook g4 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

For a long time, I only had one vertical line... probably 3 solid months of only having one line. This was good; I'm a video editor (among other things) and need to not have visual interference with what I'm looking at.

Well, 2 more lines appeared within a week.
And then a week later, another line appeared, this time flickering on and off.
It stayed on.

And now, just a week after that, 2 more lines have appeared.
I now have:
1) purple line about 4 and a half inches from left of screen.
2) cerulean line just 2 millimeters over from that.
3) yellow lilne just one millimeter over from that.
4) purple line about 4 millimeters to the left of the center.
5) purple line about one inch away from right side of screen.
6) pirple line about 4 millimetmers away from the right side of the screen.


I have filed a case number, when I had 3 lines... I'm going to call later this week and update the case.

When will Apple recognize that this is their fault, and replace the screens?
I refuse to pay around $500 to replace a screen on a $3000 laptop.

I'd rather buy another one, but I don't have near enough money.


My dillema has actually influenced around 50 of my acquaintances to not buy anything Apple-related.
While I stand by the fact that Macs are better than PCs, I will not be buying another Mac laptop until this problem is formally acknowledged and fixed.

In the past 3 months, I went from having 1 vertical line to having 14! Totally *****.

I just called Apple care and they said that "alot of their laptops start with WB" and that this is a "monkey see-monkey do sort of thing from the Internet" and not an Apple product problem.

Those are direct quotes from the Apple Care technician.

I guess we're all monkeys.

Yup, that's service how it has to be. 😟

I learned my lesson and bought a Dell Latidude D620 and installed Kubuntu. Sure it takes some time to get familiar with the system, but it's possible. I always was a big apple fan but the behavior of the apple service changed my mind. I won't spend any more money on apple products. That's the best I can do.

what i really don't get...

a) doesn't apple have a contract with this display manufacturer to ensure they ship good quality? isn't there any "OEM warranty" or similar? or something like "ship bad quality once and be never our supplier [of displays] again"

b) what does apple think where dell got their displays from, and why IS dell replaceing them?

I join the PB 17" faulty LCD club. I have now two vertical lines in my LCD, one appear 8 weeks ago, and yesterday one more but thicker. Mine was bought on april 2005, serial W85. I live outside the US, there is any way how to state a complain about this through the APPLE web page?