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mike Savage

Q: Colored vertical lines on PB 17" display

There is a lot of documentation on various websites and discussion boards about 17" Powerbooks with displays that break down after about 15 months of use.

I am unfortunate enough to own a 17" powerbook assembled in April 2005 in China - serial number beginning with W8. I believe this is the same time-period and factory location where hundreds (if not thousands) of identical machines were assembled that are now having the same colored-lines-in-the-display defect as my machine.

All these machines assembled at the same time, at the same place, using the same batch of LCD screens, are experiencing the same defect after the same amount of use.
Something stinks, and it smells like a manufacturing problem to me.

Does anyone know if Apple has man'd up and acknowledged the problem yet?





17" Powerbook G4 1.67   Mac OS X (10.4.9)  

Posted on May 21, 2007 5:36 PM

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Q: Colored vertical lines on PB 17" display

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  • by macuser08,

    macuser08 macuser08 Aug 16, 2007 9:00 AM in response to macuser08
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Aug 16, 2007 9:00 AM in response to macuser08
    5 lines....
  • by salmon_ella,

    salmon_ella salmon_ella Aug 16, 2007 6:19 PM in response to mike Savage
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 16, 2007 6:19 PM in response to mike Savage
    2 lines in Dec06, 11 lines this week. I never purchased the AppleCare coverage, not that it would have mattered since the first lines appeared after the coverage would have expired anyway. I switched from a PC for this machine.

    I didn't buy an iPhone.
  • by macuser08,

    macuser08 macuser08 Aug 16, 2007 9:09 PM in response to mike Savage
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Aug 16, 2007 9:09 PM in response to mike Savage
    Up to six lines now.
  • by salmon_ella,

    salmon_ella salmon_ella Aug 17, 2007 10:18 AM in response to salmon_ella
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 17, 2007 10:18 AM in response to salmon_ella
    ...make that 12 lines today.
    *sigh*
  • by Buck_W,

    Buck_W Buck_W Aug 20, 2007 9:00 PM in response to salmon_ella
    Level 1 (22 points)
    iPhone
    Aug 20, 2007 9:00 PM in response to salmon_ella
    A vertical blue line just popped up on my 17" PB tonight - serial W85... When I pulled up the support forum for this particular model, this thread was at the very top of the list - wow! Honestly, how much does it take for Apple to acknowledge that this is a widespread problem?
  • by Michael Byrne2,

    Michael Byrne2 Michael Byrne2 Aug 22, 2007 8:52 AM in response to mike Savage
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 22, 2007 8:52 AM in response to mike Savage
    I'm on the phone with apple support right now and I have a question... when did they start outsourcing thier support to india? this is terrible, I've been on for 10 minutes now and this person cant understand what my issue is. She's telling me how to change the size of my dock.
  • by Michael Byrne2,

    Michael Byrne2 Michael Byrne2 Aug 22, 2007 9:12 AM in response to mike Savage
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 22, 2007 9:12 AM in response to mike Savage
    I just asked to speak to a supervisor and she said "I cannot do that" I asked what apple is doing to address this issue and she said "we are replacing screens that are still in warrenty, if not you have to pay, it is not a defect"
    I think I'm just about done with apple and macs at this point. I love the mac os, but if I'm to pay a premium for a machine, I expect it to last longer than a year and a half.
  • by Michael Byrne2,

    Michael Byrne2 Michael Byrne2 Aug 22, 2007 9:15 AM in response to mike Savage
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 22, 2007 9:15 AM in response to mike Savage
    has anyone gotten a response from apple from the feedback forms?

    Message was edited by: Michael Byrne2
  • by DavidHudd,

    DavidHudd DavidHudd Aug 23, 2007 1:30 PM in response to Michael Byrne2
    Level 1 (40 points)
    Aug 23, 2007 1:30 PM in response to Michael Byrne2
    Couldn't agree more.
  • by jafes,

    jafes jafes Aug 28, 2007 6:31 PM in response to mike Savage
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 28, 2007 6:31 PM in response to mike Savage
    Hi. I had the same problem with my pb g4 17 inch made in China W85 batch. I took it to a shop, had it repaired in April 2007. Well, it's late August 2007, and I have a new blue line on my new screen. Apple, are you listening? I don't want to get another computer after I just paid more than 2000 for this one, and for screen repairs that obviously don't help.

    What to do, people?
    .
  • by fish78,

    fish78 fish78 Aug 28, 2007 11:34 PM in response to jafes
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 28, 2007 11:34 PM in response to jafes
    Hi Jafes,

    sorry to hear about your problem, but that's exactly the real problem. If I would change my display I have absolutely no guarantee that this won't happen again in some months. So this is definitely a PowerBook which has no mobile use anymore.
    It's really more than disappointing how apple treats this issue.
  • by stannard,

    stannard stannard Aug 29, 2007 12:39 AM in response to mike Savage
    Level 1 (29 points)
    Notebooks
    Aug 29, 2007 12:39 AM in response to mike Savage
    25 lines and counting!

    In these last two weeks I'm averaging 1 line per day!
  • by lauren0204,

    lauren0204 lauren0204 Aug 29, 2007 7:32 AM in response to mike Savage
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 29, 2007 7:32 AM in response to mike Savage
    I have a 20month old 17" powerbook G4 and recently I have started to get lines on my screen, only mine are horizontal and not vertical?? Started off with just one and now there are three. Is this the same thing? My serial number starts with W85 as well, no applecare so don't know what to do??
  • by christine rouault,

    christine rouault christine rouault Aug 30, 2007 7:24 AM in response to mike Savage
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 30, 2007 7:24 AM in response to mike Savage
    One more line today but still hopin Apple will face to its responsabilities.
  • by Tattybats,

    Tattybats Tattybats Aug 30, 2007 9:07 AM in response to mike Savage
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 30, 2007 9:07 AM in response to mike Savage
    I was so upset to find out about the Vertical Lines. My powerbook, unsurprisingly hatched April 2005 in Shanghai has started to develop the problem.

    I have reported to Apple, I have filled the web comment form.

    I have contacted BBC Watchdog and Which?.

    The tier2 apple service bloke said he would pass the display problem info on to an engineer but that he could guarantee that the engineer would do nothing with the information. He also gave me the address to write to in Cork for Apple but mentioned that Customer Relations never talk the technical/engineering side! I will write anyway.

    [rant]
    I used to shout to the world about how great my Mac was. No more, Apple, I wouldn't touch any of your goods again after this fiasco. Words cannot describe how upset, infuriated and angry I am at being fobbed off. I can neither afford to get my G4 fixed, or to replace it. Where does that leave me I wonder?
    [/rant]
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