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Issue with Macbook Pro Screen.

Matt Bowden

Matt Bowden

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I have no clue as to whats going on...Maybe someone else here might have an idea or has seen this before.

All of a sudden today my Macbook Pro screen is screwing up. It happens intermittently..sometime right after start up sometimes a minute or two later. Doesnt matter if Im doing something or its just sitting there. When it happens the only thing you can do is hard reboot the computer. The mouse still moves on the screen for a bit but wont interact with anything. Eventually the spinning wheel of death comes up. Whats going on? Only about a year and a half old!!!!!!!! Any ideas?

Here's what its doing. Sometimes I get tons of horizontal lines through the screen too.

Heres a shot I took with my camera. (sorry i uploaded the photo to reduser but its not working. just check the link to my flikr)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63723550@N03/8502129518/in/photostream/lightbox/
 
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Photo not loading
 
Does your screen ever go black? I was having similar issues with the horizontal lines through the screen. Turned out my logic board needed to be replaced. My mac was not under warranty anymore but with a little arguing, they covered it. The issue is now gone.
 
heres what happened...

heres what happened...

Drove an hour and a half to my nearest apple store. After waiting FOREVER the guy told me i had two options. And neither were great.

Note: my original macbook pro hd failed...i upgraded it to a momentus extreme hybrid drive (very nice) and upgraded from 4gb to 16gb t
Ram from owc.

Option #1: fix it in store and pay full cost of parts plus labor $$$$$$$$$$

Option #2: let them send it to some depot to get whatever is wrong fixed for a flat rate. (The apple guy said its either the screen, gpu, or logic board) here's the kicker....if we send it to this depot they just fix whatever. The apple guy told me that they will most likely replace my non apple $$$ hard drive with an apple one AND they will replace my non apple 16gb ram with what originally came with it (4gb). How can they do that? Theres nothing wrong with either.
Im going to try to call apple tomorrow. Not sure who to call or what to say.... so fed up. Only a year and a half old. Over $2500 worth of computer.
 
If that's what they want to do, just take out the hard drive and RAM before you send it in - with a note about why!

Maybe you have the old RAM to put back in?
 
Tred that. He said it has to have a hard drive a ram for them to power on and check. When they send the computer he said they cant send notes or anything. The company just gets the computer...no info and fixes what they find wrong.
 
No the creen doesnt go black....yet. it started out as whats pictured above...now when i power on the computer the white apple logo screen comes up distorted with lines and then goes to a white screen and just sits there...does nothing else.
 
Why not buy the absolute cheapest hard drive you can find, or even secondhand, and install the bare OSX on it, and your old RAM.
 
Alright Matt, you can listen to me or not listen to me, but for someone that has worked at Apple, I highly recommend you do the following:

I truly think it's your logic board (after reading your description of what happened). Logic boards are extremely expensive and will probably cost as much as you just putting that money down on another computer.

Depot repairs are flat rates because they tend to look for the most common problems with all MBPs...which happen to be either failed HDD or RAM.

I'm guessing you didn't get Apple Care, which is why you have to pay the full rate on any instore repair.

Ironically the less expensive way to go is to buy a cheap OEM hard drive and RAM to replace the current 3rd party hard drive and RAM you have in your computer. After you replace these, let them send the computer to depot and have them replace what they normally would.

If I remember correctly, depot repairs are usually $300 plus some tax. After you buy some shitty OEM HDD and RAM, it'll be over $400 to spend, which is still way less than what you'd pay for labor and parts for a logic board replacement. Unfortunately, since Apple Care wasn't purchased, you're paying more now then you would have if you bought Apple Care. Lesson learned :/

Depot it. Buy the OEM HDD and RAM as a temporary replacement. Apple wants to take care of you, trust me on this. They won't let you leave the store unless you are satisfied with a computer that works.
 
I have to concur with Justin Kirchoff here.

If your system is still under AppleCare, then go that route to get it repaired. But from the sound of it, you don't have any warranty coverage left, so you're paying for repairs. In that case, wipe the drive or pull it altogether and buy an external enclosure for it. Sell the system on ebay for parts. Buy a new one.

I don't believe in extended warranties, especially those offered by third parties when you buy stuff. Always a rip off. Only one exception to the extended warranty rule -- AppleCare. It has saved my ass more times than I can count.

If you upgrade your RAM, drives, etc.. in an Apple system, it's best to hold onto the original. If it gets sent in for depot repair, they're supposed to send back whatever you send in. However, if they determine the need to replace RAM, they will pull out your modules and replace with what the system originally shipped with. Same with hard drive. If they replace the system, you won't get it back. I always elect for in-store repairs when possible. Then you can talk directly to the tech doing the repair, or at least request to do so. Unfortunately this costs more when the system is not under warranty and may not be possible if parts are scarce and only in inventory at the repair depot.
 
I have been getting the same, it seems to be quicktime is open with other programs. Mine comes and goes. I suspect it is software issue and not a hardware issue. It came on two updates ago, but I suspect it has to do with some of the software us red guys or editors load. Try closing down anything QT based, and see if it helps.
 
Michael Dalton said:
I have been getting the same, it seems to be quicktime is open with other programs. Mine comes and goes. I suspect it is software issue and not a hardware issue. It came on two updates ago, but I suspect it has to do with some of the software us red guys or editors load. Try closing down anything QT based, and see if it helps.
Click to expand...

In your case, I can guarantee it's your Logic Board. That's how mine started with the QT issue.
Just a Heads up If you own a mid 2010 macbook pro, this is a known issue and they will replace the logic board free of charge. Mine was out of warranty and I had no apple care.
I was not charged for the repair... This is the article number you can give the rep when you make the appointment ""Article # TS4088""
 
Macbook's been in since Monday. Still waiting to hear something. All things considered I think I'm coming out pretty clean. The total of the Depot repairs some out to about $320. At the apple store I was told it could easily reach over $1k. I feel a bit stuck. I do a lot of Cinema 4D stuff and I concerned now that I'll kill the logic board again when I start working again. Since the Macpro update might be within the next two months I don't want to buy one now. But eveyday I keep this Macbook Pro and Imac....the less it will be worth down the road for a trade up. Oh, well. We'll see what happens.
 
***Update*** Fed-Ex dropped off my laptop about an hour ago. Very speedy service...thats where the praise ends. A little back story. About a year ago...I dropped my macbook on a shoot. Dinged the corner of the case...no internal damage just cosmetic. it was out of warranty and worked just as fine as ever so I didnt fix it. Last week...logic board failure. You know the rest. Opened the bo today and was greeted with a bill for $1,240 instead of the $328 I was told. It states "accidental damage". The apple genius at the store agreed with me that the cosmetic bumps had no effect on the logic board so I was offered the depot repair option. I called the store to try and figure this out...they told me to call apple repair. I called apple repair and they told me that the depot isn't for accidental damage and thats why I was charged full price. I told them that the cosmetic issues had nothing to do with it. They told me that when you send a computer to the depot...they fix anything and everything thats wrong with it...you cant tell them to only fix certain things. Here;s the kicker...they didnt even fix the stupid cosmetic issues! The just replaced the logic board like they were supposed to.

Since the nearest apple store is over an hour away..I authorized a $328 hold when I dropped the computer off so that they would mail me the computer when it was fixed. Thank god my credit card doesn't have $1,240 available on it. I don't know that to do. I have a call into apple care, they are supposed to call me back after they call the apple store I dropped it off at. This is the worst experience I've ever had with a computer company....even worse than my deelings with HP. The apple store people were great...I hope they stick up for me.
 
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