15" Unibody Macbook Pro screen flicker or flash

My screen does this quite often.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Apple
• Unibody
• Macbook
• Pro
• screen
• flash
• flicker

[jtbussiere]

alright guys bad news. I bought applecare just for this and had it "fixed" they replaced the logic board and as soon as I got it back i saw it flicker again. it doesn't do it nearly as often, but sure enough it's still there.

[kingmikeofthenorth]

@jtbussiere mine used to do this too, keep bitching and show them this video. they replaced mine after replacing the logic board

[jtbussiere]

@kingmikeofthenorth really? When they replaced my logic board it stopped doing it as often. so now it's harder to reproduce. I feel like they did that on purpose lol. cause no one I know who has gotten the logic board replaced has actually had the problem solved lol

[v5dan]

My machine has this also (15 unibody pro) seemed to get worse since i upgraded to snow leopard, but i have just updated to 10.6.1 no flicker! i will keep you posted if it stays away. Me thinks its a software issue not hardware.

[jtbussiere]

yes, please keep me posted. if it is the case, I will definitely upgrade

[kingxadjez]

I'm speaking to Apple regarding this now. The Geniuses said the 9400 is not good enough to handle the graphics load and there is no fix (replacing the Logic Board will do nothing). Apple's "fix" is to constantly run it with the 9600 chip which means mine only has 1.5 hours battery and runs too hot to go on your lap. They've told me that running Chrome and Itunes on a 9400 is too much and that no MBP on the market could handle this without flickering...

[dodgyricky]

I got the similar problem. I bought it in late 2008. the first generation of uniboady. And it started to flickering about half year ago. The flickering is unpredictable. But I am still having the warranty till late 2011. Should I talk to Apple? Anything they can do for this?

[SETSUNA108]

@KazPinkerton Problem is, it works on the 9400 which I don't want to work on because of the flicker. I'll check to see if I have the latest version of Chrome though.

[KazPinkerton]

@SETSUNA108

It's almost certainly not the GPU. It's probably a flaw in Flash's new hardware acceleration features. Be sure you're running the latest version for one, and see if you get the same behavior in another browser. If it works elsewhere, it's a problem with Chrome not displaying the site properly. Chrome tends to be extremely standards-compliant and if Gaia's site is at all quirky with regards to its code, it might not display properly.

[SETSUNA108]

@KazPinkerton I have a problem where the 9600M won't load a certain flash oriented area on a site (gaia online) on my google chrome. It loads the music and nothing else. Is that natural?

[KazPinkerton]

@SETSUNA108

It does NOT flicker under that setting, despite whatever fallacious information with which you were supplied. It's slightly hotter and noisier yes, because it's an entirely different GPU performing at a higher level. Also, replacing the graphics unit would require replacing the entire motherboard as there is no 'card'. It's simply a heatsinked GPU soldered straight on.

[SETSUNA108]

@KazPinkerton I still hear that the screen flickers under that one though. And it makes your machine run hotter and it makes more noise. I don't know whats up, but if its a problem with the graphics card, don't you think apple should have them replaced? Or suggest when someone comes in complaining of this issue to replace the card?

[SETSUNA108]

Mine has started recently.... its annoying as hell!

[themainevent]

Mine just happened to do this recently (Late 2008 MBP). Still under warranty so let's see what they'll do.

[KazPinkerton]

If it's that huge of a deal, change over to discrete graphics instead of the integrated chip. (Look for Graphics: Better Performance under Energy Saver in System Preferences). The flaw is actually in the nVidia integrated graphics chip, which apple does not manufacture. That's really all you can do about it. That's the entire extent of the problem though.