08-08-2007, 12:50 AM

For some time I've had the infamous MacBook screen flicker. I don't know when it first started, but it has been getting worse. It's to the point where half of the time I awaken it the screen will go into its flicker mode. To recover, I can put it to sleep for half a minute and reawaken it, and that usually solves it for the session. From what I've found here and elsewhere, it's probably the inverter that is at fault.

I've had my baby now for pushing 7 months, and I've been impressed overall. I came from Linux and Windows, though my first Mac experience was with a first gen machine at work in (*cough*) 1984. Since getting my MacBook I've gotten rid of two dual boot machines and moved two from dual boot to Windows only. I've bought an iPod nano and an iPhone. I'd like to fully migrate to Apple.

I'll see how things go this Thursday. My Genius Bar appointment is at the unlikely hour of noon; it's a busy mall and a busy store, but I'm hopeful that I'll be back at work by 1PM. While I'll suffer occasional inconvenience, I'm absolutely intolerant of unreliable machines.

08-08-2007, 01:10 AM

Hmmm...my screen will flicker once when I wake it from sleep. Does yours do it more than once and often?

Hopefully things will go well for you at the genius bar and your mac will get fixed.

08-08-2007, 01:31 AM

Thanks Netty!

My MacBook will flicker at irregular intervals without stopping. I'll awaken it, and it will cyclically dim and brighten without regularity. It will continue to do so until I make it sleep and reawaken. A one time flicker would not be an issue for me. Fwiw, as long as yours doesn't flicker regularly, you're probably okay!

I'm up-to-date on my s/w and I have it set to not reduce screen brightness. I've tried things - reasonable actions - that others have said will "fix" the problem, and it still flickers.

I'll get it fixed. They *should* fix it under warranty. If they decline, then I'll pay to have it fixed; I don't care. It's worth it to me, though it will likely cost them future business if I have to pay for this one.

08-08-2007, 01:35 AM

I'm happy with Apple right now because they replaced my dear boy's iMac screen under warranty ~ he bought the display model off the floor last month but didn't notice a couple of rather deep scratches on the surface of the LCD (didn't turn it off to look it over).

Hope they do you right, MO!

08-08-2007, 01:54 AM

Thank you iKitten!

I'm not too worried about it, though I don't care for the idea of being separated from my MacBook for any period of time. ^_^ I'm fairly optimistic on this one.

08-08-2007, 02:48 AM

I had a problem where my screen flickered and whatnot upon awakening and when under heavy load (opening a program like Word or Photoshop). Took three attempts to fix it

1) replace HDD (gee, why didn't that work?)
2) replace display power inverter
3) sent to apple care and they replaced a bunch of stuff

08-09-2007, 08:13 AM

I'm all set to go in less than four hours, albeit with more than a bit of trepidation. I hate transient problems, which is what this one is. Even if they believe me, it doesn't make it any easier to solve.

I spent much time last night preparing my Mac. First I did a full backup of my system. Then I switched hard drives, replacing the 120G with its original 60G. After surgery I wiped the drive and did a fresh install, complete with all of the available updates. I started all of this around 9:30PM and finished just after 1:30AM. The goal was to protect my system and personal data, and still have a basic working system to bring into the Apple Store. It's probably overkill, but I did it anyway. When it comes home, a simple five minute surgery to swich hard drives will put me back to my normal working system.

I hate computers. (Translated: I hate computers when they don't work properly.)

08-09-2007, 12:50 PM

W00t w00t! I'm impressed with the Genius Bar at the Tyson's Corner Apple Store. I arrived early and was called early. I described the problem to the Genius, showed him my MacBook, and he gathered info. The screen wouldn't flicker. After about 15 minutes, he said I seemed honest and that he'd simply order the inverter. Wow! That was decent. He then tried another couple of things, and voila the screen flickered. Whew!

The inverter should be here in the next couple of days. That's fine with me.

This is a good experience so far. I'm optimistic.

08-09-2007, 01:24 PM

Good to hear you had a great experience with the Genius! That's kind of what happened to me with my nano when I went. It wasn't doing what it was supposed to do but the guy was nice enough to swap it out for me anyway.

08-09-2007, 03:00 PM

Originally Posted by mathogre

W00t w00t! I'm impressed with the Genius Bar at the Tyson's Corner Apple Store. I arrived early and was called early. I described the problem to the Genius, showed him my MacBook, and he gathered info. The screen wouldn't flicker. After about 15 minutes, he said I seemed honest and that he'd simply order the inverter. Wow! That was decent. He then tried another couple of things, and voila the screen flickered. Whew!

The inverter should be here in the next couple of days. That's fine with me.

This is a good experience so far. I'm optimistic.

this outcome should of happened to me, but i got stuck with a retard not a genious

08-10-2007, 12:54 AM

I'm glad it flickered while you were there!! Hate it when the problem suspends itself in front of the mechanic, er, tech.

08-10-2007, 01:03 AM

Had the same exact problem. They will probably have to fix the inverter. Took them two days on mine. Hasn't flickered since but I'm not going to be one of those people who are so happy they fixed a problem that shouldn't exist to begin with.

08-11-2007, 01:03 PM

You're lucky you had a better experience than I did.

08-11-2007, 02:53 PM

I hope everything works out for you. I had a great experience with genius bar, apparently the installation of osx, some file was curropted and it really messed with the computer. Long story short I leave with a brand new macbook

08-13-2007, 09:50 PM

Thank you everyone!!!!!

Next step is the inverter replacement, and that starts tomorrow. Today I received a call (voice mail message actually) that the inverter is at the store. I'll leave it tomorrow, and it should be back in a few days. That means tonight I do the hard drive switch again. This time it will be quick, as the other hard drive has a full OS on it.