09-18-2007, 12:37 PM

my macbook display goes berserk within a few minutes of turning it on. the display literally scrambles and looks like white noise, like an old black and white movie that's fallen off the reel. i've attached a photo.

this problem happens every time, within 20 minutes of restarting the computer (which gets rid of the problem), when my MB is hooked up to a another monitor. there is no rhyme or reason for the scrambling, and i'm not doing the same action every time. interestingly, while the display on the macbook is scrambled, the computer works, and the second monitor remains clear.

when my MB is on its own, the display scrambling occurs infrequently (once every couple of days, more so lately) but requires a restart to "fix" it.

HELP! i keep losing files and having to reboot by holding down the power button as i can't see program windows to properly close them...

09-18-2007, 01:24 PM

Looks like it could be a problem with the video card. Does it do this after moving it around, or is it usually just sitting in one place?

09-18-2007, 01:24 PM

If you need to close/save a program, try F7 to change the second display to mirror the primary, then at least you'll be able to save/close anything you have open without using the broken display.

I'd probably take it to get repaired.

09-18-2007, 01:59 PM

Classic sign of a video card problem. I've also seen this happen with bad system memory, but only very, very rarely.

I don't know if memtest will boot on these things... I'd think it ought to, but I don't know for sure. If someone can confirm that it does, I suggest you download that and burn it to CD, boot off it and let it run through at least one complete cycle.

However, I suppose it doesn't really matter... whether this is a gpu problem, a vram problem or a ram problem, it's almost guaranteed to be a hardware fault and it'll have to be repaired.

11-15-2007, 12:58 PM

no, moving it around doesn't help, it's the same old fuzzy screen. sigh! i'd trade this laptop is as it's mostly usable but i'm going to get next to nothing for it!