Screen Brightness Flickering - Power?

Hello folks,

For the past week when I leave my mac for a minute and it dims the screen before it goes to sleep it's been flickering between the dim and the normal brightness until I touch the trackpad or it goes to sleep.

Now it's started flickering between bright and semi-dim all the time. But quite erratically, it flickers a bit, then stops, flickers some more, etc etc.

Now, my boyfriend's thinking is that it could be a power supply issue - because it dims a little when I unplug it anyway, so I'm cleaning the contacts now. My battery is also getting a bit on the used side -

Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 1134
Fully charged: No
Charging: Yes
Full charge capacity (mAh): 1785
Health Information:
Cycle count: 455
Battery health: Good
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 821
Voltage (mV): 12318

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iStat says the battery health is 35%. It was 53% less than a week ago... The day before yesterday I used it until it shut itself down and then charged it all the way up again and the capacity went up to 2500, but it's quickly deteriorated again. I mean, I use my mac ALOT, I don't have a desktop, so it's on or sleeping most of the time.

So, do you think a new battery would solve the screen problem (it's driving me crazy trying to type this), or is there something else I can try? Anything that might help revive the battery a little before I have to fork out for a new one? I got this MacBook when they first came out, so it's probably 20 or 21 months old and out of warranty.

Ok, the contacts are now all shiny and perfect... and I'm still flickering.

It's called a 'screen inverter', and it sounds like yours is going bad. If you're under warrantee Apple will fix it for you. My wife's Macbook did exactly that, and they fixed it. Hopefully you have an Apple store nearby (I see you are in the UK) otherwise you'll have to send it in.

Either way, it looks like your Macbook is going to need service, unfortunately.

Oops..didn't see the 21 month and out of warrantee part. Well, that's why we get Apple Care. Sorry about that. My understanding is that you might be looking at upwards of $700US for that repair.

My Blackbook had this issue twice when it was under warranty, was fixed both times and has not happened again. My wife's has just started, it's not under warranty. I am going to find out how much it costs, but if it's $700 for a known persistant issue due to a documented defect, that will be the end of my relationship with Apple forever. So I really hope they don't shatter my illusion.

Dang. I don't have $700 and I hate to think what that would cost over here...

MacBook Pro Brightness Flickering

Another user and myself came across this problem after applying the Magic Pad/Trackpad update. We don't understand why Apple hasn't figured this one out. We've contacted Apple but they keep saying they aren't getting any reports of this problem. Maybe more people need to contact Apple about this.

I have a 2010 17 inch MBP i5, which started doing brief dimming and brightening again. In fact I noticed that when it would randomly dim then brighten, if I unplug it repeatedly it would reproduce the flicker effect. I also did the same thing you did and reformatted, reinstalled and re-updated one update at a time. When I ran the Magic pad/trackpad update it started up with the flicker again.

The only thing that makes me think it's not hardware related though is that we also have a 2009 13 inch MBP which is fully updated and rarely used as much as the 17 inch. I decided to test the update theory by watching that MBP to see if it happened. Guess what. It did. Even the previous generation 2009 MBP flickered as well.

I've already re-installed my OS several times trying to figure out why the screen problem was persisting. The last time I re-installed I was careful not to install the Trackpad/Magicpad update to prevent the screen problem. I don't have time to go and re-install again because Apple because Apple can't get their heads out of their you know whats. I did my due diligence by not installing that update after spending several hours trying to figure out that it was that update. Then they went and release 10.6.5 which caused the same problem. So now am I expected to reinstall once again. What about the next update. Are we supposed to just never update our systems again because of these stupid Magicpad drivers. Apple needs to address this. We all spend a lot of money on their products, so they need to look into this and not be telling us that we can either send out computer in just to have them give us a refurbished one that will have the same problem or to waste our time re-installing our OS. While your idea of reinstalling works, it is not a solution and I have literally reinstalled at least 5 times. No one should have to to that, much less reinstall at all. One of the reasons I switched to Mac was because I was always having to reinstall Windows due to exploits, or trojans or bad software or just plain OS problems. I don't expect Apple computers to be perfect but when I call support or take it in, I don't want to hear, "we're not getting any other reports of this happening". And I definitely don't want to hear them tell me that they'll have to send my computer in and I'll be without it for up to 10 days and when I get it back it will have a refurbished clamshell. Obviously this is a software issue. I outlined what causes it and how to reproduce it. There's no reason they can't fix it now.

There are numerous discussions in the Apple sponsored forum regarding the issue of "Screen Brightness Flickering" on the 17" MBP models. Suggest looking thru them. Seems there are many reasons why this happens, and is not limited to the Magic Trackpad update. Here's one LINK you can explore.

I am already participating in that forum thread. User "Pudge1977". That thread is actually referring to the magicpad and 10.6.5 update that causes this problem. Believe me I have spent hours researching this. The problem is definitely the Magicpad update and 10.6.5 update which has Magicpad drivers included. These updates are what cause the dimming briefly then brightening problem on the last two generations of Macbooks. I am 100% certain that if the user who started "this" thread were to reinstall their OS and not run those two updates, then they will see that the problem will not continue.

Give it a try if you are willing to take the time to test my research.

OK, thanks for posting back. I find it hard to believe that Apple has not acknowledged this as a problem. I wasn't aware of it until I read your post and began searching. Who did you speak with at Apple support?

Macbook Pro brightness flickering

I spoke with one of their support technicians who stated that they haven't even heard of this problem. I also took it into the Apple store and they said the same thing. They actually seemed reluctant about what I was telling them even though I showed them a video on my phone. After it sat there for awhile it did it in front of them. They wanted to send it in to have the clamshell replaced which I declined because I didn't want them to replace it with a refurbished clamshell just to have it continue happening. My MacBook is brand new and should not be fitted with used parts when I know this is a software issue.

Mainly I'm not expecting any help on any of the forums. I just wanted to provide the info that I have gathered and how I replicated the problem so that other people can see if that is the cause on their machines and pass that info on to Apple themselves. Maybe this will also help a lot of other users experience frustration from needlessly sending their computers in for repair. Hopefully if enough of us pass this along to Apple, they will take a more active approach into looking at this problem instead of stating that they haven't heard of this issue.

I guess only time will tell.

Mainly I'm not expecting any help on any of the forums. I just wanted to provide the info that I have gathered and how I replicated the problem so that other people can see if that is the cause on their machines and pass that info on to Apple themselves. Maybe this will also help a lot of other users experience frustration from needlessly sending their computers in for repair. Hopefully if enough of us pass this along to Apple, they will take a more active approach into looking at this problem instead of stating that they haven't heard of this issue.

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You need to elevate this up higher - just be sure you have everything documented with proof to back up your assumptions about it being caused by software. Keep us informed and good luck with it.