Striped Sceen issues on Macbook pro 17"

Hi guys, i have recently joined the forum and after a few issues with my macbook am hoping some on here can help.
I have a Macbook pro 17" just over 14 months old and was working perfectly until a few days a go when all of a sudden the sceen started blinking then froze. On restart it then showed a banding screen of stripes when the apple logo shows in the middle off the screen. it then sometimes starts up to the login screen and sometimes it just goes to a grey screen with no startup!.
On a successful startup again it works for a while but when using photoshop it crashed again with thinner sripped screen showing and freezing.
I used utilities to check the preferences which shows a lot off mismatching on screen and display preferences..but i then repair them and things seem to work ok again for a short time... then the screen goes back to freezing and showing stripped screens with the preferences again being out !.
Does anyone know here what is causing this issue and is there anything i can do to stopp the display preferences from getting screwed up etc and causing this problem.
I have images i can show but can i show them here on a post so as everyone can betterunderstand my problem?
any help would be greatly appreciated. I am running 10.7 at the minute.
thank you for all and any help
Fergus

My first question to you: Did you buy Apple Care for your 17" MacBook Pro? If you did, make an appointment with your local Apple Store genius bar and have them check it out. Your problem could be either software or hardware related, so you'll need to narrow that down. Let us know and we can go from there.

Macbook screen issues

Hi,
thank you very much for taking time to reply and for your interest in this issue.

I bought the Macbook pro form a solicitor, a lady who got is as a replacement when hers was water damaged with an insurance claim. She managed to get her original laptop fixed and wanted to use her original one as she had a lot of sensitive files etc on it and wanted to continue to use her old laptop... so decided to sell the one her insurance company got in replacement for her... which i bought as new from her.
It was brand new and unused with cellophane etc on macbook etc. The next day i took it to the Apple store in Victoria centre, Belfast Northern Ireland to check that the aptop was indeed genuine and to see about getting apple care for it, but was told i couldn't get apple care for it, as apple care has to be bought at the same time as the laptop was bought. So as the lady who got the replacement thru her insurance company didn't get apple care when they bought the new one, i have no apple care on this laptop at all.

I thought tho that Apple warranty would have possibly extended to 2 years etc which this laptop falls into at the minute.

I have an Apple Genius Bar appointment for tomorrow for apple to check my laptop out.

On the problems i am having.. I done a hardware test from a start-up disc which showed as having no hardware issues at all. i took screen shots to show this to the Apple technicians tomorrow too as well as the other permission issues that are showing up.

The laptop has crashed over 20 times during the weekend when using video in watching mkv movies on vlc, and also on Photoshop. Today i got the machine running and was using it for internet and listening to music but as soon as i selected Photoshop to open from the dock.. the screen went black and white stripped and then froze so i have to restart the machine.. so it could be a software issue as you have said.
I have a full boxed edition of Creative Suite CS6 bought and registered with Adobe so all the software is legitimate and correct.
Should take the creative suite off and re-install it..could there be a software glitch or could it be a graphic driver issue when photoshop is used??

I know this is a long reply, but i hope it gives you an idea of where things are at with this problem i am having.

Is there a way i can post images for the community here to see?
thank you again for your help and interest.

Should take the creative suite off and re-install it..could there be a software glitch or could it be a graphic driver issue when photoshop is used??

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I would leave everything exactly the way it is now until after your appointment with the genius bar. I guess I don't understand why Apple would not allow you to purchase Apple Care on a new MacBook Pro. Perhaps because it was a replacement from the insurance company?

Stripped scren on macbook pro

Hi, just a quick update on my problems with my Macbook Pro. I had an appointment with the Apple genius bar yesterday and they got it started up ok and it then replicated the issue in the store so they could see what was happening et. and they have diagnosed that it needs a new graphics card/logic board as these components are are all in one nowadays in the macbooks. This is going to be a costly repair with them quoting me £450 inc vat and labor!! so i have no option but to go ahead. the ne part has a 90 warranty only too which i was surprised about, but if the problem ever arrises again it'll be straight back to them regardless off the 90 day warrenty as i would be covered under the comsumer goods act here in the u.k i.e was the part fir for purpose etc.. but hopefully i won't ever have to go down that road and the issue will be resolved with the new logic board.

Apple yesterday conformed that apple care can indeed only be bought officially at the same time as a new laptop or computer and can't be purchased afterwards. that sucks really but nothing i can do. My machine is mint all over with the guys commenting on the condition as i use a thin keyboard cover too. but hopefully as i say the issue will be fixed quite soon.

It will take a few days to get the part in then another 2-3 days for them to fit it and check everything is all right and running fine. so hopefully i'll be up and running in a week or so.

Thank you gain very much for taking time to answer and help, it was greatly appreciated.. tho i was surprised that you out off the whole community here was the only person to answer!!. i thought and read how goo the apple forums communities were!.. maybe they didn't have any real answers to my problem, but again thank you for answering.
I will let you know how the repair goes and if everything get back to normal.
kind regards
Fergus

Apple yesterday conformed that apple care can indeed only be bought officially at the same time as a new laptop or computer and can't be purchased afterwards. that sucks really but nothing i can do.

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I'm sorry to hear that it's going to cost you £450 for repairs. Seems to me that was unfair as Apple Care can be purchased here in the US for up to one year after the initial purchase of a new machine. And it doesn't matter if it was a used purchase as long as it hasn't been a year from when it was first purchased new.