Lines appearing on Macbook screen randomly

Today, my macbook suddenly started to display random lines of colors on my screen. They appear randomly and are in no set place. I might be scrolling and it appears. Other times it just appears as i switch windows.

Here is a screenshot of just ONE of the incidents:



There has also been an incident where I used Expose to tile all my windows (which are obviously in thumbnail view), and I notice that on one of the windows there were several areas of random lines. They looked fairly small at this point. As soon as I chose that window (which obviously makes the window its normal size) the random lines also enlarged along with the window.



I have only had the macbook for 3 months so I am under warranty. But I hoping that someone could provide some more information on what this could be before I go off complaining to support??

Does it happen at all (or get better/worse) when you move the screen back and forth? That would indicate a troublesome cable or connection to the display.

In any case, a call/trip to Apple is definitely in order. Before you call or visit, make sure you've run Software Update since that's probablyt he first thing they'll tell you to do.

caribiner23 said:

Does it happen at all (or get better/worse) when you move the screen back and forth? That would indicate a troublesome cable or connection to the display.

Click to expand...

No, it seems more like a video card problem. It's dependent on what program is running. For example, more recently when i open safari the lines come on the screen within the safari window. When i close safari, the lines disappear. But a restart later, and the lines dont appear in safari anymore - instead it appears in some other program.

I've run the software update - all that was downloaded was an ichat software update.

I'll be contacting apple on Monday. Any other suggestions until then would be fantastic - its making the laptop unusable!

I did an apple Hardware Test - came up with an error:

4mem/1/40000000

Taking it into Apple on Monday.

lines on screen

Stephen, did you ever get it fixed?

I have two vertical lines on my screen, and Mactivate quoted the repair to be 400 - 500euro. thats almost half the cost of the imac! I have also read some bad reports about Mactivate, but seeing as they are the only mac repairer in Ireland, they're bound to over charge aren't they..

HELP!
I actually want to sell the bloody thing, wanted to get a thousand for it or so, but now I have lines and will have to knock a few hundred off!

Hi bunny. Sorry to hear that you're having the same problems.

I've got apple care, so i just took it to them and they fixed it for free since it was a hardware fault.