MacBook Pro display flickers, goes black, comes back

bunner bob · 02-28-2012, 02:16 PM

My early-2008 MacBook Pro (running 10.6.8, 4GB ram) just started acting up...

- display flickers a bit, with some minor glitchy artifacts (about half the time it skips this and goes straight to...)
- screen goes black for a bit - 5-20 seconds
- screen comes back on
- problem repeats in 5-20 seconds

This doesn't seem to have anything to do with what I'm doing on that screen. Luckily I have a second monitor, which is unaffected.

Haven't tried restarting yet - going to try that, and running Diskwarrior (why not). But it feels like a hardware problem - like something is warming up and glitching, then cooling down and un-glitching.

Is this repairable, or worth repairing? Perhaps it's time to spring for a new machine...

tw · 02-28-2012, 07:46 PM

Assuming this is is not an LED display (I don't think those started coming out till late 2008) I'd place money on a faulty display inverter. It's clearly not the graphics processor since you get clear images periodically, and a bad ccfl wouldn't go in and out like that. display inverters go for about $10 on ebay, and it's an hour or so of effort to replace if you have the right tools. I did it on my late 2007 MBP. check out the details on iFixit and see if you're up to it - you'll need a spudger to open the case ($2 on eBay) and one of those star-headed screwdrivers ($5 at an electronics store).

bunner bob · 02-28-2012, 08:18 PM

Well, happily a restart and run of Diskwarrior seems to have fixed it. No recurrence over the last 5 hours. If it returns though I know what to do. Not too much harder than replacing the hard drive.

Thanks!

ambrose · 02-28-2012, 09:07 PM

Any chance your calendar was running slow a few years ago and you actually own a late 2008 MacBook Pro? Apple came out with a firmware upgrade today to correct display flickering on that particular model [15" only].

soho · 02-29-2012, 06:32 AM

A way to test if it is the inverter cable is when the screen goes black look very closely in good light or even shine a light on the screen and you should be able to see the screen contents very dimly in the background...if you can it's def the inverter cable. I've replaced one and it was a pain to do.

trevor · 02-29-2012, 11:18 AM

I'm not an expert in this regard, but my understanding is that a failing backlight also causes the screen contents to be dimly visible in the background.

Trevor

02-28-2012, 02:16 PM	#1
bunner bob Triple-A Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 171	MacBook Pro display flickers, goes black, comes back My early-2008 MacBook Pro (running 10.6.8, 4GB ram) just started acting up... - display flickers a bit, with some minor glitchy artifacts (about half the time it skips this and goes straight to...) - screen goes black for a bit - 5-20 seconds - screen comes back on - problem repeats in 5-20 seconds This doesn't seem to have anything to do with what I'm doing on that screen. Luckily I have a second monitor, which is unaffected. Haven't tried restarting yet - going to try that, and running Diskwarrior (why not). But it feels like a hardware problem - like something is warming up and glitching, then cooling down and un-glitching. Is this repairable, or worth repairing? Perhaps it's time to spring for a new machine...

02-28-2012, 07:46 PM	#2
tw Hall of Famer Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 4,262	Assuming this is is not an LED display (I don't think those started coming out till late 2008) I'd place money on a faulty display inverter. It's clearly not the graphics processor since you get clear images periodically, and a bad ccfl wouldn't go in and out like that. display inverters go for about $10 on ebay, and it's an hour or so of effort to replace if you have the right tools. I did it on my late 2007 MBP. check out the details on iFixit and see if you're up to it - you'll need a spudger to open the case ($2 on eBay) and one of those star-headed screwdrivers ($5 at an electronics store). __________________ Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language. -LW-

02-29-2012, 11:18 AM	#6
trevor Moderator Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Boulder, CO USA Posts: 19,550	I'm not an expert in this regard, but my understanding is that a failing backlight also causes the screen contents to be dimly visible in the background. Trevor __________________ How to ask questions the smart way

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02-28-2012, 08:18 PM	#3
bunner bob Triple-A Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 171	Well, happily a restart and run of Diskwarrior seems to have fixed it. No recurrence over the last 5 hours. If it returns though I know what to do. Not too much harder than replacing the hard drive. Thanks!

02-28-2012, 09:07 PM	#4
ambrose Triple-A Player Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Western New England Posts: 53	Any chance your calendar was running slow a few years ago and you actually own a late 2008 MacBook Pro? Apple came out with a firmware upgrade today to correct display flickering on that particular model [15" only].

02-29-2012, 06:32 AM	#5
soho Major Leaguer Join Date: May 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 489	A way to test if it is the inverter cable is when the screen goes black look very closely in good light or even shine a light on the screen and you should be able to see the screen contents very dimly in the background...if you can it's def the inverter cable. I've replaced one and it was a pain to do.