MacBook: Display DEAD - How will Apple deal with this?

[BigGuynRusty]

Jerry, please do a bit of troubleshooting before calling Apple.
Put back in the original drive, if you didn't format the drive, and still have the factory install, see if the problem is still present.
If you did format the drive, reinstall OSX and see if the problem goes away.
If it doesn't, do what NOSXtasy said to do, return it to stock, go to the Apple store, and trade it in.
Non-BTO only though!

BGnR
Oh, I did not mean the flip out as a slam.
Also, in this forum, I try not to assume anything.
And, if any first line tech tells you to waste another day and hope the problem goes away, ask for his/her customer support number, say thank you, hang up, and call back and ask for customer support, and lodge a complaint against the phone tech. Then ask for proper service.

[Jerry®]

BGnR-

I apologize if I came off like an ass to you - I was just really frustrated - I REALLy do appreciate your advice et al on this board.

Here's what happened last night - It was 15 mins until Apple Support was closing and the Apple Tech woman had me run through all the diagnostics, etc. I give her some kudos because she said she would wait while I swapped out the 3rd Party Ram and replaced it with the Apple stock RAM. After doing so - it seemed as if the display problem had been fixed. That's when she said "Use it with the Apple RAM for another day and if the problem occurs again - then call back." Of course 5 mins after hanging up the display flickered and just got worse and worse.

(You're right - looking back I should have just said I want this fixed ASAP - instead of waiting.)

So, since Apple Support was closed - I did as much troubleshooting as possible - including swapping out the HDD I bought from OWC and replacing it with the 60GIG HDD that came stock w/ the MacBook. I ran the Apple hardware Test -booted up from the Install discs, etcs -however, no matter what - whenever the display was "on" I had colored stripes flickering across it - and sometimes comsuming the whole screen.

So I called Apple ASAP this morn and told them flat out "There's just something majorly wrong with the display and I want to get it fixed ASAP."

The Apple Support guy was VERY nice and worked quickly to get a pre-paid box sent to me via DHL. I asked him if he an any approximation of the turnaround time and he said - "Well, no longer than 10-12 business days - but usually it's less than that." I told him I needed it ASAP - and he said that they'd send me email updates, etc.

So, tomorrow I will get the box - pack up the MacBook and ship it to them. Luckily it's a stock MacBook or "Non-BTO" so hopefully that'll speed things up.

I miss the days of living in Minneapolis with an Apple Store 15 mins away. Now I'm back home and the closest Apple Store is 4 hours away.

Again - I apologize if I was flipping out. I've just never had to deal with sending a Mac back for repairs (I guess that's a good thing ehh??). I really do appreciate your advice and your help - as always.

thanks again!!! I'll keep ya updated!

Jerry

P.S. There's no way a RAM module would/could screw up the display like that is there? I mean - if you have a bad RAM module it's benign - it may give you kernel panics/screw up the system software - but it wouldn't "burn out" any hardware component would it????

[Jerry®]

[quote elmo3][quote Jerry®]Great. No matter what I do - zap the PRAM, etc - my MacBook display is fsked up. Lines across the screen.

Anyone know how Apple will deal with this?
They will take it, throw it on the ground, stomp on it, laugh at you, hand it back, and spit in your face.
I thought that's how DELL dealt with their customers? (heheheh)

[Ken Sp.]

I don't think Ram could cause your particular video issue--but stranger things have happened. I had a Wallstreet that had the LCD Backlight refuse to work after an OSX upgrade. Worked in OS9. And when I rebooted to OS9 would work fine, but would fail in OSX. It turned out to be one stick of Ram--as I remmeber it was PC100 and the Wallstreet liked PC66--but everything else worked fine Ram and LCD backlight--who would have thunk it?
BTW-at the time I searched everywhere for info--this was not documented anywhere, and it was just dumb luck that I came across the Ram stick as the problem.

[Jerry®]

Here are some pics I just took of the display "weirdness" on my MacBook:

http://web.mac.com/jerryfess/iWeb/Jerryfantastic/MacBook.html

[BigGuynRusty]

MacBook has Integrated Graphics, which use System RAM, so YES, bad RAM can screw up the video display!

BGnR

[jimbrady]

Oooh--pretty...


I think it's just the overhead fluorescent tubes bouncing off the glossy screen.

[jimbrady]

BTW. I've seen "DEAD" screens, and that's not one. Malfunctioning, yes, dead, no.

[Jerry®]

Ok - yeah you're right - it's not dead -it's malfunctioning. But it may as well be dead to me! *weeps*

You should see it when the whole screen goes wacko!!