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MacBook backlight flicker

r-sparks

r-sparks

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 1, 2006
255
0
England
My MacBook's backlight has taken to flickering every now and again. It lasts around 5-10 seconds, and only seems to happen in the evening (I use my MacBook all day long).

I believe I'm not the first to experience this. Does anybody know what the current theory is regarding cause? Is this likely to be a firmware issue, or a hardware fault?
 
I had a user bring this issue up to me once. Sadly, I never saw them again after that. It looks like a legitimate hardware problem to me on the Core 2 MacBook. None of my Core Duo MacBook users have reported it.

The flickering was much faster then yours though.
 
My Macbook does this too, and I have the "old" Core Duo.

It only seems to happen just when the power options are dimming the screen, like it gets stuck in between somehow and can't quite decide. Also, it doesn't happen all the time.

I haven't bothered to do something about it as it is out of warranty.
 
r-sparks said:
My MacBook's backlight has taken to flickering every now and again. It lasts around 5-10 seconds, and only seems to happen in the evening (I use my MacBook all day long).

I believe I'm not the first to experience this. Does anybody know what the current theory is regarding cause? Is this likely to be a firmware issue, or a hardware fault?
Click to expand...

since it occurs at night only, it may be the display setting "automatically adjust brightness".

sounds to me like at night, the screen tries to jump back and forth to automatically adjust the brightness and it freaks out. I'd uncheck that option and see if it stops. manually adjusting brightness may be all you need to do.
 
box33 said:
since it occurs at night only, it may be the display setting "automatically adjust brightness".

sounds to me like at night, the screen tries to jump back and forth to automatically adjust the brightness and it freaks out. I'd uncheck that option and see if it stops. manually adjusting brightness may be all you need to do.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what setting you're referring to. I always have the Power Saving "Automatically reduce the brightness of the display before sleep" setting switched off, although I understand there's a bug whereby it doesn't actually turn off. So I've just toggled it again.

Does a MacBook adjust backlighting based on ambient light? Where is the sensor located?
 
r-sparks said:
I'm not sure what setting you're referring to. I always have the Power Saving "Automatically reduce the brightness of the display before sleep" setting switched off, although I understand there's a bug whereby it doesn't actually turn off. So I've just toggled it again.

Does a MacBook adjust backlighting based on ambient light? Where is the sensor located?
Click to expand...

yes, it does. there is a setting in "display" and the box is near the bottom. if checked, it'll adjust the brightness per your surrounding light. check this off.

light sensors are in both side speakers i believe....you can test this by covering them up with your hand. if you cover only 1 speaker, it won't adjust, you have to cover both.
 
box33 said:
yes, it does. there is a setting in "display" and the box is near the bottom. if checked, it'll adjust the brightness per your surrounding light. check this off.

light sensors are in both side speakers i believe....you can test this by covering them up with your hand. if you cover only 1 speaker, it won't adjust, you have to cover both.
Click to expand...

Are you thinking of the macbook pro's keyboard backlight adjustment?
 
kellen said:
Are you thinking of the macbook pro's keyboard backlight adjustment?
Click to expand...

I don't have this option on my MacBook (not MBP).

I've done a firmware reset (Alt+Apple+P+R during boot), and the problem seems to have gone away. In fact, one issue I may or may not have been having was that the screen seemed to be going dimmer. Since the reset it appears to be back to full brightness.
 
Bad Inverter

Mine used to do that. Drove me nuts. I sent it for repair (Bad Inverter). Really simple fix got it back in like 2 days and the problem went away.

Get it Repaired.
 
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