Video card glitch? (video link)

[Stingray454]

I've had some problems with my air, basically since I bought it.

After a day or two when I got it, it froze. I didn't think much of it, restarted, and it was all back to normal. Since then, it has been freezing in the same way every now and then. Say, once in every 10-20h of usage. Always in the same way - screen flickering, some static on the speakers, and the computer frozen. A reastart always works and it's as good as new after.

This can happen right after I turn it on (I think the record is 30s from a cold start), when it sits idle displaying the desktop with no programs running, when playing games, watching videos and so on - ie no pattern at all.

I started noticing it happening regularly after a while, but thought it was some software I had installed that caused it. I finally took some time to reinstall OS X from the memory stick that shipped with the computer. No change.

It happened again today, so I recorded a video of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8mEv1cf7dA

Is the video card broken? Would Apple replace it? Or what could be causing this? Any ideas appreciated.

 

[cawesjmu]

I've had some problems with my air, basically since I bought it.
...
It happened again today, so I recorded a video of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8mEv1cf7dA

Is the video card broken? Would Apple replace it? Or what could be causing this? Any ideas appreciated.

Looks like the classic "Macbook Air screen flicker" issue. It's been discussed pretty heavily and a Google search will show you're not alone. Yes, take it into the Apple store and have them fix or replace it.

 

[Stingray454]

Looks like the classic "Macbook Air screen flicker" issue. It's been discussed pretty heavily and a Google search will show you're not alone. Yes, take it into the Apple store and have them fix or replace it.

Yes, I did google it and checked youtube, it seems there are some people with very similar issues. I couldn't find someone saying what the problem was thought, is this an issue with the 320m, the logic board, power, or other things? Just interested to know.

Anyway, just talked with apple support - they told me to reinstall / reformat, reset smc / pram and all that, just to exclude any software issues. Guess that's what I'll have to do for now.

 

[cawesjmu]

Anyway, just talked with apple support - they told me to reinstall / reformat, reset smc / pram and all that, just to exclude any software issues. Guess that's what I'll have to do for now.

When you're done reinstalling, and updating, it'll probably automatically update the firmware too, but just in case, make sure you get this EFI Firmware which Apple released for other screen issues.

I'd recommend doing the EFI update before all the other stuff, but it may be too late. Sorry for the slow response.