[comp.sys.mac] Mac Screen Filcker

granteri@pnet51.cts.com (Grant Erickson) (04/14/89)

For the past 6 months, my Mac 512KE has had a severe screen jitter/flicjer
problem. It has been upgraded using a MacSnap 524S board, giving it one
megabyte. There are two bright lines, about 1/8 inch thick, at 1/5 of the
screen down, and 1/5 up the screen. These lines bounce in that constrained
area, but never go into the middle 3/5 of the screen. I took the Mac in 3
times to the dealer, and they could not find a single thing wrong with. So
much for $90 in opening the Mac 3 times :-) As of 3 weeks ago, it also started
to make a high pitched noise every now and again also, not eminating from the
speaker however. I am very puzzled on this one. And the lines are hard on the
eyes 8-(. If you have any helpful information, please leave me E-Mail, and
don't post replies through the net, as I may not get them. Thank you.

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dswt@stl.stc.co.uk (Stewart Tansley) (04/18/89)

In article <941@orbit.UUCP> granteri@pnet51.cts.com (Grant Erickson) writes:
>For the past 6 months, my Mac 512KE has had a severe screen jitter/flicker
>problem. It has been upgraded using a MacSnap 524S board, giving it one
>megabyte. There are two bright lines, about 1/8 inch thick, at 1/5 of the
>screen down, and 1/5 up the screen. These lines bounce in that constrained
>area, but never go into the middle 3/5 of the screen. I took the Mac in 3

I have had a similar symptom on my Mac+, also occuring over the past 
6 months or so. Being surprised to see such a similar description, I
thought I'd make a posting rather than mail Grant. (I'm also not
confident of being able to mail him from here, either.)

I too have seen these flickering bright lines, although I haven't had
the whistle -- yet! :-) I have also had a shimering effect elsewhere
on the screen. From my b+w TV meddling, years ago, I recall the line-
scanning circuit (of the VDU - analogue stuff) would be the likely
culprit, with some sort of component degradation being the cause.
When I get a moment, I'll have a peek inside the case (its out of
warranty!). You have to know what you're doing though...
 
Up till now, my solution has been to give a gentle 'thwack' to the
top of the Mac case, and the problem goes away for a while! (cf.
old TV sets!)
  
Disclaimer: 'thwack' at your own risk!

===========================================================================
Stewart Tansley                         STC Technology Ltd
+44 279 29531 ext 2763                  London Rd, Harlow, UK
dswt@stl.stc.co.uk                      CM17 9NA
(JANET)  dswt@uk.co.stc.stl             (UUCP) ...uunet!mcvax!ukc!stl!dswt
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
Stewart Tansley                         STC Technology Ltd
+44 279 29531 ext 2763                  London Rd, Harlow, UK
dswt@stl.stc.co.uk                      CM17 9NA
(JANET)  dswt@uk.co.stc.stl             (UUCP) ...uunet!mcvax!ukc!stl!dswt
===========================================================================

js9b+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jon C. Slenk) (04/21/89)

Sometimes monitor problems are associated with the power supply unit.

Sincerely,
Jon Slenk / js9b.