[Ti] Titanium screen spasms! Epilepsy?

[Bart Dame]

On Tuesday, September 16, 2003, at 7:33  PM, John Pariseau wrote:
>
> I have complained about a similar, and very infrequent problem like
> yours. Mine, however, was unprovoked.
>
> One possible, albeit very improbable cause:
>
> USB shorting
>
> While I never mentioned it, the times I had the weird screen
> flickering, I had an MS optical wheel mouse plugged in. Now, the mouse
> went through "alot" of abuse, and like the Apple Pro Optical mice, has
> the nasty habit of developing a short at the front of the mouse. This
> one, however, developed one at the USB plug. From time to time, the
> mouse light will go out, and I need to move the cord around into a
> better position. A system restart stopped the problem. Perhaps you
> should try unplugging all unnecessary hardware. I have my doubts that
> this simplified explanation really explains what is going on.
>
> If you have AppleCare, take it in. Wait at the Apple store so the
> "genius" can take a look at what is happening. Or, get a camcorder, and
> video tape the screen.

Thanks for your suggestion, John. But I haven't used the USB port for 
over a month now so I can probably rule that out as a cause. It seems 
like a bad connection of some sort, but is not provoked by moving or 
flexing the laptop. Like I said, I suspect it is some component (or 
connection) going bad and the symptoms seem to arise as the laptop 
heats up.

I do have a camcorder at home (I'm on the road right now) and your 
suggestion to video-tape the symptom is probably good advice. I predict 
the machine will work perfectly when it goes to the Apple Store, so 
I'll have to catch it misbehaving with a hidden camera to show I'm not 
making it up.

I do have AppleCare, I just am reluctant to backup/ erase/ clean up my 
hard drive prior to handing it over and am reluctant to have it out of 
my hands for the time necessary to replace it. I expect that the repair 
cannot be done locally.

Thanks,
Bart