MacBook Pro :: Screen Is Dimming And Brightening Quickly?
Aug 26, 2010
I just got a brand new MBP (6,2 and 10.6.4) but it's not my first. My previous MBP had the ambient light sensor that I could turn on and off via the system preferences (as mentioned in this thread) so suffice it to say, I know what it looks like when the screen dims and brightens. (I loved hovering my hands over the speakers. It was like magic to my PC friends.)
Now, I'm having an issue with my new MBP. I have my preferences set to adjust the brightness based on ambient light. And since the light sensor has moved to the microphone, it still does that just fine.
My problem is that I'm experiencing random flashes of the screen where it dims quite a bit rapidly but only for a short moment before returning to the original brightness. This occurs randomly in different light settings but most importantly when the light around me hasn't changed at all. And it has occured about once or twice a day for the last few days. I've even tried pressing my thumb over the light sensor really fast to see if it was the light sensor but try that and you'll see that it's actually really slow.
My other problem is that my screen is randomly resizing/zooming in on things. (I suspect this may be me doing some trackpad trick I'm unaware of but I've tried everything I can think of to replicate it and nothing works) Anyways, say I'm on my desktop and mousing over (with one finger) to open a folder or file. All of a sudden, all of the folders resize drastically. Or I'm in Firefox and a site loads. Then all of a sudden (*insert poltergeist*) the website zooms in or out. (like when you press cmd + or -) And it's always zooming in, never out.
Does anyone know what is going on with this? I don't know if the two things are related or if all of this is just really really stupid user error.
View 21 Replies
ADVERTISEMENT
Apr 8, 2012
I've discovered that if I am reading a book or have my hand up in the line of the camera and the 'sun' or 'light' the screen goes dimmer, but if I move it away the screen gets brighter. It's quite frustrating! How do I stop it? In system preferences, in enregy saver, I have unchecked the '
View 2 Replies
View Related
Mar 30, 2009
I'd love to be able to do something more useful with some of my function keys than the default set-ups of brightening the screen, the keyboard backlight etc.For instance what I'd like would be for F5 and F6 (the keyboard backlight keys) to change the lighting only if combined with shift or the cmd key.And then remap the keys so that, for instance, by pressing F5 I could switch to/open my Mail app [rather than clicking on it in the dock]. Or that simply pressing F6 might open a new compose message window in Mail.I'd happily pay for software that lets me do this kind of thing, if necessary.
View 1 Replies
View Related
Apr 26, 2012
why does my screen keep dimming and coming back on
Info:
MacBook Pro, printer and email
View 1 Replies
View Related
May 28, 2012
My brand new Macbook Pro's screen keeps dimming the screen all the time regardless of which setting is it on. Its the first time it does that today and it's so annoying!I have the following options: Put the hard disks to sleep when possible, slightly dim the display when using this power source, automatically reduce brightness before display goes to sleep and restart automatically if the computer freezes. The only thing that is check marked is Put the hard disks to sleep when possible and automatically reduce brightness before display goes to sleep...
Info:
MacBook Pro
View 5 Replies
View Related
Jun 15, 2009
Has anyone noticed a very slight flicker on their new MBPs? I have a new 13" and, every so often, the screen brightness dims and then brightens very quickly (happens in less than a second).The option for auto-adjusting the screen brightness is off so it's not that particular function.It's most noticeable on all-white backgrounds both on AC and battery power. Hard drive access doesn't seem to coincide with the dimming.
View 17 Replies
View Related
Jan 14, 2007
I encountered a problem this evening with my Powerbook G4 15 inch Powerbook. When I was opening the Powerbook, awakening it from sleep it seemed there seemed to be an abnormally bright flash, then the screen went almost completely blank. Luckily, I was able to see enough to burn my docs to a disc in the event this was a serious problem. It seemed the rest of the laptop was fine.
When I restarted the computer, the screen appeared to be fine. I ran Onyx in the event it could clean anything up, and when it was running the screen appeared to go attempt to go to sleep again (although it was not set). Touching the trackpad immediately woke it up without a problem. After restarting after Onyx finished and using it for about a half hour I have not encountered the problem since.
Is this a sign of a failing LCD or possibly a bigger problem or just a harmless isolated event? Is it worth trekking over to the Applestore? I'm covered under Applecare.
View 2 Replies
View Related
Sep 6, 2008
when I cover the sensors at either side of the keyboard. This happens a lot when I am typing at it really bugs me. I think I managed to turn it off before but it has started again and I can't remember what I did.
View 2 Replies
View Related
Aug 30, 2009
I'm having a brain fart, but since I've installed 10.6, if I don't touch my mouse for 1 minute or so, the screen dims. It didn't use to do this before, and I'll be damned if I can figure out how to fix it. My cord is plugged in, and under energy settings I can't see anything related to this...how do I fix this? Is it acting as though I am running off of battery power, and dimming after a minute. I even changed the settings to NOT dim, even on battery power.On another topic, this update actually cost Apple money, because I was planning on buying a new MacBook Pro, but I zeroed out the hard drive and did a clean install, and my old Mac is so fast now, it is as if I DO have a new MacBook!
View 6 Replies
View Related
Sep 1, 2006
I'm experiencing a problem with my monitor on my 1.67 GHz PowerPC G4 recently. A few weeks ago the monitor would dim when extended past parallel. Now It dims past 30 degrees. It seems to be getting worse by the day. Anybody have any ideas why this is happening, and more importantly; how to fix it? By the way, I don't know much about the insides of these things.
View 4 Replies
View Related
Jun 2, 2012
I went to a website yesterday, one that I go to every day, more than once. I was using Safari and saw a warning posted from the site owner about malware. It read this was happening with Chrome and Firefox. Everything was fine until I went back there maybe 15 minutes later and I got that warning page that he was talking about and now it was on Safari. You could click "ignore" or "continue" I think. I'm not sure cuz I don't remember. I thought it best to click out of the window. I opened a new window and a couple of weird things happened. I was scrolling down the the "page down" key and it would not stop. Then the screen started slowly moving up to the top left and disappearing in the process. It was weird. I hit Safari and and it came back. Then it seemed ok. I was as the library cuz I have no internet at home now. Then I went home and a little while later I was watching a download and all of a sudden it shut down quickly and the screen went white. The mouse was not "lit up", and I freaked - nothing worked - just a white screen. I did not know what was going on.
All I could think of to do was hold down the power button to turn it off. And I was afraid to do that - that it may never start up again. This morning I started it back up and the same thing happened. The start up sound lasted only a few seconds and then it was the white screen again. I looked at the battery underneath and all the battery lights were lit AND the power cord was plugged in. The light on the far left was blinking. I unplugged the power cord and the lights went off and then pushed in the button on the battery and all the lights went on for a few seconds like they are supposed to and then went off. My macbookpro was working fine and now it's not. It does not work at all. I'm using an older iBook and am at a local cafe wifi spot.
Info:MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8), 2 GHz Processor, 1 GB Memory
View 14 Replies
View Related
Jul 19, 2010
My Macbook is brand new! (Barely 4 months old) Just recently my laptop will flash a black screen. It starts from the bottom and quickly flashes up the screen higher and higher each flash! i have read on some other pages it is a bad inverter on the inner core of the Macbook. Other than that I do not know what to do!
View 3 Replies
View Related
Nov 9, 2010
A few times a day the top and bottom of my screen flash black quickly - not even a full second. what it could be, or if I can figure what it is? I ran the Apple Care TechT tool and nothing came up wrong - I have the 2.4Ghz 15" (unibody)
View 1 Replies
View Related
May 5, 2010
is there a way to stop the Macbook Pro display from dimming automatically?
View 3 Replies
View Related
Mar 14, 2012
Just recently I purchased a MacBook Air 13'' (1.7 GHz, 4GB, 256GB) with Lion installed in it and I have got an external monitor attached to it. It's been working really well for a couple of weeks, but in the last couple of days I have noticed how my browser windows, and only those!, for either FireFox, Chrome or Safari, keep dimming themselves while I am on other windows from other applications as if they were inactive, when they are not, because I am using the Mac still. And I can only get them to work again, i.e. loading Web sites, only after I click on them to activate them, which is annoying, because I may be on another window, would need to click on a link and it won't load on the browser window till I have clicked on it, on the browser window, that is.
I have searched in Google and found a couple of articles where it was highlighted how the problem may well be with the Settings under "Energy Saver" and I have got unticked in there for "Slightly dim the display when using this power source" and "Automatically reduce brightness before display goes to sleep" and still the same problem. Other articles suggested that I would try Caffeine and install it to get rid of the dimming of the screen, but even after installing I still have got the issues and I am, at this point, running out of ideas.
Info:MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.7.3), 4GB, 1.7GHz, 256GB
View 3 Replies
View Related
Apr 28, 2007
I've noticed that the ambient light sensor in the MBP can be somewhat sensitive. Sometimes an action as simple as moving my hands up to the keyboard (from the side) triggers the "auto-dimming" feature of the screen and it slightly reduces the brightness of the screen, then quickly returns. This is rather bothersome.
I've got the option under Keyboard and Mouse "Illuminate keyboard under low-light conditions" unchecked, but the screen still dims if you cover the speakers. I've also got the option under Energy Saver "Automatically reduce the brightness of the display before sleep" unchecked as well.
I'm at a loss here. Is there not a way to disable this auto-dim feature? A Google search didn't turn up much of anything. Surely there must be a way...
View 5 Replies
View Related
Jun 25, 2014
My computer has recently started auto dimming when in darker rooms of the house, i know its an issue with the light sensor because I've held a flashlight to it and it instantly brightens, however, i have unchecked the "automatically adjust brightness" box in the system settings and it continues to dim it's self even when unchecked and brightness is on full. It isn't the result of any recent updates, as there haven't been any in some time and it's only started in the last two weeks.
View 1 Replies
View Related
Feb 5, 2009
I reset my PRAM yesterday to fix some issues with videos being choppy. It has helped somewhat in that regard, but I've noticed a new issue with my display becoming dimmed. I have my screen saver set to kick on after 5 minutes of inactivity. My display is set to turn off after 15 mins. My display is dimming, however, after 2 minutes of inactivity? It's very frustrating, and is actually causing me headaches because of the differences in brightness.
View 4 Replies
View Related
Mar 17, 2010
Does anyone know if it's possible to dim my late 2008 macbook's display more then the lowest setting allows? It seems way too bright in the dark even at the lowest setting, plus I would like to save more battery if possible.
View 2 Replies
View Related
Jun 29, 2012
I bought a MacBook Pro in November, and it seems to get hot very quickly. It is usually just sitting on a desk. It sounds like the fan is working, but I don't know a solution. I have a Speck case on it, but I don't think that would be an issue? Is this worth taking to the genious bar? ...I have AppleCare
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.4)
View 2 Replies
View Related
May 22, 2012
My macbook pro seems to be over heating really quickly.After about 5 minutes of being turned on the fan goes into over drive and the bottom gets extremely hot. normally i have the laptop either on a flat surface or on my legs and letting the laptop breath from underneath.
Info:
MacBook Pro (13-inch Late 2011)
View 5 Replies
View Related
Jun 29, 2012
My mac book pro has been overheating quickly. I will be on for a half an hour on youtube and my mac will become hot.
Info:MacBookPro
View 5 Replies
View Related
Jun 16, 2009
I just ran a quicktime movie trailer and it immediately went to 81C. I have also noticed that the temp fluctuates very quickly, from 49C to 63C within 10 seconds when just surfing macrumors when I look at istat pro. So how hot does you MBA rev B get? Mine is a 1.86 SSD version and even though the enclosure doesn't get very hot stays in the low 30s I wonder if this is normal. temperature If I watch an episode of CSI Miami on cbs.com temp goes to 76C (176F) and fans go to 6200rpms. Enclosure still stays at 35C (95F). Is this what you get with the MBA rev B as well or is this something I should be concerned about and consider opening it to see the thermal paste and possibly re-apply?
View 4 Replies
View Related
Jun 24, 2014
-Model Name: MacBook Pro
-Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz
-Memory: 4 GB
-OS X Version 10.9.3Â
When starting up it must be connected to the charger and when i turn it on it makes the bing noise, goes to the apple screen with the wheel turning for a second and shuts off. I have to do this multiple times until it works. Another issue that I am having is that the battery is draining very quickly. I just had it replaced a couple months ago.
View 2 Replies
View Related
Oct 23, 2010
I bought my Macbook Pro 13 inch last year in August. The health is on 88% with 84 cycles. Original battery capacity 5450 maH, current battery capacity 4809 mAH (Coconut and Istat Nano). I just read in another thread that there are users who have higher health capacity with many more cycles! I took it to the Mac store in Bangkok two weeks ago since I believe that my battery drains quickly. They run a test and told me that my battery is healthy. Then they also downloaded some updates for my Mac and run disk repair under disk utility. The technician told me that these are heavy programs and if they battery drains very quickly there is something wrong.
But according to him this was not the case. I have a 500 gb hdd and the technician said that since this is a big hdd (he recommended 320 gb maximum for 13 inch macbookpro), it will use more battery usage. I don't use heavy programs, only internet (Facebook, gmail, very seldom watch movies, watch news papers), Itunes and sometimes Word. I do a lot of photo processing, but this I always do with my adaptor plugged in. I think I can only use around 3 hours. Sometimes 4 hours. Screen around 80% brightness. Keyboard lights, bluetooth turned off. Do you think that there is a problem with my battery? Oh and I do calibrate my laptop monthly.
View 2 Replies
View Related
Apr 22, 2010
I'm trying to calibrate the battery of my new MBP. I need to get the battery to fully discharge and sleep for five hours or more. What are some things I can do to get my battery to discharge more quickly? Do I need to tell the MBP to not go to sleep after 10 mins of non-use, or the battery might last through the night? Or is it just the display that sleeps? I'd like to be able to use my MBP in the morning, but I'd like to make sure I get at least the recommended 5 hours of dead battery.
View 15 Replies
View Related
Apr 26, 2010
i was just typing in my new MBP and i realized that only sometimes my CAPS LOCK would activate. I did some research and found this: [URL:..] It basically says that apple has made the caps lock key so that you have to push it for more time. can you make the caps lock key to actovate quickly?
View 5 Replies
View Related
Apr 14, 2012
In Safari how do I quickly switch between windows?
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
View 2 Replies
View Related
May 23, 2012
My MacBook Pro is 1 year old, almost to the day and my battery seems to be loosing all it's juice quite quickly these days. The battery cycle count is only 94. This morning I turned my computer on and I've only done emails. It's now about 4 hours since it's been on and I have 20% battery left. Bluetooth is turned off. Not doing anything any different than I used to. Seems to me the battery used to last 4 days for what I do with the computer. Now I charge it 2 or 3 times a day. I notice the underside of the laptop seems to get quite hot.
Info:
MacBook
Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
View 2 Replies
View Related
Apr 20, 2009
Weeks back, had some blinds by my desk fall on my opened Macbook and strike right near the power button. No real physical damage, although the power button feels a tad stiffer when pressed. But since then, at start up, the sleep light will flash quickly off and on for a short burst, but then proceed with start up.
I've searched around the internets and seem to think that this might be a memory problem. But in most cases the computer won't start up at all. In my case the only indication I have of a problem is flashing sleep light at start up.
View 3 Replies
View Related
