MacBook freezes and distorted lines appear.

Question

Hi All,
Sorry to be a pest, but another display related problem has just cropped up on my MacBook. Sometimes when I start up my MacBook or sometimes when I wake it up from sleep, it freezes and a bar of distorted lines appears on the screen. Have a look at this:
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/6862/img2058f.jpg
The only way to get out of it is to switch it off. So far this has only happened shortly after starting up or waking up. There's a month left on my one year of Apple Care so I need to work out what's wrong as soon as possible.
Thanks,
Chris

Answer 1

The advice I was given by Apple Support seemed to work for about a week - not one single crash. Given that my MacBook had started crashing almost every time I started it up or woke it up, I was very pleased that resetting the PRAM etc seemed to have worked.
It started crashing again so I called Apple Support, at which point I was told I was no longer eligible for telephone support, even though I had been given advice and a case number just a week before! Slightly confusing. I bought the MacBook from KRCS in Leeds, so I emailed them and explained what had happened. They immediately recognised it as a hardware fault and told me to bring it in - no messing about. It was sent away for repair today and should be back in my grubby little hands in a fortnight.
I'm slightly annoyed at Apple Support for giving me dodgy advice. Whatever it is they told me to do, it did have an effect - possibly circumventing the problem in some way, rather than solving it.
Anyway, hopefully all will be well in a fortnight.