MacBook suddenly has inverted/flickering vertical strip on the screen

Hey guys, i have a macbook late 2008 and had this issue. i tried pushing everywhere on the screen and tried the figure out what the problem was. when i pressed on the flickery part the flicker went away but it didn't last long. I tried another technique which was applying torsion on the screen by holding it with two hands(one hand on one top corner and the other hand on the other top corner). Push one hand while you are pulling one. You kind of have to twist the screen. Twist it as much as it won't break. don't be gentle but don't be harsh too something between them.

I had the exact problem, I started touching the screen just below, where the macbook air sign is, and it went away. It took about 10 secords, of firm pressing, almost looks like

it was just a band connection inside the screen. Will update if the fix was permanent. So far so good.

I had to replace the entire screen, was covered under the consumers guarantees act so didn't have to pay, even though was out of warranty, try going through your retailer. (Thats in New Zealand though, have a look at local consumer laws you have?)

I just had the same problem (the strip was not at that exact place, but apart from that everything was exactly the same).

I brought the MacBook to a Genius Bar, in an Apple Store. The guy sent it to an external company they work with, where they have a flat rate for repairs. They changed the LCD display for $280+tax, which is not too expensive. It took three days.

I was cleaning the laptop body and the screen right before the problem started. I tried all the fixes suggested in here to get rid of the problem. Nothing really seemed to work for the first hour after the problem started.

I tried exerting pressure on the lower left half of the screen after about 2 hours. This time i started seeing temporary improvements.

Long story short my problem resolved itself about 4 hours after it started and the screen is back to normal. I am concerned the problem may occur again, but this one may require some patience and I suggest waiting for 4 to 6 hours before you try taking anything apart.

Clean the contacts of the LVDS cable with a pencil eraser on the logic board side and on the display side. This cured my screen flicker by 95%.

With the LVDS cable connected to the display panel and the display panel not quite seated down into position yet, slip the first layer of 3/4" x 2 1/2" strips of thin, doubled-up cardboard down in against the display housing behind the inverter board. Next slip the second layer of thin cardboard strips between the inverter board and the lower metal retaining bracket (the thing that lives behind the display bezel on the bottom where the two smallest screws go). Now the inverter board is sandwiched between cardboard on both sides. In may case screen flicker was cured by 100%.

By the way, I tried using the heat gun at 200ºC on various parts of the inverter board, shielding the display panel with aluminum foil to protect it from the heat. This technique showed no improvement in screen flicker whatsoever.

I had the exact same problem as the writers above. I purchased a new LCD screen from screencountry.com for $107.50 and followed a Youtube video and screen replacement tutorial on this website. It took longer than expected but I managed to replace my LCD screen and everything seems to work fine. I am no professional, just a college student. I followed the directions that didn't take apart the display assembly and the hardest part was connecting the video cable back to the new lcd screen.

I had exactly the same issue. Initially 1 vertical bar of about 1.5 inch wide, later 2 bars and sometimes when you move the screen it was gone for a second and came back mostly.

I found that it was the LCD screen and bought a LG replacement on ebay for around 90 euro. I replaced it myself following online guides as Apple wanted to replace the whole lid for approx 400 Euro.

System is now fully functional again for 6 months without any further issues.

On my MacBook 13" retina, flickering started during intense processor loads, like rendering photos to jpeg from Lightroom or stitching panoramas. Went away when I moved mouse / stopped the export operation.

I tripped over my macbook pro purchased in 2010 and it took a nasty fall. The colors of the background screen was flickering red. I did what another poster named Vatku said here Red lines on display where black should be. I closed the lid of my mac and pushed down on the upper, left corner with your left hand(near where the esc key is).I heard a a snap, opened upthe mac and it was back to normal

I had the Black Screen issue then flickering lines. Did all the solutions posted on many sites and none worked. Have got a USB self booting updated to High Sierra and then when loaded tried UNSELECTING Automatic Graphics Switching in System Prefs. My mackbook Pro 2015 is now working again without screen issues. Hope this helps.

Hey yeah, this same thing happened to me with my Chromebook. But there was banding and stripes and the entire screen went gray with this banding for as long as 5 seconds flickering. It would also band in multiple random places (also multiple different colors) when ever the screen was tilted a different way. (This is btw with a DELL Chromebook) The advice about pressing under the LOGO worked. The logo is located in the middle and right above the hinge for the monitor, so I have guessed all this was because of a bad connection of the ribbon strip. It doesn't go away completely but it is significantly reduced so it does have some positive effects. Thanks,

GGBB

I did a similar thing to my macbook pro 17 inch late 2009.

Closed the lid and smacked firmly as suggested top left hand corner over the ESC key and.... amazing it worked! !

Red flickering has gone, display back to normal - thanks Vatku and Jane Dow

I managed to fix this by disconnecting and reconnecting the LCD's main board middle cable at the bottom of the screen (not the cable that connects to the logic board - the one that is under the black plastic cover attached to the bottom of the LCD - it's a plastic cable with a pull tab). It's a complicated repair, but it's free if you've got all the tools.

I had this problem on a 2015 MacBook retina screen. The laptop took a fall (of about 4 ft) onto a concrete floor. That was last week, Tonight after a long day in in my backpack in the cold rain a big black band appeard on the side of the impact. I tried the screen massage technique, and it wokred so long as I held a finger there. Couldn't unscrew the back because f*ck Apple's prority tools. BUT I wedged my flat head precision screwdriver around the part of the screen that dips below the body (when the screen is open) and it seems to have reconnected. Works fine now! ( I did this 2 min ago, so I hope it stays.) No more trips out of the house in the cold for this one, that scared the sh*t out of me.

After disassembly I cleaned the contacts of the LVDS cable with a gummy pencil eraser on the logic board side and on the display side. The flickering problem showed 95% improvement.

Next I shielded the display panel with aluminum foil on both sides to dissipate heat and then heated up the inverter board with a heat gun at 200ºC, working one section at a time. From this there was no noticeable improvement, but on reassembly I realized that screen flicker would result from light tapping with the flat part of the plastic spudger under the display panel between the metal plate that retains the inverter board and the inverter board itself (essentially tapping a bit in the horizontal slot to the left of the bottom left display retaining screw). Okay, problem area located.

I solved the problem by removing all 6 display retaining screws once again and then shifting the display upward. I made 3/4" x 2 1/2" strips of thin, doubled cardboard and then dropped them down into the slot on both the left side and the right side of the bottom left retaining screw. Then I slipped the display back down into position, the inverter board on top of the cardboard. before finally screwing it in I placed a third cardboard strip over the inverter board to the left of the bottom left retaining screw. Now the inverter board is sandwiched between cardboard on both sides. The problem is 100% solved. Shifting the display on the hinge back and fourth and even torquing the display with hands in diagonally opposed corners shows no sign of screen flicker whatsoever.

I am having the same problem. I see the regular orangeish color change to blue striped as I open and close the lid. I took the back off of the mac and wiggled the wires soflty to see if there was a loose connection. I cleaned out the dust and didn't see anyting that looked like a problem. On the right side (when looking at the back of the mac), there was a wire up next to the screw. I moved it over thinking it may be getting pinched. I put my mac back together and still see the flickering.

Looking for answers.

Thanks!

Karla Fliger

Hello,

Just had this problem,

Non of the suggested fixes would work.

I tried heating the bottom of the effected area with a hair dryer until the pixels faded.

This fixed the problem right away!

i have the same flickering problem on the unibody. sort of solved it. when you look at the hinges of the screen when opened from the top you can see it slide in and out when you push the screen from the outside in and inside out. Now my solution. when the lid is opened 100 degrees or somewhat, place your thumb on the screens aluminium bottom left and right corners and push outwards.. you can do this when it is powered on. nowadays i just slide my 2nd finger tips into both corners and it fixes it for hours.. i’m guessing the is a screen alignment issue, or a contact issues with the aluminium chasis. pushing it apart could have given it spacing.

The same thing happened to my 17” MacBook Pro. I was told I needed to replace the unit - don’t remember the name of it. I had a thick black vertical line about 1/3 of the way from the right of the screen. Now, between the edge of the screen to the thick black line are super thin lines of black and other color lines. If I leave it open the color lines disappear. If I put pressure on the right corner of the screen the lines move around. I really, really hope that this works.

A strong diagonal twist on my 2004 HP pavillion laptop fixed the flicker

Have an Late-2013 15” MacBook Pro - has both integrated and dedicated graphics. Flickering screen only visible on LCD (not external monitor), and the flickering was worse with integrated. The logic board was replaced about two years ago, so I hoped it wasn’t that. Decided to try just replacing the LVDS (LCD) cable - took about an hours and was suprised it worked. Well sort of. The flickering seems to be totally gone from the discrete graphics card, but switching to integrated it still flickers a little (but way less).

Using gfxcardstatus to force discrete, since I rarely use just battery power, and it’s totally usable again (for a while).

Okay, so I bought a 2011 MacBook pro with this issue. The glitch looks like old tv signals. The back screen case is open on mine. Applying pressure on the screen causes the LVDS at the back to seat. In my situation, it’s better to open the back and lightly press the black plastic ribbon vs pinch the screen. This is because pinching uses the entire screen to try to put pressure on a small area. It may or may not work and can easily back off. At the start I was also using a lot of pressure and this is a little dangerous. I think cardboard to hold the connection in will be my next step. If you can’t open, the cable is around where the F2 cable is from the front. That would probably be a better area to target.