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Screen flickering is NOT an option

I have a MacBook Pro 13-inch, Late 2011 running High Sierra v10.13.6.


The screen is flickering. Absolute nightmare and I cannot find any coherent support that enables a layman like me to resolve the problem. I'm trying to work and all I have is a strobe effect jabbering.


I am frustrated by the lack of help within the Apple support community. This is a real problem and I would appreciate a clear explanation and guidance to actually solve the issue versus sifting through semi-reliable suggestions and links that take me to other, unclear and unhelpful pages and back to the same first page with no actual resolution. Not cool Apple :)


I appreciate that numerous factors, including the age of my device may be the underlying cause but it's not ok to provide half measures.


Please can somebody knowledgeable and honest help me?


Thanks

Posted on Sep 22, 2019 2:13 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 22, 2019 11:35 AM

Apple is not here. The community forum only has other users such as yourself offering their assistance voluntarily. Your Apple laptop is no longer officially supported by Apple as it is now considered "Vintage".


The first thing you need to determine is whether the flickering is caused by a hardware issue such as the GPU on the Logic Board or whether the Display on your laptop is defective. Connect your laptop to an external display. If the external display does not flicker, then the laptop's internal display is defective and needs to be replaced.


If the external display flickers as well, then you have either a hardware GPU issue or some type of software issue. Try booting into Safe Mode to see if the flickering stops or at least changes behavior. Since Safe Mode only uses a very basic video driver, the display may flash or flicker, but it may appear differently than your issue. Safe Mode does disable Startup & Login items which may be causing your issue. You can also try booting into Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R) to bypass any software issues found on your laptop.


It also never hurts to try an SMC reset and PRAM reset (hold the PRAM reset for at least three chimes so it activates several times).


See if you can run the Apple Hardware Test.

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 22, 2019 11:35 AM in response to b3eline

Apple is not here. The community forum only has other users such as yourself offering their assistance voluntarily. Your Apple laptop is no longer officially supported by Apple as it is now considered "Vintage".


The first thing you need to determine is whether the flickering is caused by a hardware issue such as the GPU on the Logic Board or whether the Display on your laptop is defective. Connect your laptop to an external display. If the external display does not flicker, then the laptop's internal display is defective and needs to be replaced.


If the external display flickers as well, then you have either a hardware GPU issue or some type of software issue. Try booting into Safe Mode to see if the flickering stops or at least changes behavior. Since Safe Mode only uses a very basic video driver, the display may flash or flicker, but it may appear differently than your issue. Safe Mode does disable Startup & Login items which may be causing your issue. You can also try booting into Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R) to bypass any software issues found on your laptop.


It also never hurts to try an SMC reset and PRAM reset (hold the PRAM reset for at least three chimes so it activates several times).


See if you can run the Apple Hardware Test.

Oct 7, 2019 1:04 AM in response to HWTech

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I understand and appreciate all the explanation and advice!

Also chuckled at the use of the word, ‘vintage’ LOL. Funny to hear technology described as such.

Regards the issue I tried various tips and suddenly it resolved itself. So for now order is restored and I’m grateful it can still do that!

Screen flickering is NOT an option

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