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My 2013 MBP starts up with a screen full of black and white rectangles. Then then it just continually restarts. Is this fixable? It was working perfectly for years. No drops or mishandling. I was just in Photoshop when the screen turned to this. I tried to restart and this image is as far as it gets.
MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.13
If you have the 15" model, then it may be a bad GPU which is a very common issue. You can try forcing the laptop to use the Intel GPU by using gfxCardStatus:
https://github.com/steveschow/gfxCardStatus/releases/tag/v2.4.4i
If you cannot even boot into Safe Mode to install gfxCardStatus, then you can try this method of configuring the NVRAM to use the Intel GPU:
http://dosdude1.com/gpudisable/
You can also try running the Apple Diagnostics to see if there are any other hardware issues.
If you have the 15" model, then it may be a bad GPU which is a very common issue. You can try forcing the laptop to use the Intel GPU by using gfxCardStatus:
https://github.com/steveschow/gfxCardStatus/releases/tag/v2.4.4i
If you cannot even boot into Safe Mode to install gfxCardStatus, then you can try this method of configuring the NVRAM to use the Intel GPU:
http://dosdude1.com/gpudisable/
You can also try running the Apple Diagnostics to see if there are any other hardware issues.
Thank you for the info but the laptop just won't completely start up. I do agree it's a GPU gone bad (most likely). I'll take it to Apple for repairs. Thank you for your help. But as soon as I read that the repairs you described required soldering, I realized this was way over my head! Thanks again!
They don't require soldering. If you can boot into Safe Mode, then install one of the two gfxCardStatus apps.
If you cannot boot into Safe Mode, then try the dosdude instructions for setting the NVRAM settings using Single User Mode.
If you have the 13" model, then these "fixes" won't work.
I'm confused about this step:
Once the system reboots, it should now successfully boot into your install of OS X. Now, you'll need to download the program found here.
I've download this program onto my current Mac. How do I install it on the other Mac?
You must download & run the app from the laptop with the GPU issue. Have you performed these steps yet from the dosdude instructions? Does the laptop boot normally? If not, then this fix will not work either.
First, ensure your machine is completely shut down (You can press Control + Option + Shift + Power keys to reset the SMC).
- Now, boot your machine while holding the Command + S keys. As the system boots, it should display white text on a black screen, and should eventually stop at a prompt.
- At this prompt, enter the following command and press Return: nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00
- Next, enter reboot, and press Return.
- Immediately after running the reboot command, hold down Command + R (if you're running OS X 10.11 or later) to boot into Recovery Mode. If you don't have a Recovery Partition, you can boot from a Mac OS installer USB drive.
One more thing: why exactly is happening when I do this? Is it by-passing the main GPU? If so, the what runs the screen and graphics? Thanks again!
MacBook Pro starts up with a screen full of black and white rectangles
