Macbook Pro distorted screen

Hello community,


Unfortunately, my old Macbook Pro 15 Mid 2010 stopped working a few days ago. It started with me having to service the battery because it wasn't charging properly anymore. I then bought a new battery and replaced it. Everything seems to be fine with the battery and the charge, but there are still problems in the display area. Furthermore, the Macbook restarts randomly and shows a completely black screen. Other times it reboots and displays the image as completely ok. I can then log in and after a few minutes of work, the same problems occur, programs suddenly hang and the screen shows distortions again.


When I replaced the battery, I didn't notice any other problems with the motherboard or the display area. Could it also be due to a defective SSD that I also exchanged some time ago?




MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Apr 27, 2023 6:05 AM

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Posted on Apr 27, 2023 11:47 AM

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9 replies

Apr 27, 2023 7:33 AM in response to romu85

Most likely, the problems are due to that particular Mac's notoriously troubleprone and life-limited GPU. Search this site for its Model Identifier MacBookPro6,2 and you'll see what I mean.


New GPUs are long since out of production. The supply of replacements pulled from used Macs has also been depleted, so your prospects for keeping that Mac in service are dismal. You did well to get as much life out of that particular model as you did.


It's not related to its flash storage.

Apr 27, 2023 8:41 AM in response to John Galt


After 20 minutes I looked again after my opened Macbook which is still sideways on the table hah. I had little hope too but now i saw the distorted screen is there even without having touched it the last 20 minutes. Anyhow tapping on the part of the logic board still makes it worse and you clearly see more flickering then.


I guess the logic board or GPU might be overheated or something like that? I searched the internet and there were people cooking their logic boards in the oven to fix similar issues.


Maybe buying a new logic board would help here but with the old device it's not worth the money anymore. I thought it would be ok if I could get it repaired somehow, because apart from the outdated software it was still running very smoothly. Shame.


Apr 27, 2023 8:59 AM in response to romu85

The problem with old logic boards is that they're just as old as yours.


I'm not saying you can't get it repaired. You definitely can but you have to look elsewhere.


I actually did what you alluded to with a substantially identical model Mac. Somewhat surprisingly it worked, leaving me even more full of myself than usual. A year or two later it failed again, in the same manner. The point is no matter what you do, you are not going to breathe another ten or twelve years of life into that Mac.

Apr 27, 2023 7:54 AM in response to John Galt

Thanks for your quick response. When I open the Macbook and put it sideways on the table i noticed, no problems seems to occur. Can it have something to do with it when pressure comes from the underside because as soon as i start tapping a bit on the Macbook in this area (circled area on the image below), the display starts to show these distortions. Tapping anywhere else in the middle of the board makes no impact.


Edit: Forgot to say if i enabled "Automatic graphics switching" in Energy Saver the mouse cursor started to flicker. Not sure this has to do with it too.


Apr 27, 2023 8:31 AM in response to romu85

That changes things and you may be in luck. I have a suspicion regarding what the problem is; unfortunately we are prohibited from discussing anything beyond the most cursory hardware repairs on this site. You clearly have the ability to accomplish such a task but you need to go elsewhere for more detailed instructions. I can't even tell you where such a site might be, but it shouldn't be difficult to find.

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Macbook Pro distorted screen

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