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Level 1

10 points

Macbook Pro's display have vertical lines

My 2008 Macbook Pro's display suddenly have vertical lines and the display changes colors every time the mac either wakes or boots. This started just a few days ago. At first the display goes back to normal but after 3 days it no longer went back to normal and every time I restart the color changes either to red (common), blue (common), green, violet, yellow or orange. Other than the display problem, my machine still works fine though. What could be causing this? Is this a display hardware problem, logic board failure, graphics failure...? I've done some research and there are a lot of cases with different causes such as logic board failure, graphics failure, others even said it was a driver issue that has not been addressed by Apple. I can"t do anything about it for now since I have no clue where to look. But I did some test like connecting to an external display. That one proved that it was a hardware problem cause the external display was okay while the one on the have lines. I also tried booting the Drive Genius and at some point that made the mac display run normal again but after a few hours the lines appear again. I also tried to reset both the PVRAM and and the display (control+shift+eject) but none worked. I hope someone could at least shed some light on this or help me in finding a way to address the problem. Thanks!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2), Early 2008 Model

Posted on Dec 13, 2011 6:30 AM

49 replies

my ginger

Level 5

4,904 points

Dec 16, 2011 8:27 PM in response to tinton tana

I think I would see if you can hook up an external monitor to it, If the problem is not there doing that then it's the display. I don't know if an Apple store woild do that without charge or not. if you know someone with an external display you could try it yourself. your plug in the side is dvi, so ether you need a display with dvi or a vga to dvi adapter. Ebay has adds for screen repair complete starting at $150.00

tinton tana Author

Level 1

10 points

Dec 16, 2011 10:26 PM in response to TildeBee

Yeah probably best to wait and see. Thanks bee!

tinton tana Author

Level 1

10 points

Dec 16, 2011 10:33 PM in response to my ginger

Hi ginger, i already did that as part of the series of tests that i did before i took my mac to the apple service center. They said they would still need to diagnose the mac to see what is the exact problem causing the garbled display.

tinton tana Author

Level 1

10 points

Dec 22, 2011 6:32 AM in response to tinton tana

Hi bee! Got feedback today from apple service provider. They said the problem is the display and it needs replacement. The bad thins about it is that it's roughly around $600 (PHP26,000) for the replacement. It's too much. I'll go there tomorrow and just get my mac. It's too expensive for a display replacement. I'd rather buy an external monitor than have it repaired. I just don't understand why it's that expensive...

my ginger

Level 5

4,904 points

Dec 22, 2011 9:06 AM in response to tinton tana

Ther are places on Ebay and others that repair screens for between $125.00 and $225.00, depending on what size screen you have. If you go to Ebay and type in Macbook Pro screen repair you'll see quite a few.

Feb 10, 2012 4:16 AM in response to my ginger

I experience the same problem... from the boot the screen has one-pixel-wide vertical lines monochromatic (could be black, could be grey, could be red), for the entire length of the screen. The external monitor is ok.

I TRIED TO CHANGE THE SCREEN but the problem was still there. SO NO SCREEN PROBLEM... I ordered a new data display cable (LVDS), but did not changed yet.

The first time it appears it lasted 3 weeks in a constant mode. I tried to do the HARDWARE TEST with the original cd that came with the laptop, holding the d key at boot... i did the normal test and i received the videocontroller issue... than i tried the complete test and, after 5-10 minutes (the complete cicle lasts more than one hour), the screen returned ok.... i used the computer for 3-4 days, and than again appeared the problem (the first time lines were black, the second time grey).... i launched immediately the test, and, again, all is fine... I supposed it's not a mere hardware issue, but a software issue (WHY IT IS FIXED WITH THE HARDWARE CHECK?)... just to remember, two weeks before the issue appeared, i upgraded to lion... 3 days ago i installed again snowleopard, and since then till now, it's all ok... but it a short time to say victory... i let you know...

bye marcello

tinton tana Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 11, 2012 6:47 AM in response to marcicasa

I agree that this might be caused by a software issue and not the hardware. The day after i got my macbook from an apple service provider, the screen just went back to normal and i never experienced the vertical lines since then. It's been months now since the last time i had the problem. By the way, i didn't do anything nor performed any tests. The screen just suddenly returned to normal.

Thanks marcicasa and i hope you also find the solution soon.

ekrumrey

Level 1

9 points

Sep 19, 2012 9:52 PM in response to tinton tana

I believe, that doing a screen snapshot while it's malfunctioning can help with the disagnostics. The screen grab will take the screen image from memory and write it to a disk file on the desktop. If the graphics chip is bad, then it's generating a bad image, and this will show up in the file. If it's a display/cable problem, then the screen image in memory will be free of flaws and the disk file will reflect this. So shift-command-3, and then look on the desktop for the snapshot file. Open this and examine it for clues to whether you have a grahpics/main board problem, or a display problem.

emescan

Level 1

0 points

Oct 24, 2012 4:50 PM in response to tinton tana

I have the same problem, just came form the Apple Store and I have to repalce the display - cost C$475.53. The service guy told me that it is very often to happen in this computers. I have 2008 McBook 2008 13 inch. It means that before you open your MacBook you have to keep in toyr pocket $500 emergency, because Apple makes very poor quality products. I'm so disappointed because I was loyal customer of Apple's products and they are selling a **** for so high prices.

The service guy advised me to check any other available stores (not Apple) to fix my problem, but the display must be replaces.

Never again Apple!

Oct 25, 2012 12:35 AM in response to emescan

I say again. I changed the screen and the problem persisted.the story continued and my macbook 2008 shew the classic sympthoms of the nvidia issue... Other video artefacts, stop booting, external video not working. I did a reball (90 euro) six months ago and the macbook never had problem since then. I know that if you do a simple swap of a new motherboard made by apple, it is prone to fail the same.

So that's my expirience.

Bye

CA7H

Level 1

0 points

Dec 22, 2012 5:52 AM in response to marcicasa

I have my early 2011 MBP with built-in GPU an Intel HD Graphics 3000, 2,7 GHz Intel Core i7 and 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3. Been 2 days since I use my MBP in awkward because one thin blue line appear on my screen. It doesn't look that blue when i use applications that has white background colour,but when it has a darker background colour,the blue line showed. And when i do the screenshot, the blue line doesn't appear in the preview, it does look really fine 😢anyone wanna share any solutions or suggestion to fix this problem? because it makes me so kinky seeing that blue line 😟 any best suggestion or is there some issue on my hardware? is there any possibility if I do some quick tips by myself? pls help

Aug 11, 2013 3:36 AM in response to tinton tana

I have been having this same problem, and it started a couple of days ago out of nowhere.

My Macbook Pro 15" (purchased Sept. 2011 in the US) was connected to my external monitor at home and it suddenly crashed.

After restarting it, I had all kinds of screen problems...

red lines on the screen, split screen, blue screen on startup..

I reinstalled from scratch but that didn't solve it.

Now, when I turn it on it takes a while to startup and the screen flickers, the red lines appear and if I, eventually, get to login, the smallest stuff I do will trigger all the screen problems and it eventually locks and needs to be restarted by holding the power button.

Besides that, a couple of months ago my battery simply died.

It started losing power out of the blue as well and after 5 days it wouldn't hold any charge at all and simply would say on the System Report that I had no battery on my Macbook Pro.

I'm seriously disappointed at APPLE because this Macbook Pro is not even 2 years old...

And I need it to work!!! I'm a PhD Student... so I don't have enough money to just go and get a new one, as I have been suggested...

And I'm a techy guy, so I know how to take care of my electronics.

And it seems that there is no cheap way out of it...

Any suggestions?

Sep 11, 2013 9:58 PM in response to renato.gama

I've got about an in and a half wide of verticle colored lines going up & down the screen. My 15in macbook pro is a late 2011 model.

Here's a couple pics of the screen... the first is a picture I took with my iphone showing the vertical lines and the 2nd is a screen shot that does NOT show the vertical lines for some reason. What does this mean?

Picture taken from iphone camera showing vertical lines...

Screenshot taken showing no vertical lines for some reason..

Sep 11, 2013 10:20 PM in response to Mystic_Phil

This means the computer is calculating the correct image to display (the screen grab is a copy of what's in the computers memory, basically what it thinks it's displaying, not a photo of the screen). So the image is correct in the computer's memory, but wrong on the display. It's getting corrupted somewhere along the way.

To get from memory to your eyes, the image travels:

thru the logic board to the connector

thru the connector to the display data cable

thru the display data cable to the display

out the display to your eyeballs

So your problem isn't the graphics chip on the logic board, but could be

1) some other component on the logic board

2) the display data cable

3) the display itself

I don't think it's #2, but 1 and 3 both seem plausible.

Either way, you need to take it to a technician.

Sep 11, 2013 10:32 PM in response to erikkrumrey

Oh ok...someone suggested it could be the cable that is somehow getting 'crimped'. But you're ruling that out...

Well, here's another symptom that may shed some light... I haven't tried it as much recently, but in the days following these vertical lines appearing sometimes I was able to 'almost close' the laptop and then slowly open it (only part way open) and I was able to get the verticle lines to go away.... I was able to also at times not get the lines to 'completely' go away but have it leave more of a 'water mark' sort of where the lines weren't as dramatically visible.

I don't seem to have an effect on it by opening & closing it anymore for some reason though.

Any more ideas?

Macbook Pro's display have vertical lines