Macbook pro retina flicker

I wanted to add my thanks for your solution. I had been getting the flicker intermittently for quite some time, but never found a good solution. I tried all the usual restarts, resets, permissions fixes, etc. And others' observations that it had something to do with wifi were meaningless. This was happening both on wifi and when using a thunderbolt->ethernet adaptor (with wi-fi off already).

This solution stopped the flickering immediatedly. At least for now -- hopefully for good. It doesn't always happen, but when it does, it's maddening.

Hi All,

Had the same problem:
I found the solution works for my macbook retina 2012 15 inch.

How I found the solution:

I've had this issue forever, since I bought my 2012 retina 15 inch. Today in the morning I got a silly idea, what if I disconnect one of the antennas that are connected to internal wifi chip (there are total of three antennas) So I opened the macbook without turning it off. I tried disconnecting antennas one at a time and tested each time if the screen is flickering (it flickers 99% of the time when downloading huge files at top speed, so I was testing screen flickers by downloading a file at about 9mb/s). I tried the following: I disconnected all of them and flicker stopped but wifi didn't work like 4 meters away from router. Than I connected the left one (left connector displayed on screen shot) I noticed small flicker, I disconnected it and connected two remaining (mid and right antennas on the screen shot) and FINALLY in 2 years a full day without any flickering even though I'm downloading huge files at high speeds and live in a apartment building with at least 10 other wifi routers that also cover my apartment.
Here is the screenshot of the antenna I disconnected (that worked for me):https://www.dropbox.com/s/jpkolucvhenw6yp/Fix.png?dl=0

Anyway let me know if this makes sense for you if not I can make a video of what to do and share it with you.

Hello Alex is making sense i agree with you in that something is wrong with the antenna. I noticed though that it only happens when connected to a 2.4ghz wireless if i connect to a 5ghz wireless it doesnt happen. But im 100% with you in that the wireless is the cause of it.

I have a Retina Mid 2012 15inch macbook pro and my screen is flickering like crazy sometimes. I thought this was only me for the last 2 years, and by luck i found out that this was caused by a faulty production line. How come Apple is not addressing this issue? With this attitude, Apple's fall is inevitable in the upcoming years. Their rivals are working hard, where Apple closes his ears for his customers..

I have had this flickering/glitch problem on my 2012 15 inch retina randomly out of nowhere, it was working perfectly fine before. I recently upgraded to yosemite, I'm hoping this is a software issue. Any ideas I see a lot of people have similar problems?

I bought my new 15" MacBook Retina Mid 2014 last November. I noticed that the screen had a pink tint at the upper right corner.. It was an LG screen (LP154WT1-SJE1).. I went to Apple service provider in KSA and had them to replace the screen. It took them an entire month to do so.. They replaced it with a Samsung screen (LSN154YL01-A01)

I was happy for about 10 days, then the flicker started, It was like this; Random screen flickering followed by discoloration and Image retention !!!!!!

I took it back again to the service provider, they ran an MRI check, and cable reset, but could not find anything wrong with it, so they returned it to me as it is.. Once I'm home, all it required is a little press on the power on button and the darn issue is there

So, and for the third time, I took it to the service provider, but this time with some captured videos.. They said they are ordering yet another screen for me.. and this would take them 2 weeks +, and also, are keeping it for further testing..

I should have kept the LG screen... I paid USD 2.5K for a laptop that has been in repairs almost as long as it has been with me.. I just can not believe this..

BTW Apple, your telephone support is a total rubbish, It is only as good as a one time sweet talk and the bye-bye with case number.. I feel that your system is designed only to get you of the one year warranty period, or simply forcing us to buy an applecare package, which is, first of all, not globally available, and secondly, will only keep us vising service providers with no real resolution..

ya.... mine is flickering as well mainly when i open photo booth and it is not gone one i take the picture... may be if your mac is made after 2013 diagnosis might help....instructions for diagnosis

-shut down your computer ...open it the hold the 'd' key and after you choose language it starts detecting the problem with your mac....

but if it is made before 2013 it will only identify the problem with the hard ware.... that is how i knew display flickering is not a hard ware problem.... hope this could help😕

I solved the problem by isolating the screen below the antenna, for that I dismounted the retina display, I opened where wifi antenna is located and with a piece of insulation that has some coaxial cable. Problem solved. Details make your queries.

I've had mine now for 2 and a half years...thank goodness I got the 3 year warranty on it. I just got it back from Apple after taking in now 4...yes 4 times to them, for various issues unrelated to this problem. This time they literally replaced every single part in the machine. The only thing original is the magsafe power board and the bottom panel...and now my screen flickers. Really??

I have some blurring on a mid 2014 MBP Retina. Called AppleCare and did the requested manipulations (I had made a test session and re-installed the most problematic program, to test, myself, already).

Problem is, all of a sudden I have screen flicker. Not the lines, just black screen for a flash then back to normal.

I would say my wifi has been strange sometimes but don't know if that's the provider.

When the AppleCare person told me the problem with screen blur was the graphics card, well, I'm not sure I agree, but now, with the new screen flicker and the wifi problems, maybe screen connector area + part of graphics card ? I personally think the blurriness is a OS software/firmware issue, possibly.

Very weird that screen flicker started after reboot into test mode with Apple Care. Never saw it before that, although the wifi problems started about a week or two before the screen flicker. Screen blur was never resolved so I have to call them back.

Anyway, the screen flicker does get better if I reboot the computer. It goes away for quite a while.

2014. But I may have just found a solution from here. I thought I was the only one on my password protected wireless.

But maybe not. I changed my password and the flickering stopped immediately.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to-Fix-Flickering-Display-on-MacBook-Pro-Reti na-427598.shtml

So I have a brand new mid 2015 15" Macbook Pro with built in Iris and add on AMD graphics cards and it is also showing screen flickering. Slight movement shifts and quick grey flicker across parts of the screen. Can go hours without an issue and then get really nasty. PRAM resets etc do not really have any effect.

Sent it into Apple support for repair and all they did was reinstall the OS and run the hardware tests, which passed but then they always pass and sent it back.

Trying to play with wifi channels. Really need apple to figure this one out and apply a fix.

I've been back and forth with Apple in regards to this. I've had my display replaced twice, my logic board replaced once or twice, and the entire computer replaced. It still is happening. At this point, I don't believe it is a hardware issue.

From my testing, it seems to occur when the computer switches between my integrated Intel Iris Pro graphics to the discrete nVidia 750m graphics chip. You can test this by going into System Preferences > Energy Saver and quickly toggling on and off the "Automatic graphics switching" option.

It looks like the computer is having trouble properly handing off the signal between the video cards when it dynamically switches. Maybe the only "solution" here is to keep things on the discrete graphics chip, but this is no solution in my books.

Hi I am from Turkey

I have the same issue for my brand new 15 inch macbook retina with amd GPU it is coast 2.500$ . it has been 2.5 months since I bought my mac. Flicker has just started. I have talked to apple call center and they did some software tests on the phone and told me that, your problem is software, reinstall the OS X. I formatted my comp. and reinstall my OS X. Problem is still here. Macbook pros have this problem since 2012 and this is 2015 !! This is stupid. I am going to take my macbook pro 15'' to apple Turkey tomorrow and demand new one

Just a wifi channel problem. Try to change your router's wifi channel. Do not choose auto. In my case, choosing the 1st one solved my problem at all.

If you can't solve the problem by changing the channel, you may need to buy a 5 ghz wireless router. But first, change to another channel with your current router.