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Macbook pro retina flicker

Dear Support,


I bought a Macbook pro retina recently, and now the screen keeps flickering, and is very annoying.

I am not sure how to reproduce it, when it happens, it will have horizontal lines cutting across the screen very quickly and disappear.

It happens randomly across all application.


It is the same as,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq0l-bHmSYE


I have updated all patches, and still doesn't help.


Could you please advice how to fix it? Do i have to send it back?


Kind Regards

Andy

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Oct 17, 2012 6:10 AM

Reply
249 replies

Apr 5, 2017 1:01 AM in response to TomasZlin

They tried to convince me that 2015 model is a reliable one and I am the only one having this problem. I am waiting now for the third one 😟 ..... Here it is a screen shot from the recording which I have. I will upload the recording on youtube so I can share it. MBP early 2015 - 16gb of RAM Intel Iris 6100

I assume it is a video card error or something wrong with the retina display. Or maybe something with customized ones??? Although I choose this model because of ports and price I might change my mind but I think I will go for Dell XPS if this continues to be an issue.


User uploaded file

May 10, 2017 7:16 AM in response to YCLAM

Mine is doing the same thing, but only when I switch displays. I use my rMBP in clamshell mode on my desk a lot of the time. When I take it off the desk and go mobile then the built in display flickers/glitches until I reboot the machine (and then it's fine). Same in reverse. When I plug it back into my HDMI display I will get flickering/glitching until I reboot the machine and it goes away. I'm at a loss myself but it is very frustrating.


Video Glitches when switching from built in display to external and vice versa

Apr 5, 2017 12:45 AM in response to YCLAM

I have also problem with flickering of my Macbook's display - on internal Macbook display and on external display as well. It happens radomly across all apps, especially in case fast movements like video, scrolling, switching tabs in Safari. When I restart Macbook, the issue disappear for some time, but after some time it appears again. When Macbook is connected to external display and the lid is closed, the problem appears in short time. When I open the lid, flickering disappears.


Example video (most visible around time 0:07s)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpqlFCGjHOg&feature=youtu.be


I tried reset SMC, NVRAM. I tried to close all potential apps. Nothing helps.


My machine: MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015), 3,1 GHz i7, 16GB, Intel Iris 6100

macOS Sierra, 10.12.4.


Do you think, is it HW or SW problem?

Apr 10, 2017 10:25 AM in response to TomasZlin

I have the exact same problem. It all started a few days ago when I installed the latest update and that's why I think it might be a software issue. I'm waiting for a new update that will hopefully fix this. If not, I'll have to take it into service 😟

Did your problem start with the latest update, too ?

Jun 4, 2017 2:00 PM in response to YCLAM

I have a more severe problem with my Macbook pro retina display 15".

The screen flickers blue and yellow every second.

It seems that it is searching for an external monitor I think, because if I connect it to a external monitor it stops

completely. The problem started when I connected it via HDMI.

If I move the mouse it stops, no idea why. I think it has something to do with my thunderbolt inputs, I connected it via thunderbolt to HDMI and it stopped flickering once I removed the cable, but that worked only temporary.

I bought the computer 1 year and a half ago, and because I'm a student, it was a lot of money. And for a price tag around 1 500 +, I find this unacceptable.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7uaYowkYE0&feature=youtu.be


This is a link to a video I made of the problem. If anyone knows anything,

please let me know.

Oct 18, 2012 4:23 PM in response to YCLAM

I am running into the same issue but noticed it is happening on my 2nd monitor. I've noticed it on Lion and upgraded to Mountain Lion only to notice it got worse. It is most obvious with the dock bar and scrolling up and down a web page in Safari. Chrome is chunky but not flickering.


If I move the window over to the laptop's main screen the flicker goes away. My 2nd monitor is using DVI via a MDP adaptor. Hooked the monitor up via HDMI and it's still there so I know it's not the adapter. Hooked a Mac Mini up to the monitor and there is no flicker so it's not the monitor.


It seems to also move around like a bad cold. Before I started writing this message I noticed my menus flickering with other apps. Come back to it in 5 minutes and it's gone. Bad video RAM or graphics card switching is possible but it most likely seems like a software problem to me.


Has anyone else noticed it being an issue on a second screen? Argh! it's flickering now as I scroll to read the original comments...

Oct 22, 2012 10:25 PM in response to YCLAM

I had this issue at the end of August after a month owning the rMBP. I took it to the Apple Store and even though I couldn't reproduce it, they took my word for it. They replaced the logic board on the device. Two weeks after I got it back it started happening again. It happens at least once a day, sometimes worse than other times, but under no definitive circumstances.


I've experienced it mostly while on Safari, but recently it's happened when I've moved the laptop. Since the logic board was replaced, the inside of the machine is not the same as it was when I bought it. I don't know what the issue is. I took it into the Apple Store again and there aren't many widespread problems apparently and they really haven't heard about it. I don't know what to do. This is really annoying.


- Peter

Macbook pro retina flicker

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