Q: Macbook pro retina flicker

Same problem with Mac Book Pro 13 Retina. Did occur initially after three months. Switched the computer off and it disappeard. Since then the flickering happens irregularly. I found a lot of posts or youtube films, with possible solutions.

What does help is turning the computer off for one hour. Have not yet tried to switch off WIFI.

Another solution was the reset of the System Management Controller (see one of the liks below) or resetting the PRAM.

If anyone has better solutions, please post it.

Apple should addres this topic and fix it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTOx8BgT_7Q&feature=share&list=PLiiASQax4JifDniTm RUO6OfhoNtX70cZR

http://www.appstorechronicle.com/2012/10/retina-macbook-pro-screen-flicker-solut ion.html

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1677270

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LikBwyqfWgY

http://news.techworld.com/personal-tech/3436855/apple-users-highlight-more-probl ems-with-retina-macbooks/

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

Apple is never going to acknolwedge this.

Definitely what works for me consistently across 5-10 MPBs is to avoid channel 6 and also go for 5 GHz connections. For me picking either channel 1-2 or a 5 GHz connection and the flicker goes away immediately. 

I found two possible solutions. The first one worked for me:

1. Switch your Wi-Fi connection:

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

2. JacopoFamularo posted a good solution:

Hi there,

good news here: I just called Apple Support and the guy helped wonderfully!

What you gotta essencially do is: open the finder and then, from the menu bar, click on Go and Computer. In the window that pops up choose the column view and click on Macintosh HD, Library. In this folder you have to move to the trash the content of the following folders:

• Caches;
• LaunchAgents;
• LaunchDaemons;
• StartupItems.

Before acting the deleting be sure to copy the last three folders on the desktop, in a way to save a copy of their files. You have to move another element to the trash and it's something called like com.apple.windowserver.plist and you can find this one guy in the Preferences folder (always in the Library one). Once done, DO NOT EMPTY THE BIN but close the Finder and go on the menu bar again and click on Go; while pressing the Alt/Option button, click on the Library voice (which is hidden and will appear only by pressing Alt). When opened, you have to do something similar to the other time; so

• Look for Caches folder and move the content to the bin;
• Look for the Internet Plug-ins folder and do the same;
• Again for the LaunchAgents folder (you don't need to save a backup of the files this one time);
• Move on to Preferences and look if the com.apple.windowserver.plist is present. If not, go back to the Library folder;
• Last, choose the Saved Application State folder and move the content to the bin.

Ok, now again DO NOT EMPTY THE TRASH but restart the computer. You should now have everything working as it was when you got the Mac.

Unfortunately I don't know if this will work for you and I don't wanna assume any responsibility for problems but it worked for me and my MBP is now superfast again.

Hope your one will be ok again and this post will help the others who could encounter the same issues.

I hope this can help you...

Hi all,

I have started having the flickers at the bottom of my screen for the past few weeks and it started to be more frequent lately.

I brought my MBPr 15" early 2013 (which I had gotten refurbished - not that it should matter) to the Apple service center in Singapore last week. They replaced the display free of charge (as it was still under the 1 year warranty) no question asked when I showed them the video I captured of my screen.

So far so good, no more flicker. Will keep monitoring and update this post accordingly.

I have the same issue: http://youtu.be/VcexXDC0dlc

As can be seen in the video, I'm able to turn the flickering on and off by turning my wi-fi on and off.  The flicker seems to come on when I'm on a 2.4GHz channel, and not a 5 GHz channel.  Unfortunately, my router at home doesn't is only 2.4.  I only started experiencing this problem a year ago.

Took it to the Apple Store today, and no one had heard about this issue.  I showed them how the problem can be fixed if I turn of my wi-fi (as shown in the video). They tested it on 2.4 GHz networks in the mall, as well as on 5 GHz networks.  The flickering only occurred on 2.4 GHz networks.  It's still under warranty so they sent it off to have the "display and wifi card replaced", according to the work order.

If this does the trick, I'll post an update.

Getting the flicker on a mid 2012 15" retina.  It's really annoying.  Seems to happen especially when wifi is uploading.  I hope Apple addresses this problem as my computer is out of warranty.  Big disappointment!

-Tom

I found a permanent solution to this issue, I will link it below.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-17-3-laptop-intel-core-i7-8gb-memory-1tb-hard-d rive-black/5827044.p;jsessionid=4F89300797625DE5DE56563F0937E2CC.bbolsp-app01-10 7?id=1219163973191&skuId=5827044&st=asus%20gaming%20laptop&cp=1&lp=4

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..

oh yay hello, joining the "screen flicker" club too here. I posted my problem just now MBP retina screen flicker black? because I have never found this topic. my MBP is really new and what I got is screen flicker everytime I'm working with photoshop. The same thing happened to my friend who has a new MBP 13" retina too, he bought it last Sunday. Is this because of the photoshop or..? But photoshop is our main program to work this is so frustrating.

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