Retina display freezing, then fading to black and white lines

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Level 1

10 points

Retina display freezing, then fading to black and white lines

I have a 2014 MacBook Pro Retina (13in). Recently installed 10.11 El Capitan last week.

My problem is this: Occasionally when using my macbook the display will freeze ) and then fade to darkness with black and white lines. Any audio/video continues to play in the background, and I can still use the keyboard and trackpad to type or click things, I just can't see what. Various things like adjusting the angle of the display or changing the brightness have no effect on it, the only thing that seems to fix it is either shutting the display and re-opening it, or by turning the macbook off completely; although even that doesn't always work. I have to try it multiple times before the display comes back on. Here's a picture below so you can see what I mean.

I had this problem with 10.10 Yosemite when it initially was released, but it seemed to fix itself as newer patch versions came out. Now that i've installed El Capitan it's doing it more often than ever, so I don't think the problem is due to a faulty inverter cable or other hardware fault. I've made sure to run an update check every day, but so far I've had no joy. I took the MacBook into a genius bar about the problem and they re-installed OSX for me, but it doesn't seem to have made a difference.

Has anybody else come across this problem, or know of anything I can try to potentially fix it?

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014), OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 18, 2015 2:07 PM

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Answer 1

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Johnb-one

Level 6

9,168 points

Oct 25, 2015 1:13 PM in response to BL4CK7H0RN3

yes-you couild try zapping the pram and seeing if that helps: on bootup, hold down apple, option, p and r keys all together for 3 bongs, let go, let machine continue starting up. if that doesn't work, try rebooting holding down the 's' key (safe mode).... if none of that works at all, maybe it might be time for a trip to the genius bar and possibly a repair, hopefully not. Then again, I'm no expert, but from what I can see there it doesn't look right at all

JB

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Answer 2

BL4CK7H0RN3 Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 19, 2015 3:00 AM in response to Johnb-one

Cheers Johnb-one,

Will give that a go and update this. Will have to go and buy a new external HDD to use for backups first though, mine bloody failed today. Not having much luck with this technology lark. Thanks for your suggestions.

BT

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Answer 3

BL4CK7H0RN3 Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 25, 2015 1:19 PM in response to Johnb-one

Hello Jonhb,

Sorry to leave it so late getting back to you, but think i've got to the root of the problem. I followed your instructions with the button combination upon boot up and it seemed to work fine until yesterday. It got stuck in the same loop mentioned above, and since then I haven't been able to get it to work, i've even tried booting in safe mode and recovery mode.

However, i've just connected the MB to my TV with a HDMI cable and can see the screen on my TV, but still not on the MB. I think the Retina Display needs a repair/replacement. I love Apple products and my MacBook is my favourite piece of tech, but at the minute this is just unusable. Knew I should have taken out that bloody AppleCare lol.

Anyway, thanks for your help buddy.

D

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