Macbook 2016 HDMI output flickering

Thank you so much ambanmba! Will stop trying and use the reboot option then.

Yes, I was talking about the 2016 MacBook 12".

This is the model with the flickering issue.

Has anyone tried the 10.12.2 Beta 1. Does the flickering/swiping issue still persist?

Yes, the issue is still there with 10.12.2 public beta 1. For me, at least, a reboot seems to clear it up for about a day...so I reboot every morning.

I'm testing the CalDigit USB-C dock right now, using the DisplayPort instead of the HDMI output. At this point, it seems to be neither better nor worse than the Apple Multiport HDMI adapter (no flicker all day after a reboot). The display does seem to wake up more quickly on the DisplayPort than the HDMI, for what that's worth. I'll give additional feedback after a few days.

I've also had this same problem. Before I came across this thread my whole logic board had to be replaced which meant all my data was lost too (be sure to back up)! I think the constant flicking eventually caused an issue with the logic board?

I've also had the multiport adapter replaced. Neither the new adapter, nor the new logic board made a difference. It still flickers.

Then last week the power adapter stopped charging! Took the MacBook back to the authorised reseller to get it fixed, they reseated the logic board and it's all good again. Sadly the flicker issue is still unresolved :-(

Quick update on my new round of support calls. After 4 calls and 1 chat and working my way through all of the advised diagnosis scripts I've discovered the following:

- No flickering in Safe mode

Which is interesting but not an answer. I have now been assigned to a Senior Advisor who has in turn instantly re-assigned it straight to the engineering team. Definitely making progress through the Apple support chain 🙂

I have to say that I've been really impressed by those Tier 1 support people. Barring one chap everyone else has listened properly to what I've told them, correctly identified that I've been pretty thorough in my own testing approach and made a concerted effort to push me up the chain by capturing all the pertinent information into the case ID.

Here's hoping that the engineering team can work me towards a final answer! The fact that I saw no issue in Safe mode has really encouraged me to think that this can be fixed at the driver or OS level. Fingers crossed!

Will post back as I hear more.

That's encouraging news, thank you for sharing your updates! 🙂

Is safe mode still working well for you?

Thank you for continuing to run this down!

I've not actually tried Safe mode again since I was asked to by the support team. Again this might be a bit subjective but it feels like perhaps things have improved since doing the safe mode test. I think I'm getting less flickers.

I should have a further update after 1200 GMT today as I have a scheduled call with the engineering team!

Any news regarding the latest beta of MacOS next release?

Does it solve this terrible flickering problem?

I only see news of emoji as the big thing on this next Sierra release... a sign of times... all people (or the media that cover apple news) care is some new emoji??!!!!... And a serious bug is apparently still left unattended and out of the news focus??!!!... what a crazy world we're living in!...

Hello all,

New Macbook 12 m5 gold. Have same issues as described, connecting to projectors in my school. No problems whatsoever with previous model (Macbook retina 2012) even in sierra. Found this thread and now I am sharing my experience.

Went through Apple support call yesterday. Mac unusable with external monitor, flicker and sides of image disappear. Also problems with projection, but no image view change. All using original VGA adapter with latest firmware. Technician very helpful, a very nice woman, who never heard of such issues.

Solutions provided:

- create another user (if solves user-data related)

- boot into safe mode (if solves, third-party software related)

- fresh sierra install on new partition (if not solved maybe hardware issue?)

None of such solutions appealed to me at first. In an unthinkable manner I went to CleanMyMac3 and run some maintenance scripts. Well, I even selected a disk check. Well, disk check failed so I booted in recovery mode. First check could not repair disk, asked me to make a backup... Sweating I tried again and it worked. One more try and disk was ok, back to normal boot.

Normal boot ok as always, disk utility with no issues. Using external monitor for 4 hours now, not even a screen flick to show for. Coincidence? I will post more info as the time elapses. Maybe things will go awry in a couple of hours or days I do not know. What I know is that I made several tests with laptop on sleep, waking without adapter, waking with adapter, so far no issues.

Monitor is in auto detect mode, has inputs for DVI and VGA but no HDMI. 24inch 1920x1200.

Have anyone tried the same approach to check for disc errors, or is this just a coincidence?

Update: issue not solved, but greatly improved.

I'll try the safe mode boot and see where it gets me.

Safe mode includes disk checking so maybe they are related.

Today only had 3 flickers on a 2h class. Much better than 3 flickers every 5 minutes or so, but still no cigar.

Can others post follow-ups on their experience so far?

Thanks!