Black horizontal lines on display

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Level 1

12 points

Black horizontal lines on display

My MacBook Pro display has black horizontal lines after some hours of usage. Once you let the computer rest, most of the lines go away when you use the computer again, but will come back quickly.

It starts with black horizontal lines across the taskbar area and it slowly inches up until it all the icons are covered in black. Horizontal lines also start appearing about 3 inches from the bottom and eventually the whole bottom area of the display is black and unusable. The image also sometimes gets burned into the screen, like ghosting.

Unfortunately the genius bar repair says I will have to replace my display for about $700sgd. Isn't this a known macbook pro issue though? I have read several forums of people having the exact same issue.

Is there any troubleshooting I can do at home? If it is a TCON issue, how might I prevent it from overheating?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.12

Posted on Jun 19, 2021 3:15 AM

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Answer 1

dominic23

Level 10

83,952 points

Jun 19, 2021 3:46 AM in response to rahtsang

Go step by step and test.

1. Reset PRAM: Reset NVRAM or PRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

Settings that can be stored in NVRAM include sound volume, display resolution, startup-disk selection, time zone,

and recent kernel panic information.

The settings stored in NVRAM depend on your Mac and the devices that you're using with your Mac.

2. Reset SMC: How to reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support Choose the appropriate method.

Quote:

Resetting the system management controller (SMC) can resolve certain issues related to power, battery, fans,

and other features.

3. Startup in Safe mode. https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201262

To leave Safe Mode, choose “Restart” at the bottom.

Quote:

Safe mode prevents your Mac from loading certain software when it starts up, including login items,

system extensions not required by macOS,

and fonts not installed by macOS. It also does a basic check of your startup disk,

similar to using First Aid in Disk Utility.

And it deletes some system caches, including font caches and the kernel cache,

which will be created again automatically as needed.

4. Display

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/if-your-display-doesnt-look-right-mchlp2906/mac

Genius bar

https://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

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Answer 2

rahtsang Author

Level 1

12 points

Jun 19, 2021 10:58 PM in response to dominic23

Thanks for the reply! I have actually tried all the recommended tests from apple as I've been calling in regarding this issue. The problem persists through it all. Finally I did bring my laptop to the Genius Bar a few days back and they've quoted me to change my display entirely.

From what I read, it's likely to be the TCON overheating. I've been also monitoring my CPU temps which have been consistently under 50 degrees, and my fans have been working fine as well. Would keeping the fans at a higher speed help to delay the onset of these lines? But would that be stressful on my mac's systems?

I really use the computer for emails and other browser activity. I don't even use it for anything heavy like video editing, or illustrator. Since this issue arouse, I don't even take zoom calls on it cause it exacerbates the situation. I do however, need to use the laptop for long hours as we are working from home and I need it for both work and personal use.

This thread seems to be discussing the same issue, and it seems to be a common one:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251356447?page=1

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Black horizontal lines on display

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