Timeline for Why does a Macbook pro's internal screen flicker ONLY when it is on a GPU?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
25 events
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| Jul 26, 2023 at 23:13 | comment | added | Ali | @darKnight Nope. Apple suggests replacing the screen (which includes cable) but it costs abour £800 (if I remember correctly), so I'm using the laptop mostly as a workstation and use an external monitor. | |
| Jul 25, 2023 at 22:30 | comment | added | darKnight | @Ali, were you able to resolve this? I have the exact same issue, though I am using Macbook Pro 13 (2017) touch bar. | |
| Aug 25, 2020 at 3:37 | answer | added | Anthony Metzidis | timeline score: 2 | |
| Jul 22, 2020 at 14:41 | comment | added | Ali | @Allan, that's a smart approach. Thanks :))) | |
| Jul 22, 2020 at 14:03 | comment | added | Allan | I don't know. That's why I recommended mentioning flex gate. It's meant to be a reminder to the Apple person that they've had tons of display issues and here you are experiencing a display issue that renders your Mac useless - that they failed to fix the first time. Trying to take the sympathy angle. | |
| Jul 22, 2020 at 8:49 | history | edited | Ali | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jul 22, 2020 at 0:42 | comment | added | Ali | @Allan, thanks for the discussion. One last question: the flex gate issue is resolved by replacing the LVDS, right? Is the LVDS replacement cheap, or am I gonna pay for the entire display? Apparently the 2017 15-inch laptops are not a part of Apple's free flexgate replacement program | |
| Jul 22, 2020 at 0:25 | comment | added | Allan | Not a fan of the "geniuses" but that's for another day. :-} I would have them replace the display. Mention "Flex Gate." That might help. | |
| Jul 22, 2020 at 0:24 | comment | added | Ali | They will probably charge me this time, so I was about to suggest them change the LVDS , which should be "cheap to try". (though not sure why there's no issue when Radeon is off). Making them believe it could be the mux is difficult. The fun part is that the genius bar does not take note of what I say, they just send it for video triage and try to figure out the issue themselves and even skip the triage and open it up to see what could be wrong. Does it sound like a good idea to take it to a different branch or shall I work with the same guys who are now (supposedly) into the issue? | |
| Jul 22, 2020 at 0:15 | comment | added | Ali | @Allan, it's unlikely that they didn't change the Logic board and other stuff. It's Apple, right? In their work confirmation email, they listed all the parts with their new serial numbers: "661-07793 Logic Board, 2.9GHZ, 16GB, RP560, 512GB, ETSI Replacement Serial No: ...", "661-07954 Top Case with Battery, ANSI, Space Gray Replacement Serial No: ...", "923-01480 I/O Board". | |
| Jul 22, 2020 at 0:10 | comment | added | Ali | @Allan, 5) Yep, their repair procedure is weird to me. The only problem then & now is how to make them produce the issue. They don't want to wait for the monitor to warm up for a couple of hours to reproduce the issue, and the flickering disappears if the laptop is cooled down (while opening it up). I understand that it's hard to fix a fault without reproducing it. | |
| Jul 22, 2020 at 0:10 | comment | added | Ali | @Allan, 1) The battery has nothing to do with the USB. They opened it up and saw that the battery and "something around the USB ports" are not OK (for separate reasons), so they replaced them both. 2) No idea why the top case is replaced. 3) It was Apple's own Genius bar, London. They waived it because "they weren't expecting a device of this age to face such issues.". 4) No question 4! | |
| Jul 22, 2020 at 0:05 | comment | added | Allan | I was kind of dancing around it...I don't think they changed the logic board. They're expensive. When you said that the battery was swelling and affecting the USB, well, that's impossible. If you had trackpad issues, I could see that, but the battery and the LVDS connector and the USB connector and mux are nowhere near each other. I don't have confidence in these guys and if I can point you in a direction to get quality service, I'm happy to help. | |
| Jul 21, 2020 at 23:56 | comment | added | Ali | @Allan, thanks for the amazing answers. So if it's the mux, then it means the newly replaced logic board should be replaced with yet another one. Doesn't it sound weird to have such an uncommon issue on two different logic boards? | |
| Jul 21, 2020 at 23:48 | comment | added | Allan | A couple things: 1) The battery doesn't come into contact with anything on the logic board so battery swelling around the USB ports is impossible. 2) The top case has nothing relevant to the video 3) Out of warranty for free? Was this Apple or an ASR? 4) for a video issue they ignored the biggest video component of them all - the display. If your display is good, it's the mux - it has to be. I'd have them swap the display at this point. 5) A technician replacing parts "hoping" is a red flag - they don't know what they're doing and these parts are expensive! | |
| Jul 21, 2020 at 23:41 | comment | added | Allan | That's why I think it's the mux. You're focusing on cables, but there are no cables other than the LVDS cable connecting the internal display to the logic board. The external monitors are connected via the USB-C port and there's no cable going from the mux to the port - it's all on the PCB. The cable is actually a ribbon and not what's commonly thought of as "a cable." | |
| Jul 21, 2020 at 23:34 | comment | added | Steve Chambers | As the old saying goes if you have eliminated everything else, whatever remains, however implausible, must be the cause (sorry Sherlock...) So you have to look at the things that were NOT replaced. Could it be the display itself? What else that effects video could be the cause (make a list, and eliminate one at a time) Do you have an external monitor you can test with? | |
| Jul 21, 2020 at 23:29 | history | edited | Ali | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jul 21, 2020 at 23:29 | comment | added | Ali | @Allan , If it's the display, then why it doesn't flicker when the Intel HD Graphics is in use? It appears only when the Radeon card is active. Are the cables separate? If the internal monitor is connected to the two graphic chips via SEPARATE cables, then would explain the issue. | |
| Jul 21, 2020 at 23:19 | comment | added | Ali | @Allan, they told me that they realized a swollen battery and weird stuff around the USB ports, hence they replaced all these. The laptop was out of warranty, but since they weren't expecting a 2017 MBP to be in such shape, they did not charge me for the replacements. They were hoping that the flickering issue will go away after all these replacements, but it didn't. | |
| Jul 21, 2020 at 23:14 | comment | added | Allan | Yes, it is. Why would they replace the top case (keyboard, trackpad, and battery) as none of that has anything to do with video. Was this done under warranty? Also, just so you know, they don't necessarily use new logic boards - many are remans and their quality control is horrid. Assuming that they replaced it with a working logic board, your only variable left is the display. Have them replace that and see if it solves the issue. Did you pay for this repair or was it under AppleCare? | |
| Jul 21, 2020 at 22:44 | comment | added | Ali | @Allan, Isn't the Video mux a part of the logic board (which is just replaced?) | |
| Jul 21, 2020 at 22:41 | comment | added | Ali | @Allan, I did. Apple repairmen have recently replaced the whole logic board (along with the Top Case and the I/O Board). If they could reproduce the issue themselves, then I would have not needed such as brainstorming here ;) | |
| Jul 21, 2020 at 22:38 | comment | added | Allan | It could be your GPU or the video mux; it could also be a failing chip or some of the related circuitry. Unless a tech puts hands on with proper diagnostic equipment, it's only a guess. You need to take this in to be serviced (if you take it to Apple, they'll most likely just recommend replacing the whole logic board) | |
| Jul 21, 2020 at 22:12 | history | asked | Ali | CC BY-SA 4.0 |