I found some similar questions, but none specific enough to make sure they were the same problem, and none with detailed solutions.

A video of the symptoms before I explain with words:

My Macbook's screen sometimes starts fading out. First the pixels get wider, meaning the image seems pixelated. Then the colors start changing, until it gets inverted, then it fades to completely dark grey.

There's no correlation of when it does that and when it doesn't. Sometimes I am just working while everything is normal, and all of a sudden it starts. Sometimes it’s in the morning, I am just waking it from sleep, without even touching the screen, and it’s in that state.

If I then try to bend a little bit the upper left corner of the screen, it goes back to normal. Sometimes it’s enough to keep it working without my pressure. Sometimes as soon as I let go, it starts fading again, and I have to push the whole computer against something to exert that pressure while I work.

Sometimes the problem will remain for weeks and months, and at some point go away for weeks and months.

Sometimes I have to press very hard for the screen to come back to normal, sometimes a very gentle touch will suffice.

It’s mostly on the upper left corner that I have to bend. Sometimes it’s on the upper right corner, but rarely.

When I plug an external display, it works fine.

I tried opening up the Macbook and disconnecting the screen, vacuuming the cable, socket, and everything.

Sometimes after I put everything back together, the problem goes away for a few weeks. Sometimes it doesn’t change anything.

I also tried opening the case while the laptop is on, and moving a little bit the display cable, to see if it changes anything. It didn’t.

I noticed that some kind of shield on the motherboard’s socket is out of position. But it seems unlikely to me to cause the problem:

I also noticed a visual irregularity on the display cable’s outer wrapping, but I don’t know whether that’s damage or not:

I very recently noticed that the top part of my LCD is unglued from its shell. But I don’t know whether it was there before, and thus could be a cause, or whether it’s the consequence of my bending the top left corner of the screen so many times.

It seems to me the screen itself is fine.

So I feel like it could be either the socket on the motherboard, or the cable, or the socket on the LCD. Right?

Does anyone know whether there is a quick fix to this, or how to narrow down the cause?

My partner’s laptop is a 2010 macbook pro, so the same but one year younger. Do you know if I could plug her screen onto my laptop? If so I could rule out the motherboard socket, or conversely incriminate it.

Thanks a lot in advance for the help!

So I tried swapping screen with my partner's laptop.

One important note, is that BEFORE doing so, I couldn't manage to get my screen to fail completely. For some reason it was working fine. I had to bend it a little bit for it to start pixelating and fading out. Basically the opposite of when it's failing. When it's failing, I have to bend it to get it back to normal.

This time it was working, and I had to bend it slightly to get it to fade away.

After swapping it with my partner's screen, here were the results.

On her laptop, with my screen, behaviour was the same: screen was working, but if I bent it slightly, it would exhibit the same symptoms, first pixelating then fading out.

On my laptop, with her screen, it was working flawlessly. I tried to bend it, to change angle etc, it would always keep showing the image perfectly.

After swapping the screens back to their respective owners, the behaviours are back to what they were. My partner's laptop is working flawlessly, and mine is in the same situation: it's working right now, but if I bend the screen slightly, the symptoms show up.

I don't want to make conclusions myself, because I am not an expert, but it seems to me to hint that my motherboard is fine, and the problem lies either in the cable or the LCD's connector or the LCD itself.

What do you think?

⟐ Commented August 31, 2026 at 3:22 MST

⟐ Answer edited August 30, 2026 at 9:25 MST

Hi, I have a 2012 Unibody MacBook Pro that I'm having a really weird issue with.

It wasn't used for around 6 months, but before that it was working perfectly fine. The battery was also working normally before I stopped using it.

Now, when I try to turn it on normally, it starts booting for about 1% and then suddenly turns off. But here's the weird part: if I hold down any key on the keyboard, it stays on and works like a normal laptop. As soon as I let go of the key, it immediately turns off.

The battery also isn't detected at all, and the battery indicator lights on the side don't work either.

I'm not really sure what's causing this. Could this be a battery or SMC issue, or could something on the logic board be causing it?

Is there anything I can test or try myself before taking it to a repair shop?

Also, diagnostics show reference code :PPT001, PFM001.

Thanks!

⟐ Commented August 30, 2026 at 7:48 MST

⟐ Answer edited August 27, 2026 at 15:57 MST

⟐ Answer unaccepted August 29, 2026 at 13:52 MST

And also, The hinge is getting tight overtime. i kept opening it gently because the screen might crack. I still have 3 more years to graduate with this laptop.

⟐ Commented August 27, 2026 at 5:51 MST

⟐ Answered August 24, 2026 at 8:06 MST

So I want to disassemble the original Apple L connector and solder it to the unoriginal cable. I don’t mind cutting off the replacement L connector, as it is of no use for me, because when I use it with my Macbook pro 13” late 2011, the battery gets hot, and when I used it with my Macbook white mid 2009, the battery swelled and now when I use that MB 2009 with the unoriginal cable, with no battery, it won’t even turn on (it does turn on when used with fully original power adapter).

So… disassemble an original magsafe L connectror and solder it to another wire. How do I do that? In fact the problem is more about disassembling the L connector, because I do know how to solder things.

⟐ Commented August 22, 2026 at 15:22 MST

⟐ Commented August 18, 2026 at 7:56 MST

I have a mid-2012 13" MacBook pro (2.5 Ghz, the cheaper model).

So, my main focus is to change my Graphic Card (i have the Intel HD Graphic 4000) and my RAM (from 4 GB to 8 GB), however I found out i had to change my motherboard (logic board) to be able to change my graphic card.

Therefore would it be possible to get the motherboard of the other mid-2012 Macbook Pro 13" (2.9 Ghz), put it in my laptop and change the graphic Card to an NVIDIA ?

And the best question of all: would it be cheaper to buy a laptop just for Gaming ? Thats somethiin i dont want to do, having two laptops, thats too much.

And also because my mac works really well, he is just to shi**y to play games like Titanfall or BF4. I am stuck with Star wars and LoL right now. Feel my pain.

Just like Jon Snow, i know nothing. So please speak to me as if i was a toddler smashing a star shaped block into the circle shaped hole.

⟐ Commented August 17, 2026 at 23:04 MST

⟐ Commented August 12, 2026 at 15:28 MST

⟐ Answered August 10, 2026 at 14:57 MST

I have a OCLP-ed 2012 MacBook Pro with macOS 15.7.8, and it would struggle to connect to the internet, or outright refuse to connect to the internet. Would this be a case of a bad cable connection to the Airport card, or is something wrong with the firmware? Or is the age of the Mac finally getting to the Software? I would appreciate as much help as anyone out there can give out. To add on, I would have to restart the MacBook in order to make it connect to the internet.

Many thanks!

T

⟐ Answer accepted August 08, 2026 at 7:31 MST

I got a 2017 13” MacBook Pro online for parts. The fans gradually ramp up and spin at full speed when plugged in. The trackpad connector was ripped off of the board and there is no ssd. Water damage indicators are also red, but no visual marks or stains. I get no image on the display, caps lock key does not light up when I press it. When unplugged, the system immediately shuts down. Any help?

⟐ Commented July 27, 2026 at 9:50 MST

Essentially, my Macbook Pro M1 16GB 2020 (A2338) camera has stopped working. Not sure why. If I open Photo Booth, the screen is black but there is no message/warning. The camera light does NOT switch on either.

Tried the following:

• Restarting
• sudo killall VDCAssistant and AppleCameraAssitant but it says No matching processes.
• Reset the laptop (factory reset using iTunes)
• Took off the bottom cover to confirm the 4 ribbon cables were still connected from the screen

If I go to my system information, then go to my camera, it says "No video capture devices were found".

Everything else works perfectly fine so not sure why it would be the camera hardware itself.

⟐ Commented July 26, 2026 at 10:38 MST

My display backlight was working perfectly just a day ago, but ever since I connected the display into another MacBook I was testing the backlight completely stopped functioning. I already swapped the small cable that connects the display board with the logic board and have also tried SMC/PRAM reset without luck. Connecting another display to the MacBook shows nothing either (this screen was untested however). Any help?

⟐ Answer accepted July 25, 2026 at 12:01 MST

Also, is this cable bad?

Edit to add area after cleaning with IPA:

⟐ Commented July 22, 2026 at 19:50 MST

It turns on, fan spins, but that is it nothing else happens.The sleep light is on.

I have tried, removing RAM, Swapping RAM, Without the KB connected, Without a display, different HDD / SSD, Different working HDD cable, Reset SMC, PRAM etc..... Board looks clean, no water damage evident. Owner siad it just wouldn't start anymore. It does charge the battery though.

⟐ Commented July 21, 2026 at 15:42 MST

Observations:
macOS (all versions) detects and recognises the monitors, as in the screen flickers and recognises the brand and supported modes (within adapter limits)
Same goes to the pre-boot environment
Windows does not see the external display even after manual detection. Sometimes after reboot the integrated graphics in Windows is disabled due to a problem, re-enabling it brings back proper graphics but external monitor output is still not working or being detected.
All the adapters I've bought show the MacBook Air, not the MacBook Pro, although I've seen a review of someone using it on a 2012 Unibody MacBook Pro
A while back I had a different MacBook Pro model, still 2011 but the Early 2011 one, with the Core i5 instead of the Core i7. I was given a mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter and same symptoms, macOS and preboot environment sees it, but no display out. I was told by the person that gave the adapter to me that they use it on their 2015 MacBook Air just fine with no problems.

Is there like a common fault or difference with these Unibody MacBook Pros with how they handle that specific port and why it seems to be temperamental with cheap adapters? I haven't tried the adapters I've had since other than specific Lenovo ThinkPad laptops and MacBook Airs, I haven't had the opportunity to try them.

I want to try one of the more expensive adapters but I don't want to spend money on something that is not guaranteed to work.

Let me know if there's anything I could do.

⟐ Commented July 21, 2026 at 5:08 MST