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Clete2

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 20, 2008
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Anyone else get very brief screen flashes in High Sierra? It appears for a brief instant and about half of the screen goes black for a split second and then everything is restored.

Since the laptop is so new, I am really hoping this is a High Sierra bug and not an issue with my laptop.

Edit: I have the resolution set to "More space".
 

cudifying

macrumors member
Jul 5, 2016
63
38
I have something really similar happening to me. For me its the lower third of the screen. I have it set to 1440*900 on my 15 inch, so one lower than default. to you think its related to the resolution?

edit: switched to default when I made this post and haven't noticed any glitching yet
 
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Clete2

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 20, 2008
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I'm getting the same thing. I'll try switching to default (although text looks awfully big) and see if it works for me too.

Did you notice any of these issues in Sierra?

Also I noticed it seems random which part of the screen flashes. For instance the bottom 1/2" of the screen just flashed.
[doublepost=1500078772][/doublepost]Nope, even default glitches. I just had a glitch where the bottom third of the screen shifted right by 3" or so and then back to normal.
 

Clete2

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 20, 2008
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Is it required to be plugged in? I followed the directions (except that) and all I got was the recovery partition boot screen.

Edit: Nope still not able to get to it. Am I doing something wrong?
 
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cudifying

macrumors member
Jul 5, 2016
63
38
I'm getting the same thing. I'll try switching to default (although text looks awfully big) and see if it works for me too.

Did you notice any of these issues in Sierra?

Also I noticed it seems random which part of the screen flashes. For instance the bottom 1/2" of the screen just flashed.
[doublepost=1500078772][/doublepost]Nope, even default glitches. I just had a glitch where the bottom third of the screen shifted right by 3" or so and then back to normal.

During Sierra I only ever had a hackintosh. Bought this pc about a week ago and installed High Sierra right away. Its important to note that I've never had black flashes, just a slight pixel shift or a weird resolution issue in the lower portion of the screen.

Edit: Its also important to say that I never really was this aware of small bugs or glitches because I only ever had regular Macs or MacBooks. This time around I bought the top spec 15 inch so im really looking for everything that might not be the way its supposed to be.

For me there is absolutely no way to reproduce the glitch. I tried softly tapping the macbook on the back of the lid In certain areas, same with the body of it. I also have the suspicion it only ever happens when using safari. Theres tons of videos of screen flicker etc. on youtube but they're all so far out there its just not comparable to the irregular ones I have.

Do you get any error (reference) codes when you try the Diagnostic test?

Is it required to be plugged in? I followed the directions (except that) and all I got was the recovery partition boot screen.

Edit: Nope still not able to get to it. Am I doing something wrong?

I did this test and it also just goes to recovery. However, if you go to System Information then click on diagnostics it'll say when you ran the test the last time. It said I ran the test right when I tried to and it says passed.


Edit: I just reverted to Sierra 10.12.5

I had issues with iMovie and Final Cut showing me orange pixelation when I tried importing from the FaceTime camera.

Whenever I tried playing something in iTunes it was delayed by one second after pressing play.

Touchbar sometimes wouldn't update to the highlighted app.

And at last, the screen issue we've been talking about here.


All these issues are now gone. I know its a beta, but I never had THIS much trouble before. Luckily I still have some time before I need to actually do heavy work on this machine hence I was able to try all this out. everything is performing perfectly fine on Sierra right now. I was able to work on public betas before and while its risky it always worked for me.

Hope this helps you as I was also scared it could've been hardware related. Diagnostics on Sierra doesn't throw any errors either so high Sierra must've been the cause for me. Im just relieved the beta was the cause for all this
 
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DeltaMac

macrumors G5
Jul 30, 2003
13,456
4,406
Delaware
Your Mac performs a diagnostic test --- part of the power-on self test --- each time you boot.
That is what is recorded as a result in your System Information.

That is NOT the same as booting to your Diagnostics test.
Shut your Mac power off.
Start back up, while holding the D key (no other keys, D only)
It will boot to the Diagnostic test, and show you the results, with either no problems found, or it will show you one or more reference codes.
If it doesn't boot to the Diagnostics test, you're doing it wrong. :D

I like to do an NVRAM reset during the boot, then the Diagnostic test.
Your 2017 Mac doesn't have a boot chime, so I would do this:
Shut power off.
Press and release the power button, immediately holding Command-Option-P and R.
Hold for 30-40 seconds (don't release those 4 keys yet!)
Release all keys, and immediately hold the D key. That should do it. I'm pretty sure that you should see the spinning world, then a low-res window indicating that you are booting to the diagnostic test.
 

Shmanky

macrumors regular
Jul 26, 2005
245
7
Toronto
Yes! This is happening to me too on my Late 2013 15" Retina MacBook Pro with discrete graphics. The display flashes black for about a quarter of a second or less. I think it's the whole screen that goes black, not just the lower half. This happens every few hours.

I believe this started a few months ago on Sierra. I am now on High Sierra beta 3.
 

Clete2

macrumors 65816
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Sep 20, 2008
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From what I can tell it only happens on integrated GPU. I have been running for the past day with an external monitor plugged in and thus I am using the discrete GPU -- and I have not experienced glitches. I'm sure now that I just unplugged the monitor that the glitching will continue.
 

cudifying

macrumors member
Jul 5, 2016
63
38
From what I can tell it only happens on integrated GPU. I have been running for the past day with an external monitor plugged in and thus I am using the discrete GPU -- and I have not experienced glitches. I'm sure now that I just unplugged the monitor that the glitching will continue.

You could always check by turning automatic graphics switching off. That way you can 100% rule out other possibilities if it doesn't happen anymore :)
 

Clete2

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 20, 2008
1,080
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USA
I went back to Sierra and haven't experienced any issues. Must be a driver issue in High Sierra.
 

cudifying

macrumors member
Jul 5, 2016
63
38
Wondering if anyone that had the issue still does? Are there any reports of new betas fixing the problem? Would love to get back on high sierra as i wasnt really having other problems.
 

cw75

macrumors member
Sep 6, 2009
35
12
Texas
I'm on an early 2015 13" MBP and I get a full screen flash of a bright green screen at shutdown sometimes. It's not a problem, just a surprise as I've never seen that before. I just upgraded to High Sierra yesterday. I'm also using a Dell 27-inch P2715Q external display. No other glitches so far.
 

theLedger

macrumors member
Aug 12, 2008
78
90
Franklin, TN
I'm getting this too on a 2013 15" MacBook Pro on the high resolution setting. It never happened with Sierra but it's happening with High Sierra - this after a wipe and clean install.
 

Clete2

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 20, 2008
1,080
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USA
My experience is that it is no longer happening on High Sierra. Again -- 2017 model. Maybe there is a bug with the 2013 models.
 

ChrisGuy

macrumors newbie
Nov 7, 2010
7
0
I have also done a clean install and still getting the same thing...
is it similar for you guys?
 

thefriendshipmachine

macrumors 6502
Apr 14, 2017
300
210
I get random flickering. One place it always happens for me is the login window.

I got random flickering years ago when I updated another mac to el capitan too.

Next year I'm not updating to the new MacOS until 6 months into it.
 

Weiwen Ng

macrumors newbie
May 12, 2017
6
1
My 2010 Macbook Pro (6,2) had this problem since the High Sierra update was released to the public. It's a bit unpredictable as to when it occurs.
 

Jcque23

macrumors newbie
Dec 3, 2016
25
6
I have the same problem with Macbook Pro 15" 2010. I think it happens when the computer needs dedicated graphics (nvidia)

I don't expect any fix for an old model :(... only if we are all talking about the same problem

Is anyone trying the betas?
 
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ghostface147

macrumors 601
May 28, 2008
4,164
5,134
My early 2011 MacBook Pro 17” mode has recently started doing something similar. The screen flickers, but more like the brightness changes briefly. Gets dimmer and then goes back to normal. Very briefly and happens constantly. Then it stops. This is within the last week I’ve noticed it. Weird.
 
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ChrisGuy

macrumors newbie
Nov 7, 2010
7
0
For me it seems to be when I am running a few programs at once or another display(my external or apple tv< alothough it doesnt effect the image on th tv just my computer screen), could it be a graphics card issue perhaps, as stated above?
 

rcroveri

macrumors newbie
Nov 5, 2017
1
0
Anyone else get very brief screen flashes in High Sierra? It appears for a brief instant and about half of the screen goes black for a split second and then everything is restored.

Since the laptop is so new, I am really hoping this is a High Sierra bug and not an issue with my laptop.

Edit: I have the resolution set to "More space".
i have the same issue ... my model is:
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017)
2,8 GHz Intel Core i7
Intel HD Graphics 630 1536 MB
16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3

running the last System Version: macOS 10.13.1 (17B48)
 

georgetasioulis

macrumors newbie
Dec 1, 2017
3
0
i have the same issue ... my model is:
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017)
2,8 GHz Intel Core i7
Intel HD Graphics 630 1536 MB
16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3

running the last System Version: macOS 10.13.1 (17B48)

Same issue here too. Screen flickering for a blink of an eye (looks like it's happening only on part of the screen - it's in the middle for me) a couple of times per day. I only started noticing it a week ago or so.

MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017)
2,9 GHz Intel Core i7
16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3
Radeon Pro 560 4 GB
Intel HD Graphics 630 1536 MB
 

tfd1833

macrumors newbie
Dec 8, 2017
5
1
Same issue here too. Screen flickering for a blink of an eye (looks like it's happening only on part of the screen - it's in the middle for me) a couple of times per day. I only started noticing it a week ago or so.

MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017)
2,9 GHz Intel Core i7
16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3
Radeon Pro 560 4 GB
Intel HD Graphics 630 1536 MB

I'm having the same issue. Emerged sometime in the past couple of weeks, just happened a couple of minutes ago and has been happening a couple of times a day for a while. I have essentially the same machine as yours, and am running 10.13.2, which I installed today.

I have to say, High Sierra has been the worst macOS rollout I can remember. (I'm hoping this is a High Sierra problem and not a hardware problem.)
 
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