Macbook 13" mid 2012 flickering screen and image distortion

[smarschany]

Woke up one morning and a message popped up on my screen saying that a problem occurred and the laptop needed to be rebooted. Since then I see dots and lines on the the screen and image distortion.
Has anyone experienced this kind of problem, and is there a fix? I have tried many solutions from youtube and none have helped.
Thank you.

 

[Fishrrman]

Something inside is sending you a message:
"This is the end, mate..."

 

[MBAir2010]

Woke up one morning and a message popped up on my screen saying that a problem occurred and the laptop needed to be rebooted. Since then I see dots and lines on the the screen and image distortion.
Has anyone experienced this kind of problem, and is there a fix? I have tried many solutions from youtube and none have helped.
Thank you.

I have the same 2012 MBP model and replaced the ssd drive cable when the screen went haywire in 2022. They sell these for under $10 besides ifixit which wants more.
what bothers me is the message error. so that could be a hard drive issue as well, what drive do we use in the MBP?

 

[MBAir2010]

Something inside is sending you a message:
"This is the end, mate..."

signed Tim Crook!

 

[avz]

Something inside is sending you a message:
"This is the end, mate..."

"Come on mate..."

The first thing would be to connect an external monitor to make sure that the graphic card is OK(integrated graphic card does not usually cause issues). If the image on the external monitor is without distortions than it is the ribbon cable that connects built-in monitor to the motherboard.

 

[Fishrrman]

Hmmmm...
I didn't think of the hard drive ribbon cable, a common point of failure in 2012 Unibody MBP's.

The OP didn't tell us what size the display is (13 or 15).
If it's a 15", it could be something with the discrete GPU.

 

[MBAir2010]

Hmmmm...
I didn't think of the hard drive ribbon cable, a common point of failure in 2012 Unibody MBP's.

The OP didn't tell us what size the display is (13 or 15).
If it's a 15", it could be something with the discrete GPU.

you had one of these, correct?
i know these cables go by experience in late 2022, and might get a spare one in case!

 

[meson]

The SSD ribbon in those things breaks constantly. I replaced mine at least twice between 2013 and 2017. That said, I wouldn’t expect that to be the source of problems with graphics glitches. I would typically start the machine and get a slashed circle symbol letting me know it couldn’t find the drive. I kept a bootable clone on an hdd in the optical bay to keep going until I could replace the cable.

I would suspect that it’s the ribbon running to the lcd. If I remember correctly that one passes through the hinge assembly. With what those machines were selling for the last I looked, it would probably be more cost effective to buy a replacement than try to make that repair on your own unless you are really comfortable tearing those machines down.

As mentioned test on an extetnal drive to be sure it’s not the graphics. If it is, the graphics are integrated on the 13” and would mean replacing the whole logic board.