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Wide white lines showing up on display

We have a MacBook Pro A1226 that I had to replace the monitor on about a month ago. I followed the instructions provided on this site and everything went perfectly and the display has worked flawlessly until now.

Now, we have a puzzling problem. The screen now shows a wide white line (approx 2" wide) accross the top of the screen and another running down the middle. The computer displays fine on an external monitor. The puzzling part is you can take your index finger and thumb and "pinch" the middle of the right side of the clamshell top and the problem disapears. The aluminum case shows no warping or damage of any kind. We have fixed the problem temporarily by placing a large paper clamp on the side of the display which makes the display work perfectly.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what might be going on?

Thanks in advance for any help!

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Dear Bac,

Did you succeed in fixing the display? I have a similar problem and I am very interested in the solution.

Thanks in advance!

Kind regards,

Guido

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the fact that the problem goes away with physical pressure along an edge of the display housing tells me either

a) one or more of the LCD driver ICs mounted on the LCD display glass has somehow become partially unbonded from the display module or glass, or

b) one of the flex cables attached to the display drivers isn't making good contact

the driver ICs are mounted along the edges of the LCD display panel, sometimes on the glass itself - for a bit of background explanation see some earlier related answers I posted here and here. When you apply pressure it must be temporarily restoring contact

the driver ICs each drive many individual consecutive rows of pixels on the LCD - a problem with one entire driver IC would show up as a complete wide band of pixels either all on or off.

after replacing your LCD, did you MBP suffer some kind of physical shock or blow the edge of the display? or when you reassembled the computer were you careful not to inadvertently flex the panel or kink the ribbon cable? was the replacement LCD display new or used?

my recommendation would be to open up the machine, closely inspect the LCD and make sure when reinstalled, nothing is unduly applying pressure to the edges of the display. I've not taken apart the display of this machine and I can't tell from the repair guide if there's a ribbon cable under the edge you say you need to pinch to make the screen work - check that area for any cable that might be pinched or damaged, as well.

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3 Comments:

bac,

Thanks so much for your input. The computer acutally belongs to a pastor at my church where I am kind of the lay "geek squad".

The lcd panel was purchased new from iFixit.com and I followed the instructions to the "t". As I stated, everything went perfectly and the new lcd displayed correctly until just a few days ago. I would have expected to see some warping or a bump or something in the aluminum, but it is flawless showing no sign of physical damage at all. Upon installing the new panel, there was no flexing of the panel at all, there is no reason to. Getting the old one out was another story as you have to peel the panel away from the bezel with quite a bit of pressure. However, putting the new one in went as smooth as silk and laid flat going in with no flexing what so ever.

Your information on the ICs is interesting. I will get the computer from my pastor and take it back apart to see what I can find and try some of your suggestions. Do you think it is possible that the lcd is defective if it is a problem with the ICs as you suggest?

Thanks again for your input!

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hmmm... since the replacement panel was new, I wouldn't expect it to suddenly go bad without some sort of physical trauma. I guess step one is take it apart and report anything unusual...

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Sorry for the delay. I am in the process of trying to get the computer to take it apart to see what I find.

Thanks again for your help. I will report back here what I find.

Blessings!

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