Monitor image splits

7 new OS X 10.7.3 in my building. 5 of 7 desktops (so far) have experienced a split screen phenom. Primary browser, FF. Has also occurred with FF off and only in Word.

Left side of image suddenly snaps to the right, right to the left. Desk top shows down the middle. Mouse pointer shows on screen, is active but is ineffective. To move pointer from right side of monitor image to left side, must move pointer off screen on the right, then it appears on the left. Center desktop image in between the 2 split screen images is a dead zone, can't cross over with mouse.

All updates current. Any suggestions?

I did a search on the forum but this appears to be a unique issue. Some more information about the models of Mac involved, how often the other users experience this and any recurring unusual circumstances would be helpful.

It's the newest model iMac with the 27 inch screen. One computer has this happen 3-4 times a day in an eight hour shift. Does not occur in Safari, but Safari not totally compatible with some in house programs. The other 4 this happened to are from the same shipment but only had the occasional split image..maybe once every week. It's tiresome and inconvenient as they all are in the same wing of the building, administration/secretarial. Need I say more?

I have this problem on a 21.5" late 2011 imac

I hate to post a "me too" message right after joining this forum, but I started seeing this exact same problem two days ago on a brand-new 21.5" Late 2011 iMac that I set up for one of the art teachers here at Berkeley High School. I have a snapshot of the split screen effect here:

http://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7TiKfSf2dBWVlc4b1ZRRElSNE9qa2VUUHZqRVRWUQ

He reports that this comes up 3-5 times a day in Firefox. He doesn't use Safari.

This iMac shipped with 10.7, but I downgraded it to 10.6.8 (using the 10.6.7 imac install disk that came with the previous batch of mid-2011 iMacs that I set up in the summer), and everything seemed to be fine.

When the problem came up, I thought that it might be a driver issue due to the downgrade, because of the slight difference in graphics and processor between the two models:
iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011) -> 2.5 GHz i5; AMD Radeon HD 6750M (512mb GDDR5)
iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2011) -> 3.1 GHz i3; AMD Radeon HD 6750M (256mb GDDR5)

But if you're seeing the problem in 10.7.3, which should have the latest drivers for all iMacs, then a driver issue seems unlikely (especially for the 27" which did NOT have an August 2011 update, like the 21.5" did).

I'm still researching this problem, so if I learn anything useful. I will post it here.

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2011) -> 3.1 GHz i3; AMD Radeon HD 6750M (256mb GDDR5)

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For information purposes, this is the educational model of the 21.5" iMac which was released later in 2011.

Mac 10.7 Lion Monitor Image split screen

I work in the technology department for a school system in Tennessee. One of my schools has nine iMacs of the same model mentioned in this thread.

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2011) -> 3.1 GHz i3 processor; AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics card (256mb GDDR5)

Initially, we thought the split screen issue was an Adobe Flash issue. If you go to a web site with Flash, and right click (control + click), you can uncheck Enable Hardware Acceleration for each user of the computer. Starfall is a good, free kids' site to use for this because it has a lot of Flash. However, after unchecking this setting, the computers still had the same split screen problem. They even had problems within Mac Office 2011 Word and Powerpoint sometimes; the screen split, and the computer had to be turned off by holding the power button.

We have two Apple-certified hardware technicians within our school system. They said the needed fix is the "iMac Graphics Firmware Update 3.0." The problem is that sometimes this graphics firmware update won't install if you have done some updates between 10.7.0 and 10.7.3. The Apple technicians' solution that works is to reinstall the 10.7 operating system from the Lion recovery partition. Be sure and back up the user's data to an external hard drive first! After reinstalling from the recovery partition, run ALL of the Apple software updates before installing any other software. This way the firmware update runs with several other updates, and the iMac will actually take the update. I ran this firmware update March 15, 2012, and we haven't seen any more split screen issues to date.

Becky G

Screen splits on my 2011 15 in macbook pro

I just began having this issue today. I would be in the middle of a paper and all of the sudden my browsers split in half and freezes. Then on occasion I have these horizontal and vertical lines all of the page and you can't even few the content. I take good care of my MacBook and don't recall doing anything harmful in order for this to happen. I try rebooting the computer by holding the power button and restarting it. Then it comes to the same screens and is frozen. Due to this inconvenience, I was unable to turn a 100 point paper in on time. It was stored on this computer and I'm unable to access anything. I'm beyond frustrated and need help!!!

Mankato State S said:

Due to this inconvenience, I was unable to turn a 100 point paper in on time. It was stored on this computer and I'm unable to access anything. I'm beyond frustrated and need help!!!

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I'm going to assume you're a student. Can you get access to a 2nd computer to finish this "100 point paper"? I would think your school has a computer lab.

Also...Apple has a special repair program for 2011 MacBook Pro's with video issues (which includes the 15" model). Check the link to see if your 2011 15" MBP qualifies:

https://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro-videoissues/

- Nick

Mankato State S said:

I just began having this issue today. I would be in the middle of a paper and all of the sudden my browsers split in half and freezes. Then on occasion I have these horizontal and vertical lines all of the page and you can't even few the content. I take good care of my MacBook and don't recall doing anything harmful in order for this to happen. I try rebooting the computer by holding the power button and restarting it. Then it comes to the same screens and is frozen. Due to this inconvenience, I was unable to turn a 100 point paper in on time. It was stored on this computer and I'm unable to access anything. I'm beyond frustrated and need help!!!

Click to expand...

I agree with pigoo3. This sounds like a hardware problem that can be resolved by taking advantage of the "MacBook Pro Repair Extension Program for Video Issues" that he thoughtfully provided the link for. It seems to be a known problem for that model year (Google "macbook pro horizontal and vertical lines on screen" and you'll find lots of people in the same boat).

However, this doesn't solve your immediate problem of getting your paper off of your current macbook pro. There are a few ways to go about rescuing your paper, depending upon how familiar you are with Mac features, what resources you have access to, and/or how handy you are with hardware.

I. Use an external monitor
If you have a MiniDisplayPort to VGA (or DVI) adapter, plus a spare USB keyboard and mouse, then you can try booting your computer in clamshell mode:
1) Start with laptop turned off
2) Connect keyboard, mouse, and video adapter; connect adapter to monitor with appropriate cable.
3) IMPORTANT: Connect laptop to power adapter
4) Boot laptop (wait until you get the chime)
5) Close the laptop lid
It should continue booting, but everything will be displayed on the external monitor. Your laptop is now effectively a desktop, and you can copy your paper to a flashdrive, google drive, dropbox, etc as needed.

II. Use target disk mode (TDM)
If you have access to another mac, you can try booting the laptop into Target Disk Mode, and then use it as an external hard drive
needed: another mac with either FireWire or Thunderbolt
a Firewire 800 cable
a Thunderbolt to FW800 adapter (if destination mac has thunderbolt and no FW800)

1) Make sure laptop is off
2) IMPORTANT: Connect laptop to power adapter
3) Connect the two macs with the appropriate combination of cables/adapters
4) Boot the laptop while holding down the T key
You should now see a TDM icon on a black screen on your laptop. On the other mac, you will see an external disk icon. This is your laptop's hard drive. Copy your paper to a flashdrive, google drive, dropbox, etc as needed.

III. Pull the hard drive and connect it to another mac
needed: SATA to USB adapter, such as this: <https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-SATA-Drive-Adapter-Cable/dp/B00HJZJI84>
a second Mac with USB ports

WARNING: ONLY TRY THIS IF I and II FAIL, AND IF YOU ARE COMFORTABLE TAKING YOUR MACBOOK APART AND PUTTING IT BACK TOGETHER. If you are in doubt, stop reading right now and take it to the Apple store instead.

If you are still here, then I have one more caveat. This assumes that your hard drive is fully functional and isn't part of the problem. If your hard drive is failing, this may not work. If you are now in doubt, stop reading right now and take it to the Apple store instead.

If you are still here, then here are the steps and tools needed to remove your laptop's hard drive <https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Unibody+Early+2011+Hard+Drive+Replacement/5895>

Once you have the hard drive out, connect the SATA to USB adapter to the hard drive's SATA connector, and then plug the USB end into the second mac. The hard drive will appear on the second mac's desktop as an external drive. Copy your paper to a flashdrive, google drive, dropbox, etc as needed.

gmg