MacBook 12" 2017 LCD screen/display issue

[searchingforananswer]

Hi,

My daughter is working on a MacBook 12" 2017 and when she closes the windows of an app or software (such as Google Classroom or Firefox), the impressions from previous windows still show on her current window, a bit like a watermark or photo negative.

Also, the grey shading that usually surrounds icons (to make them look like they have a shadow or stand out from the background) has turned to bright white - see first picture.

She did have an add-on theme on Firefox which still showed after she removed it.

The longer she has something on her screen (text, pictures...), the more of a lasting impression it seems to make and the longer it takes to fade once the window has been closed. This is making it hard for her to do her work, read text and see her work properly (apparently the text sometimes appears white).

I've being using macbooks for over 10 years and never come across this issue before.

Have attached a couple of photos (taken on a phone) - not the best examples as her MacBook had been switched off for a while when I took them, but hopefully you will be able to see what I mean. The first picture shows the white 'shadows' around the icons. The second picture shows a mild 'watermark' effect.

We have tried recalibrating the display - has made no difference. Can't find any other settings to restore the visuals back to normal.

Have tried searching for answers as to what could be happening and not found any information relating to this.

Any advice or feedback much appreciated thank you.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

This is known as burn-in on the LCD and I would recommend doing the following to see if it's just the LCD or something else.

Connect this Macbook to an external monitor and see how that behaves. If things are perfectly fine on the external monitor then the issue is the built-in LCD failing. If the issue persists on the external monitor as well then you have a failing GPU and would require a logicboard replacement to likely fix.

 

[searchingforananswer]

Thank you Ashwin for your advice.

I will check that out on an external monitor and see how it goes.

Much appreciated!

Best regards

 

[searchingforananswer]

I've checked on an external monitor and it the picture looks normal - no ghosting, and the shading around the icons is how it should be.

Now that the macbook screen has been switched off for a few hours, the negative shadows have gone but the shadowing around the icons is still white on the macbook screen compared to the external screen where they are the usual grey.

Will try one of the youtube burn-in videos (flashing RGB colours and patterns) to see if that helps reset the white shadows - hope it doesn't cause any other problems!

Happy to receive any advice re alternative ways to resolve this - really hoping we can avoid having to change the screen.

Thanks again.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

It's good that the external monitor test proves out the Mac mostly. If the burn-in video doesn't clear up the LCD issues, then you can use the Macbook in clamshell mode with an external monitor at all times.

If you did want to replace the LCD, you'd have to replace the entire top assembly and that'd run you around $550 or so.

 

[searchingforananswer]

Good to know there are options. Fingers crossed the burn-in video will do the trick.

Many thanks!

 

[Allentalini]

Did this ever get solved? Did you find an alternative display?