Why does my MacBook suddenly have an inverted/flickering vertical strip on the screen?

I’ve been facing a frustrating issue with my MacBook where, out of nowhere, it suddenly displays an inverted or flickering vertical strip on the screen. The strip appears randomly and disrupts my work, making it difficult to use my MacBook effectively. It doesn’t seem to be linked to any specific activity or application, as it can appear whether I’m browsing the internet, writing documents, or just idling on the desktop. The situation is incredibly perplexing and annoying, especially because it seems to come and go without any clear cause. Despite restarting the device and ensuring it hasn’t suffered any physical damage, the problem persists. I’m unsure if it’s a hardware malfunction, a software glitch, or something else entirely. This issue has become a significant hindrance, and I find myself constantly anxious about its sudden reappearance.
6 Answers

Here’s how I addressed the flickering vertical strip on my MacBook screen:
- Started in Safe Mode:
- Powered off the MacBook.
- Pressed the power button and immediately held Shift until the Apple logo appeared.
-
Released Shift and waited for Safe Mode to load.
-
Uninstalled recent apps:
- Checked which apps I installed around the time the issue began.
-
Removed these apps, especially those affecting graphics or performance.
-
Reset the SMC:
- Shut down the MacBook.
- Pressed Shift + Control + Option and the power button for 10 seconds.
- Released all keys and restarted.
These actions stopped the flickering strip for good.

I once had my MacBook display an inverted vertical strip. The culprit was the GPU. Overheating or a failing GPU can cause such issues. Here’s how to check it:
- Install a temperature-monitoring app.
- Check for overheating.
- Run Graphics Diagnostics to test GPU performance.
If it’s overheating or failing, contact Apple for support. They can repair or replace the GPU to fix the screen issue.