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MacBook Air 2018 13-inch - pink screen of death fix? (alien.top)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hi!

So, my MacBook Air 2018 13 inch displays this pink glitch screen each time it turns on (please see photo).

A 2 days ago, it only showed this when I moved my screen a certain way but if I moved it forward a bit, it displayed normally & also connected to my external monitor.

Today, I made the mistake of bringing my laptop to work with me and now it’s stuck on the pink glitch screen no matter what I do. It won’t display anything on my external monitor either. I’m not sure if it got worse because I moved it around today but either way, I’m sad lol

I’m going to bring it into Genius Bar for a look, but I also want to avoid an expensive fix or getting a whole new laptop if possible because money is a little tight right now…but I would prefer getting it fixed rather than buying a new once if this can be fixed even!

I just wanted to see if anyone else had any experience with this or if there is anything else I should know? Thank you!

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Apple quoted me $600 to fix mine last week. Bought a new MBA M2 for $950 instead.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

We call this the hello kitty screen and it sells for big bucks in Japan!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It’s fabulous now at least

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

True! Pink is my favourite colour 😅

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This might be hard, but i believe its a logic board issue, again i could be wrong i am no expert, but at first i thought it could be the screen cable not being seated probably but, if it shows purple screen it could be anything from ram malfunctioning to an issue in the logic board, now it depends on luck if you have apple care good for you, but if you dont you can cross your fingers to to a repair shop and hope for the best. Also in case its a logic board or any internal issue it would cost a lot to fix. Hope this could help in some way :)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Thank you so much, this was very helpful and I appreciate it a lot!!

I don’t have AppleCare+ lol 😭 so I will bring it to a repair shop and try my luck there, but am looking at options for get a refurbished one as well (whichever is cheapest 🥲).

Thank you again!!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I've the same problem with my 15 inch 2018. It started the other day. I pulled of the base plate to check whether the flex cable was damaged, but couldn't see anything wrong with it. Upon booting up again, it was all good.

It happened again, and I found that doing the old school "hit it until it works" solved the issue. So it is likely the flex cable isn't seated correctly - or is broken.

Some third party repairers will "fix" the cable for much less $$$ than Apple will charge for their bad design.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I just learned about Flexgate today and I’m guessing it’s the reason for both of our laptops acting this way! This is what another comment told me:

“Flexgate is a manufacturing fault that affects all MacBook Air's made primarily from 2018-2019 and all MacBook Pro's from 2016 to 2019. Flexgate is where the main display cable ribbon cable tears under normal use, such as casually opening and closing the display.”

And from other comments I’ve received, the answer is either completely swapping the display or getting a new laptop.

But we’re in this together so I hope your laptop is still okay and can be used 🥲🥲🥲

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

yep, though I believe this issue is different to the flexgate issue that happened for 2016 and 17 laptops (apparently it is called "dustgate"). for flexgate was the backlight cable breaking due to it not being long enough. Flexgate, on the other hand, is due to bits of dirt or other debris can enter into the screen while cleaning the hinge mechanism (where all the crap likes to gather). One in there, it can settle on the flex cables. When the screen is closed, the crap gets stuck between the cable and a piece of the laptop. The result is that the copper "wires" can break - resulting in the pink screen.

Here's a video that shows how it can be fixed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQPRNRxcOWA

I've already purchased my replacement. A 2015 15 inch macbook pro i7 with 16GB memory for around $250 USD.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

To fix it, just buy an M* series.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

what does M* series mean? 🥲 please be patient with my non-techy self lol

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Arm macbook with M series chips (not intel).