MacBook (Aluminum Unibody, 13 inch) Horizontal Lines

[MikeC96]

I have a late-2008 13 inch aluminum MacBook running Yosemite, and this weird problem came up the other day.

My hard drive is slowly beginning to fail (bad sectors, unrepairable by Disk Utility, don't worry I'm going to replace my drive very soon), and one morning when booting up, large white horizontal bars started appearing on my screen, moving from the bottom upwards. To better clarify, attached are screenshots of a video I took of the problem after opening Google Chrome (though it happened everywhere). If anyone wants to see the video, I'll be happy to upload it and post a link.

Restarting my MacBook fixed the issue, and it hasn't occurred since.

My question is, could this problem be related to hard drive failure, or is there another component that could be failing as well?

My laptop has gotten stuck at the loading bar that pops up underneath the Apple logo, and I have been able to fix that with restarting the computer. I figured I would mention this, maybe the two issues are related, though some short research led me to believe the loading bar issue was the computer performing a hard drive test - and having it fail to repair the damage.

Thanks guys

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Well it's pushing 7 years old.

I have a late-2008 13 inch aluminum MacBook running Yosemite, and this weird problem came up the other day.

My hard drive is slowly beginning to fail (bad sectors, unrepairable by Disk Utility, don't worry I'm going to replace my drive very soon), and one morning when booting up, large white horizontal bars started appearing on my screen, moving from the bottom upwards. To better clarify, attached are screenshots of a video I took of the problem after opening Google Chrome (though it happened everywhere). If anyone wants to see the video, I'll be happy to upload it and post a link.

Restarting my MacBook fixed the issue, and it hasn't occurred since.

My question is, could this problem be related to hard drive failure, or is there another component that could be failing as well?

My laptop has gotten stuck at the loading bar that pops up underneath the Apple logo, and I have been able to fix that with restarting the computer. I figured I would mention this, maybe the two issues are related, though some short research led me to believe the loading bar issue was the computer performing a hard drive test - and having it fail to repair the damage.

Thanks guys

It could be the hard drive, thats most likely, it could just be failing all round at 7 years old you have pretty much reached the end of its life I'm afraid. Computers don't last forever and will always need replacing eventually the compromises in making a laptop mean that these fail sooner than their desktop cousins.

 

[MikeC96]

Thanks for your help. What you said is very true, I am planning on replacing it in about a year, I'm just trying to keep it going for as long as possible until then. It has served me well.

 

[DaKKs]

The bottom right appears to have symbols, so the "glitch" isn't a completely dead area. Replace the HDD and reinstall.

To me that feels more like a software issue than a hardware issue tbh.

 

[MikeC96]

Sorry, I didn't provide a screenshot that showed the bars covering the bottom part. Here's another photo.

This was happening before login as well, the moving bars finally disappeared after 25 seconds or so and I could log into my account. Consequently, I don't believe this is an issue with a specific software package.

I appreciate the input though!!

 

[DaKKs]

If you do an actual screenshot. On the macbook, move the picture to another computer, does the glitch appear on the screenshot?

Also, put the machine in open firmware or boot from an install (osx) disc and let it sit. Does the glitch return?

 

[MikeC96]

The problem occurred days ago, and it hasn't repeated itself since. I'm using the same browser to post to this forum too, haha!

 

[charles6980]

IMHO, this issue is most likely due to mechanical shear of the LCD panel. If it comes back, you should consider replacing it. Try bending the display with both hands to see if the lines disappear.
New LCD panels go for about 100 US$, plus the 3 to 5 hours you'll need for the repair. ifixit rates this repair as "very difficult"; I replaced my white MacBook's LCD panel, I agree with their rating.