My old 2012's screen is glitching...help!

[CowBayMacUser]

Appreciate anyone's thoughts on this. Started acting up a bit a year ago but I ignored. The only thing I've changed out is the battery so I replaced that about 5 months ago and has worked like a charm. Now this glitching is happening every 30 min or so. I'm running Catalina 10.15.6 and my MacBook Air is circa 2012 when i bought it new. I'm not close to an Apple Store. Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

 

[ouimetnick]

Hate to be Debbie Downer, but those screen artifacts usually indicate a hardware issue. Usually a failing graphics chip. The MacBook Air uses an integrated GPU (iGPU) so it's likely that the graphics portion of the CPU is failing or the chip's solder joints are failing.

Long story short it would need a logic board replacement, something that's not economical on a 9 year old Mac. It could also be the display cable but that's unlikely. Best bet is to either sell it for parts or find another 2012 MBA with other damage like a cracked display and pull the logic board out of it.

 

[Audit13]

Was the unit ever dropped or exposed to liquids?

It could be a loose connection as well. Try disconnecting and reconnecting the video cable from the logic board.

 

[Mrbobb]

I doubt the battery had anything to do with it, more like as you opened it, something moved. I suggest opening it up again, remove video cable, clean it with some compressed air, re-plug cable. Doesn't cost anything. No guarantee of course.

Oh I forgot, if same prob with ex monitor, yer done for.