Screen starts flickering on new Macbook Pro 13 (with touch bar)

HI,

As of yesterday, I'm running parallels 12 (latest version) on a new MacBook pro 13 with touch bar. I have a Win 10 VM and use it to run Enterprise Architect 13. This morning suddenly the screen started flickering when i switched to full screen mode. It continued until i restarted the mac. I'm not sure if it was caused by parallels but that was the program running. After restart it seems to work fine but i wonder if anyone else has experienced this. In the mac log file i found an entry that states that the GPU had crashed. Again, not sure if it was related. Anyone experienced this before?


Regards,


Kenneth

 

+1
Screen flickers for me as well. Same setup as K.

 

Same here. I am looking for an answer. I just got this Macbook pro 2016 with touchbar (4 days ago) and while running windows 10 the screen was flickering for more than 40 seconds (I was able to film it on my phone)... i am not sure if the laptop or its the parallels that causing the problem. Can some one please help us?

Parallels version 12 for Mac
Windows 10
MacPro 13" 2016 w/ Touchbar
3.3Ghz i7 | 16GB | 1 TB SDD

Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3k3snd6upms0foe/MacBook Pro 13" 2016.MOV?dl=0
Correction: The laptop was on battery. 82%.

 

For me it turns out that Office Powerpoint is the problem. At the time when I experienced the flickering in parallels I was running PP in the background in presentation mode. I can also simulate it. I noticed that when running a presentation in full screen mode, the graphics start to flicker. For presentations I now set the option (presentation options) to 'seen by one person (screen mode)' as opposed to full screen mode. Its only a small difference with full-screen mode but the problem then does not appear. Im running the dutch office version so I don't know exactly what the name of the settings are in the us version. Anyways, I've never experienced flickering anymore since then on the Mac. And im using it and parallels daily. The other day, as a test, I tried running a presentation in full screen mode and the flickering returned. So its an MS Office issue (it seems). I contacted them...but hey...no one home. I do know that a major upgrade for the office suite for Mac is on the way (with Tab and Touch Bar support), so im waiting on that first to see the result. I hope its permanently gone then. Hope this information can help you out.

 

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my question. I really appreciate it.

"For presentations I now set the option (presentation options) to 'seen by one person (screen mode)' as opposed to full screen mode. " When you say this what do you mean? How do you do it? I can't find that options on my end.

I am experiencing it in Microsoft Excel I think ...because that is the only thing in MS that is open when it flickers. I tried to change the graphic memory to 756mb per some of the forum advise but its still flickering every now and then. Today it lasted for 2 minutes and I just waited for it to stop. Its a good thing to know that its not the laptop that causing the problem because I don't want to return this hahaha. Thank you again for your time.

 

I have the same problem running OS X on a new Macbook Pro 2016 with touchbar. It only happens when I put powerpoint in full screen - presenter mode works fine. To answer your question BlessB - I found the option Kennthd2 was mentioning at SlideShow -> Set Up Slide Show -> "browsed by individual". Hope that's helpful - also waiting for an update to solve the flickering screen issue.

 

Any further news on this? I have a machine that is also exhibiting the screen flickering. PowerPoint does cause the issue, but not always. Parallels is running in every case though. Are you running PowerPoint on the Windows or Mac side when it starts flickering?

 

Please try reinstalling Parallels Tools http://bit.ly/1cZWAa3
If the issue still persists, please follow the steps below:
- Shut down the virtual machine.
- Open the virtual machine configuration -> switch to the Hardware tab -> select the Video (Graphics) option in the left pane-> Advance Settings -> switch 3D acceleration between Direct10, DirectX9 or disabled.
Keep us posted the result whether it resolves the issue.

 

I've tried reinstalling Parallels Tools. Still have flickering. Disabling DirectX makes Windows almost completely unusable. Not something I think should even be recommended.

 

I have the same problem 13" MBP Touchbar fully loaded. Parallels 12 and Windows 10. Random flickering of the screen. If I catch it right away and switch over to OSX side it goes away for a file. If it starts flickering for a while then I have to close screen lid for a few secs and reopen and it will go away for a while as well. Doesn't happen when running OSX only without Parallels. I have a 15" MBP Touch as well, full loaded and same config and no problems so seems isolated with 13" model. I have dedicated graphics on 15" so not sure if that makes a difference. Reinstalled parallels tools, disabled graphics accel, directx9 and directx 10 but the issue applies across all settings even played with vertical sync as well. Please advise.

 

I have the exact same problem. MacBook Pro 13' with Touchbar (i7, 16G, 1T), running Parallels 12 and windows 10.
The flickering starts randomly and only when Parallels is on. The virtual machine is always running in Full Screen mode.
I have increased the video memory to 768 but it didn't help. The flickering stops when I go back to Windows side and interact with the open applications for a minute.
The open applications on Windows side are always the same (Office 2010 32 Bit - Mainly Outlook and Excel), Windows 10 is Home edition 64 Bit.

I have many videos of it happening but it's basically the same as the one that is posted earlier in this thread.

 

Same exact config on my end MacBook Pro 13' with Touchbar (i7, 16G, 1T), running Parallels 12 and windows 10. When the flickering starts up, I've been sending technical data under Parallels Desktop - Help - Send Technical Data to tech support who is passing it onto the development team to see if they can track down. When it happens, please send the technical data in, copy the report id number and email tech support to pass onto development team. support@support.parallels.com Reference the flickering display issue

 

No external monitor and I have 1GB allocated for video memory and 4 cores of the processor and 8gb memory allocated for the Windows 10 VM

 

Guys,

This situation is probably hardware-related, caused by the host operating system, but our Engineering Team does investigate this issue. There are a lot of articles in the web with similar behaviors of a new MBP, here are some examples:

http://www.techradar.com/news/some-...r-from-screen-flicker-and-other-video-nasties
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/12/02/new-macbook-pro-graphics-issues/

Parallels Desktop may trigger this behavior during an extensive OpenGL usage (which is constantly used to draw guest OS image).

To check if this issue is indeed caused by OpenGL, please disable 3D acceleration in the virtual machine configuration (Hardware > Graphics > Advanced Settings) and let me know if that helps.

Alternatively, you can set the following boot flag (VM config > Hardware > Boot Order > Advanced Settings) with enabled 3D acceleration to disable acceleration but keep working with OpenGL:

video.dx_profile=0

I will appreciate any feedback about the results of the above troubleshooting.

 

I've tried the disabling of hardware acceleration already but it makes windows unusable because it's so slow. I'm on my second MBP same config. The issue doesn't come up when I use OSX only so I think it may be related to some "aggressive" graphics calls on the software side as posted in some of the macrumors articles. I'm also not seeing any distortions or artifacts referenced in the other graphics issues. The screen is intact, it just flickers.

 

Thank you for the feedback, Derek. Your second MBP is also Late 2016 one? Does the same flickering happen on both Macs?

 

All MBPs are late 2016 with touch

MBP 13 1TB/16GB/i7 - first one with flickering issue - replaced with second unit but still having the same flickering issue
MBP 15 2TB/16gb/i7/Radeon 460 - no flickering issues despite same Parallels 12 / Windows 10 config. I'm not sure if the dedicated graphics makes a difference or if the flickering issues are related to software calls on the integrated graphics.

 

Is there any solution on the above flikr. on MBP7-2016-13-touchbar issue. I have tried everything, otherwise I see no other solution than skipping Parallels.