Fix It Jerry — Kuala Lumpur

Phone Screen Flickering or Showing Lines? Here's the Cause

Symptom Diagnosis

Last updated: 5 July 2026

Flickering, coloured lines, dark patches, or a screen that taps by itself usually points to the display or the chips that drive it. Here's how to tell what's wrong and what the repair involves.

Step 1 — Is It Software or Hardware?

Restart the phone — a one-off glitch often clears with a reboot.
Reduce brightness and turn off auto-brightness to test for backlight flicker.
Boot into safe mode (Android) or check if flickering happens on the lock screen too.
If it flickers even in the settings menu or on boot, it's almost certainly hardware.

Common Display Fault Types

Flickering / colour distortion → the LCD/OLED panel or its connector is failing.
Coloured vertical or horizontal lines → damaged display or display cable, often after a drop.
Screen dark but backlight on (faint image) → backlight or panel fault.
Ghost touches / unresponsive areas → Touch IC or digitiser fault.
Black screen but phone rings/vibrates → backlight IC or display failure.

Possible Causes & Repairs

Cracked or failing display → LCD/touchscreen replacement (RM 300–1,200, 1–2 hrs)
Ghost touch / unresponsive touch → Touch IC repair (RM 200–700, 1–2 days)
Dark screen with faint image → Backlight IC repair (RM 200–600, 1–2 days)
Loose display connector after a drop → reseat & test (from RM 100, same day)