Hi All,
Thanks for the great contributions. I have the same issue on my '15 640i.
When the problem first began, the screen was completely blank, but the backlight was on. Intermittently the display will cycle through various states of "working" but always displays the vertical lines and always returns to a blank display within a few minutes. I've also tried the fuses and disconnecting the battery.
I think this supports the hardware failure theory. Unfortunately, I don't have warranty coverage
There are a few sites around that advocate cleaning the connectors between the display driver and the panel to solve similar issues in TV's. I can't say that I'm excited about trying this, but I will start researching how I might go about it.
I don't know if it is related, but the "steering shaker" on the lane change warning system has also lost all power. It still makes a noise, but the wheel is not shaking. This stopped working at the same time as the instrument cluster.
It would be great to know what the problem was! I hope that your warranty covers you!