It's not just Apple's logo that used to be in color
March 31, 2009 3:07 PM Subscribe
My wife has a shiny new unibody Macbook. We have observed a bizarre display bug. The bug is intermittent and temporary. What happens is that the contents (or some of the contents) of the front window will appear in grayscale. Resizing or scrolling the window, or clicking on an element in the window, will usually make it go away. This happens in all kinds of apps: the Finder, Safari, InDesign, etc. It happens on an external screen and the laptop's own screen (with or without the external hooked up).
Here's a picture of the bug affecting the Finder.
She does have an appointment at the Genius Bar, but sometimes those Geniuses aren't so smart. She has tried zapping the PRAM, to no avail.
Here's a picture of the bug affecting the Finder.
She does have an appointment at the Genius Bar, but sometimes those Geniuses aren't so smart. She has tried zapping the PRAM, to no avail.
Sounds like you're triggering the Expose "show all open windows" function when you have only one window open.
posted by sourwookie at 3:36 PM on March 31, 2009
posted by sourwookie at 3:36 PM on March 31, 2009
well, I'd reinstall the OS first.
sourwookie apparently didn't see the screenshot.
posted by mrt at 3:40 PM on March 31, 2009
sourwookie apparently didn't see the screenshot.
posted by mrt at 3:40 PM on March 31, 2009
That's a screen shot? It's almost certainly software, then, not hardware.
posted by niles at 3:40 PM on March 31, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by niles at 3:40 PM on March 31, 2009 [1 favorite]
If you create a new user account, does the issue still occur when you're logged into that new account?
posted by chrismear at 3:50 PM on March 31, 2009
posted by chrismear at 3:50 PM on March 31, 2009
You don't have any weird "haxies" installed that would mess with the interface, do you? (ie. unsanity.com stuff)
posted by bengarland at 4:31 PM on March 31, 2009
posted by bengarland at 4:31 PM on March 31, 2009
Sounds like you're triggering the Expose "show all open windows" function when you have only one window open.
This one, or one like it.
In other words, it's not a bug. Don't reinstall the OS until you've ruled out that it's normal behavior, even if unexpected on your part. I think you're just doing something without realizing it... like, maybe putting the mouse in the corner of the screen or hitting a function key?
You're almost certainly triggering some feature. OSX uses greyscale windows to indicate conditions and direct focus. Either the program is hanging up (indicated by the program window(s) fading to greyscale) and returning to life shortly thereafter; or, you're triggering one of Expose's various functions--go look at the settings in the control panel, and see if one of Expose's functions corresponds to what you're seeing.
posted by Netzapper at 5:12 PM on March 31, 2009
This one, or one like it.
In other words, it's not a bug. Don't reinstall the OS until you've ruled out that it's normal behavior, even if unexpected on your part. I think you're just doing something without realizing it... like, maybe putting the mouse in the corner of the screen or hitting a function key?
You're almost certainly triggering some feature. OSX uses greyscale windows to indicate conditions and direct focus. Either the program is hanging up (indicated by the program window(s) fading to greyscale) and returning to life shortly thereafter; or, you're triggering one of Expose's various functions--go look at the settings in the control panel, and see if one of Expose's functions corresponds to what you're seeing.
posted by Netzapper at 5:12 PM on March 31, 2009
Expose doesn't turn the folder icons gray, though. It grays out the background, not the contents of the window.
posted by MadamM at 5:22 PM on March 31, 2009
posted by MadamM at 5:22 PM on March 31, 2009
Response by poster: I am confident this has nothing to do with Exposé. If someone can show me a screenshot in which they trigger this effect on purpose (through expose or otherwise), I will be fascinated, and grateful to know how they did it.
The fact that I can take a screenshot of it suggests that it's not a hardware issue. The closest we get to haxies on this machine are a few Quicklook plugins and a trackball driver, which should be kosher.
We have not tried to reproduce this in a virgin account yet, and the fact that it is as intermittent as it is means that would take a lot of time to be reasonably confident that it wasn't happening, if it didn't manifest quickly.
posted by adamrice at 5:45 PM on March 31, 2009
The fact that I can take a screenshot of it suggests that it's not a hardware issue. The closest we get to haxies on this machine are a few Quicklook plugins and a trackball driver, which should be kosher.
We have not tried to reproduce this in a virgin account yet, and the fact that it is as intermittent as it is means that would take a lot of time to be reasonably confident that it wasn't happening, if it didn't manifest quickly.
posted by adamrice at 5:45 PM on March 31, 2009
Is the trackball a Logitech? Believe it or not, Logitech was using Unsanity's "Application Enhancer" haxie as part of its driver bundle, and was causing all sorts of problems with Leopard. It may have been all worked out yet, but you may need to download a newer driver for it?
posted by misterbrandt at 6:08 PM on March 31, 2009
posted by misterbrandt at 6:08 PM on March 31, 2009
and just to clarify: In your screen shot, you blurred out the file/folder names, right?
posted by niles at 6:10 PM on March 31, 2009
posted by niles at 6:10 PM on March 31, 2009
Response by poster: Yes, I blurred the filenames intentionally. No, it's not a Logitech (believe me, I know all too well about Logitech's driver problems), it's a Kensington that she's been using for years without trouble.
posted by adamrice at 9:13 PM on March 31, 2009
posted by adamrice at 9:13 PM on March 31, 2009
Though it is not likely to be hardware, you can't rule that out entirely. Screenshots capture what is in the frame buffer, which first has to be drawn by the OS/drivers/GPU depending on what's on screen.
I've never before seen what you describe and I run a test lab full of Macs. I don't know how far you want to go in debugging this on your own (considering it is probably under warranty) but I can suggest many steps to isolate the root cause.
Of course, it being intermittent means debugging would be just that much more work... In addition to the already recommended new user account you can try booting from another drive (if you have one, or another Mac in Target Disk Mode). If it still happens I'd try unloading the graphics drivers (Geforce.kext and NVDA*.kext in /System/Library/Extensions ). If it still happens without graphics drivers, it's not the GPU, it's something in software.
But before you try any of what I've said, take it back to the store. If you can, get it in that state beforehand and don't touch anything until you bring it in so they can see it. You'll probably get a new Mac out of the deal.
posted by bigtex at 3:11 AM on April 1, 2009
I've never before seen what you describe and I run a test lab full of Macs. I don't know how far you want to go in debugging this on your own (considering it is probably under warranty) but I can suggest many steps to isolate the root cause.
Of course, it being intermittent means debugging would be just that much more work... In addition to the already recommended new user account you can try booting from another drive (if you have one, or another Mac in Target Disk Mode). If it still happens I'd try unloading the graphics drivers (Geforce.kext and NVDA*.kext in /System/Library/Extensions ). If it still happens without graphics drivers, it's not the GPU, it's something in software.
But before you try any of what I've said, take it back to the store. If you can, get it in that state beforehand and don't touch anything until you bring it in so they can see it. You'll probably get a new Mac out of the deal.
posted by bigtex at 3:11 AM on April 1, 2009
Oh and don't mess around in /System/Library/Extensions unless you're fearless at the command line.
posted by bigtex at 3:14 AM on April 1, 2009
posted by bigtex at 3:14 AM on April 1, 2009
Response by poster: b1tr0t—I just looked, and Logitech apparently doesn't have Mac drivers for the G5 anyhow. If you don't mind paying extra for 3rd-party driver software, you could get USB Overdrive or Steermouse. Or use it as a "dumb" 2-button mouse with no drivers (that's actually what I'm doing with my MX Revolution).
posted by adamrice at 7:20 AM on April 1, 2009
posted by adamrice at 7:20 AM on April 1, 2009
Not to belabor the point, but here's link (daring fireball) on the Unsanity/Leopard issue.
posted by misterbrandt at 7:26 AM on April 1, 2009
posted by misterbrandt at 7:26 AM on April 1, 2009
Response by poster: Just to follow up on this, we never pinned down the cause of the problem, but we wound up reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling a fresh system for unrelated reasons. The color-shifting problem has not returned.
posted by adamrice at 12:24 PM on August 16, 2009
posted by adamrice at 12:24 PM on August 16, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by amanda at 3:14 PM on March 31, 2009