Random white screen flashes

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Level 1

55 points

Random white screen flashes

Since upgrading to 10.6, I've noticed my screen flashing, seemingly randomly. It's rather annoying, and I don't want to trigger any seizures. Is this a new OS thing, or is there some bug with my system?

thanks

Macbook Pro, Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Oct 9, 2009 4:10 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Barry Hemphill

Level 8

40,468 points

Oct 9, 2009 4:25 PM in response to OS Lucinity

Hello OS:

I doubt that it is related to the upgrade. It sounds like a hardware issue.

Boot from the OS X DVD while holding the "D" key down. That will invoke the Apple hardware checker.

Barry

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Answer 2

OS Lucinity Author

Level 1

55 points

Oct 9, 2009 6:44 PM in response to Barry Hemphill

It definitely feels like an OS thing. Sort of like the visual "error" sound. For example when there's a dialog window open, and the application that spawned it cannot be interacted with until closing the dialog window, every time I click the application (outside of the dialog window) it flashes.
What's weird is if I record a video of this using SnapzXPro, you can't see the flashes in SnapzXPro...

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Answer 3

OS Lucinity Author

Level 1

55 points

Oct 9, 2009 6:55 PM in response to OS Lucinity

This is it: http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k140/graphicaliber/flashscreen.jpg

The test does the exact same flash, but it's unchecked, so should not be flashing. No matter what I do with that checkbox, it continues flashing.

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Answer 4

Nov 4, 2009 6:29 AM in response to OS Lucinity

This just started happening to me this morning, and I have no Pro apps installed. Turning the visual alert flash on results in TWO flashes each time it happens. Toggling this on and off doesn't have any effect.

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Answer 5

Nagon

Level 1

0 points

Nov 5, 2009 12:16 PM in response to OS Lucinity

Same problem here, but I have noticed it in both Logic Pro 9.0.1 and iPhoto 8.1.
I have "Enable access for assistive devices" enabled but the screen-flash setting disabled (under the hearing section). The screen is still flashing occasionally. :/

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Answer 6

DMC12345

Level 1

9 points

Dec 1, 2009 4:45 PM in response to Nagon

Same issue with me. However, the white flashes were not random. My screen flashed every five minutes. I was stumped for weeks. Then, I opened and watched my Activity Monitor within the Application/Utility folder. After five minutes of watching, I discovered that 'Dashboard Client' became active and used a small percent of CPU during these flashes. So, I opened my Dashboard and found a widget was making a web call every five minutes! I removed this widget from my Dashboard and this removed the flash issue.

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Answer 7

Feb 2, 2010 7:54 AM in response to OS Lucinity

Like several others, I have Universal Access > "Enable access for assistive devices" turned on, with "Flash the screen when an alert sound occurs" turned off.

Twice since upgrading to 10.6, I've experienced this screen flash about once a minute. The first time I couldn't find what was causing it. Restart cleared the problem.

This time I starting clicking each active icon in my hidden Dock (very, very tiny icons exceeding the width of my monitor). When I got half way across, I noticed the tiny FileMaker Pro Advanced icon bouncing. It had apparently been bouncing all along, but it was too tiny to appear with my Dock hidden. Clicking the FileMaker icon revealed a dialog telling me about a lost connection to a remote server. Dismissing the dialog stopped the flashing.

It seems clear that the screen flash was in place of a system alert sound even though I have that option disabled. Time will tell whether to point the bug finger at FileMaker or Mac OS X. I suspect the latter.

-- Ward

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