Catalina screen saver starts out fine but blurs in a few minutes

Question

Catalina screen saver starts out fine but blurs in a few minutes

I gave up on Media Sharing (slideshow gets stuck, eventually crashes) and am using the screensaver preview on my iMac (2017) via Airplay on my Apple TV. I am shuffling my Photos library. After a few minutes, it gets very blurry. I run it on the computer without Airplaying it and it does the same thing. I have tried adjusting the resolution to no effect.

I also have an old MacBook Air (early 2014) and I do the same thing. It works perfectly via Airplay.

I don't see anything obvious in the settings. The Air is not a Retina. This seems to happen with Retina displays. It just gets tired or something.

Any ideas?

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Jul 2, 2020 1:39 PM

Reply

Answer 1

chuck_3rd

Community Specialist

Jul 7, 2020 11:05 AM in response to Jim McDonough

Hello Jim McDonough,

Thank you for reaching out in Apple Support Communities. We understand that upon browsing through photos for screen saver, the display on your Mac becomes blurry.

It's important to rely on using your Mac to complete your daily tasks. We'll be happy to help.

To help troubleshoot this behavior, we recommend to reset the NVRAM (nonvolatile random-access memory) on your Mac. If needed, here's a helpful article with additional details and the proper steps to take: Reset NVRAM or PRAM on your Mac

In addition, we suggest creating a test user account to see if this issue is user specific or system wide: How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac

We look forward to hearing an update on the results.

Cheers.

Reply

Answer 2

chris_g1

Community Specialist

Jul 8, 2020 2:23 PM in response to Jim McDonough

Jim McDonough,

Thanks for getting back to us and for attempting the reset of the NVRAM (nonvolatile random-access memory). A second startup sound should occur. Since we're unable to perform a reset of the NVRAM, let's go ahead and create a test user account on your Mac: How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac

You'll want to test and see if the display of your Mac continues to appear blurry, while browsing through photos for screen saver. If it persists in a test user account, please follow the last section of the article that says, "If the issue happens in the other account."

Best regards.

Reply

Answer 3

chuck_3rd

Community Specialist

Jul 9, 2020 11:02 AM in response to Jim McDonough

Jim McDonough,

We appreciate your effort. Let's go ahead and restart your Mac in safe mode. This helps to perform a basic check of your startup disk, deletes some system caches and more. Here's additional details and the appropriate steps to take: How to use safe mode on your Mac

Once your Mac is in safe mode, please restart your Mac normally and see if you continue to experience the same behavior.

Kind regards.

Reply

Answer 4

Jul 8, 2020 12:41 PM in response to chuck_3rd

I have had some problems. My iMac doesn't make a startup sound. I learned how to turn that back on, and now when I restart holding down option+command+P+R I immediately hear a startup sound, but the system restarts and presents me with the Catalina background and the sign on information. I don't hear a second startup sound.

When I test the screen saver, it starts out OK still goes blurry.

I assume the reset NVRAM didn't work but I don't know why. I had the keys pressed at the time I pressed the power button to restart. Is there a way to verify that it worked?

Thank you.

Reply

Answer 5

Jul 9, 2020 8:05 AM in response to chris_g1

I created a test account. In addition, I copied my photos library over to the test account, so the test would be run with the same data. The test account does not have the problem of the images going blurry while running the screen saver.

Evidently, I have messed up a setting somewhere.

Reply

Answer 6

Jul 10, 2020 9:22 AM in response to brenden dv

I spoke too soon. After a while longer, it went blurry again.

I was able to reset the NVRAM. The problem I was having in trying to do that was that the computer was not recognizing that I had the four keys held down, because (I guess) the Bluetooth connection was not yet active. I connected the keyboard via a Lightning cable and was able to reset the NVRAM. I do not know yet if that fixed anything.

Am I looking at a reinstall of Mac OS at this point?

Reply

Answer 7

Jul 9, 2020 11:57 AM in response to chuck_3rd

After rebooting into safe mode and restarting again, the photos are still clear after letting the screen saver run for 30 minutes or so. Problem solved. Thanks so much for helping me.

Reply

Answer 8

brenden dv

Community Specialist

Jul 9, 2020 12:49 PM in response to Jim McDonough

Jim McDonough,

That's wonderful to hear! Thanks for providing us the update.

Have a wonderful rest of your day.

Take care.

Reply

Catalina screen saver starts out fine but blurs in a few minutes

Similar questions