Green and black rendering artifacts in Chrome and Safari (2019 16" Macbook Pro)

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Green and black rendering artifacts in Chrome and Safari (2019 16" Macbook Pro)

Various websites are rendering with green and black artifacts on both Chrome and Safari. Sometimes this is fixed by a re-launch of Chrome or Safari and sometimes by a complete system restart. Turning off GPU rasterization in chrome://flags was correlated with an improvement in this rendering issue in Chrome for a short period of time but the issue persists and appears unpredictably.

Chrome Version 87.0.4280.141 (Official Build) (x86_64)

Safari Version 14.0.1 (16610.2.11.51.8)

MacOS Big Sur 11.0.1

See below:

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 11.0

Posted on Jan 10, 2021 10:35 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

walp91 Author

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7 points

Mar 16, 2021 4:53 AM in response to edi_mac_user

OP here. On 9 FEB, I spoke to Apple support again after more issues. I did a full reinstallation with complete hard drive wipe as if I were setting up to sell the computer. Previously I had only done a reinstallation and not a complete hard drive wipe.

Have not had any issues in the month+ since then under similar use conditions.

Based on this, I suspect if your computer shipped with MacOS 11 (Catalina) and you upgraded to Big Sur, the solution may be a complete hard drive wipe, as fun as that sounds.

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Answer 2

walp91 Author

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7 points

Mar 18, 2021 9:52 PM in response to daniel_condurachi

I have not gotten any artifacts in Chrome since the wipe and reinstall over a month ago. I followed a different process for wipe/reinstall than the one daniel_condurachi lists. I did not use a bootable USB. I suspect there are many competing apple webpages for how to do this..

Here are the steps I followed. Note that one step in the prep is clearing NVRAM, which was not something I had tried before doing this full wipe and reinstall.

Prep: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065
Erase: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208496 (the first page links to this page)
Reinstall: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904 (the second page links to this page)

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Answer 3

jdo_apple

Community Specialist

Jan 12, 2021 1:48 PM in response to walp91

Hello walp91,

We understand you're having some graphics issues in Chrome and Safari where websites are rendering in green and black artifacts. We'd be happy to help.

The best way to start determining whether this is a hardware or software issue would be to test things out in safe mode. To do so, hold the Shift key after turning on your Mac until you reach the login screen. For more info, please review: How to use safe mode on your Mac

Let us know how things go there. Also, if you test in another user account, do you notice the same behavior?

Lastly, is this only occurring in your web browsers or do you notice this behavior while using any other apps?

We hope to use the results of the steps above to isolate things further.

Cheers!

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Answer 4

SnickZ.

Community Specialist

Jan 25, 2021 10:56 AM in response to walp91

walp91,

Thanks for the update. If you're only noticing this while using multiple displays, let's try testing things out without them involved to isolate things further. That'll at least let you know if your Mac is working as expected independently and will let you know where to focus your troubleshooting. If you have any other displays available, you could also test things out on them to determine if the issue is specific just to the external displays you're using currently.

Lastly, it may be best to contact Apple Support regarding this behavior if it continues to persist. Apple can be reached using this link:

Get Support

They'll be best equipped to assist from here.

Take care!

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Answer 5

jdo_apple

Community Specialist

Feb 5, 2021 10:47 AM in response to walp91

walp91,

Thanks for all the details you've provided. If you've already been in contact with Apple Support, they're going to be best equipped to assist you further, so please continue to work with them from here.

You also shouldn't have to start the process over again with support. If the initial advisor you speak with isn't able to resolve the issue, they should be able to get you over to a Senior Advisor to assist further and all advisors you speak with will have all case notes available to them from your previous interactions.

Regardless of the issues you face in the future with your Mac though, the first thing you'll ever want to do is ensure your Mac is fully updated, as the majority of fixes come in the form of an update, so it's no shock that this has been suggested.

We hope you reach a solution soon.

Take care!

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Answer 6

walp91 Author

Level 1

7 points

Jan 14, 2021 6:24 AM in response to jdo_apple

Thank you for the response. I will try out safe mode. However, the issue is not reliably reproducible. It happens sporadically, so if I didn't see the issue in safe mode that would not indicate that safe mode had any effect.

It had only occurred in web browsers so far. This morning, however, the computer froze entirely and the entire screen went into a grid pattern for about 30 seconds. After this, I had to login again and all applications had closed. See image below:

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Answer 7

walp91 Author

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7 points

Feb 9, 2021 2:47 PM in response to jdo_apple

Thank you. It does seem that the support thread resets for me and I have to start over again with product selection, serial number, etc., so I will continue to keep a running log here for the advisors and community.

During Case 4 on Feb 4, I was advised to perform a re-install of Big Sur. I had already done this, so we skipped it. I did first aid diagnostics with no error codes. Finally, I updated to Big Sur 11.2 and turned on automatic updates.

On Tue, Feb 9, I experienced another full system freeze. This time I was not connected to my dock with dual external monitors. The freeze occurred after my MacBook had turned the screen off due to inactivity. Upon pressing the touchID button the monitor backlight turned on with no picture. After about 15 seconds, the screen turned on with a grid pattern. See attached picture. After about a minute, this resolved and the login screen appeared. After about 15 seconds I was able to type my password to login.

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Answer 8

Mar 17, 2021 1:49 AM in response to edi_mac_user

Aa, yeah... really...

That is what i said, you can read can’t you?!

Let me make it easier for you, i guess google is not your friend.

You make the bootable usb as apple webpage describes, easy.. do not use usb hub sometimes they fail, use usb-c directly to mac
restart in recovery mode and set the option to boot from external usb and no security, if you don’t you will have to install the os that shipped with your mac, and then start again with the security options
install big sur
that’s it, broadly speaking

thx,

D/

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Answer 9

Mar 8, 2021 7:09 AM in response to walp91

Is Microsoft silverlight installed?

It is not needed, and is no longer supported.

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Answer 10

walp91 Author

Level 1

7 points

Jan 17, 2021 12:09 PM in response to walp91

Tried safe mode for about 15 minutes. Unfortunately safe mode seems to allow only a single external monitor. I have two, and I suspect this issue is related to GPU improperly handling them.

Am still having daily system freezes requiring full reboot.

Updated to Big Sur 11.1 this morning, but soon after I got another set of green and black bricks in Evernote when inspecting the source of a note.

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Answer 11

walp91 Author

Level 1

7 points

Feb 4, 2021 9:07 AM in response to SnickZ.

Thanks. I've been back and forth with Apple Support a few times so wanted to document the various suggestions. Unfortunately, the support cases reset after about two days and I have to start fresh with a new person.

I am experiencing issues on Big Sur 11.0.1 and 11.1. I am aware 11.2 is available and will update soon.

Case 1, Jan 17, 2021:

Apple support recommended upgrading to 11.1.
Ran Apple diagnostics. No errors, reference code ADP000
Cleared library caches
After update, I still had green/black rendering artifacts and system freezes, both while using dual external monitors and without.

Case 2, Jan 20, 2021:

Full system freeze. Mouse worked and could select windows but keyboard presses resulted in beeps from speaker. Finder not responding.
Diagnostics: No errors, reference code ADP000
Apple suggested reinstall.

Multiple freezes and graphics issues (about 1 / day)

Reinstalled Big Sur on Jan 31, 2021

Case 3, Feb 1, 2021

Experienced green/black artifacts in Chrome and Safari, both when connected to dual external monitors and when disconnected.
Connected to Apple Support but no suggestions for resolution.

Case 4, Feb 4, 2021

Full system freeze. Mouse worked and could select windows but keyboard presses resulted in beeps from speaker. Finder not responding.

I will update to Big Sur 11.2 but the resolution to this can't continue to be "just update" unless there is actually a fix in the update.

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Answer 12

Mar 8, 2021 6:12 AM in response to walp91

I've also experienced this on a new (1 week) MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019), Big Sur 11.2.2 (20D80) in Chrome version 88.0.4324.192 (Official Build) (x86_64).

Some sites were being displayed with visual glitches and restarting Chrome didn't solve the issue (same result on an external 4k monitor from LG as well as on Macbooks sceen). A full restart did the trick up until now...

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Answer 13

Mar 16, 2021 12:49 AM in response to minimyran

I have the exact same issue as the OP, green and black in Chrome. I also disabled GPU Rasterization but have now experienced several complete freezes that require a computer restart.

Honestly awful - I want to use Chrome over Safari anyway, but this also happens in other Electron apps like Spotify:

Not good enough!

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Answer 14

Mar 16, 2021 8:57 AM in response to walp91

Hi guys!

I still have this issue on bootscreen and in chrome on big sur after doing a complete hard drive wipe and installed big sur os from usb-c stick (no regular usb on hub) mbp 16 2019. Also the crash report after sleep for a while... don't think if it's related but who knows..

Thx,

D/

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Answer 15

Feb 9, 2021 6:43 PM in response to walp91

I bought macbook Pro 16" from Apple.com 3 weeks ago and I experienced the same issue --> green/black rendering. I try to find support from Apple and saw your post. I am using Big Sur 11.2.

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Green and black rendering artifacts in Chrome and Safari (2019 16" Macbook Pro)

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