Gray background after wakeup after lion upgrade?

I can confirm - the problem persists.

If I switch my NEC off then back on, I see picture almost immidiatelly. Than it goes black, than blue (two or more flicks). Than it becomes stable.

I see that display changes several times:

29/07/12 12:05:58.416 AM WindowServer[109]: Received display connect changed for display 0x3f003c 29/07/12 12:05:58.000 AM kernel[0]: AppleLMUController found an AG vendor product (0x9cb7), notifying SMC. 29/07/12 12:05:58.427 AM WindowServer[109]: Created shield window 0x82 for display 0x04272dc0 29/07/12 12:05:58.427 AM WindowServer[109]: handle_will_sleep_auth_and_shield_windows: no action for lock state 1 29/07/12 12:05:58.428 AM WindowServer[109]: Received display connect changed for display 0x28d9e302 29/07/12 12:05:58.430 AM WindowServer[109]: Received display connect changed for display 0x3f003f 29/07/12 12:05:58.699 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x04272dc0: GL mask 0x3; bounds (0, 0)[1680 x 1050], 42 modes available Main, Active, on-line, enabled, built-in, boot, Vendor 610, Model 9cb7, S/N 0, Unit 0, Rotation 0 UUID 0x0000061000009cb70000000004272dc0 29/07/12 12:05:58.699 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x003f003f: GL mask 0x8; bounds (2944, 0)[1 x 1], 1 modes available off-line, enabled, Vendor ffffffff, Model ffffffff, S/N ffffffff, Unit 3, Rotation 0 UUID 0xffffffffffffffffffffffff003f003f 29/07/12 12:05:58.699 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x003f003e: GL mask 0x4; bounds (1680, 0)[1 x 1], 1 modes available off-line, enabled, OpenGL-accel, Vendor ffffffff, Model ffffffff, S/N ffffffff, Unit 2, Rotation 0 UUID 0xffffffffffffffffffffffff003f003e, ColorProfile { 2, "LCD2490WUXi2"} 29/07/12 12:05:58.700 AM WindowServer[109]: GLCompositor: GL renderer id 0x01021b06, GL mask 0x0000000e, accelerator 0x00003e27, unit 1, caps QEX|QGL|MIPMAP, vram 512 MB texture units 8, texture max 16384, viewport max {16384, 16384}, extensions FPRG|NPOT|GLSL|FLOAT 29/07/12 12:05:59.007 AM WindowServer[109]: Created shield window 0x83 for display 0x04272dc0 29/07/12 12:05:59.008 AM WindowServer[109]: Created shield window 0x84 for display 0x003f003f 29/07/12 12:05:59.008 AM WindowServer[109]: Created shield window 0x85 for display 0x003f003e 29/07/12 12:05:59.010 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x04272dc0: MappedDisplay Unit 1: Startup Mode 1680 x 1050, CGSThirtytwoBitColor, Resolution 1, IOMode 0x43e, IODepth 0x1, IOReturn 0x0 29/07/12 12:05:59.010 AM WindowServer[109]: Display added 29/07/12 12:05:59.010 AM WindowServer[109]: Display removed 29/07/12 12:05:59.038 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x04272dc0: GL mask 0x3; bounds (0, 0)[1680 x 1050], 42 modes available Main, Active, on-line, enabled, built-in, boot, Vendor 610, Model 9cb7, S/N 0, Unit 0, Rotation 0 UUID 0x0000061000009cb70000000004272dc0 29/07/12 12:05:59.038 AM WindowServer[109]: GLCompositor: GL renderer id 0x01021b06, GL mask 0x0000000e, accelerator 0x00003e27, unit 1, caps QEX|QGL|MIPMAP, vram 512 MB texture units 8, texture max 16384, viewport max {16384, 16384}, extensions FPRG|NPOT|GLSL|FLOAT 29/07/12 12:05:59.038 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x003f003f: GL mask 0x8; bounds (2704, 0)[1 x 1], 1 modes available off-line, enabled, Vendor ffffffff, Model ffffffff, S/N ffffffff, Unit 3, Rotation 0 UUID 0xffffffffffffffffffffffff003f003f 29/07/12 12:05:59.038 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x003f003e: GL mask 0x4; bounds (2705, 0)[1 x 1], 1 modes available off-line, enabled, Vendor ffffffff, Model ffffffff, S/N ffffffff, Unit 2, Rotation 0 UUID 0xffffffffffffffffffffffff003f003e, ColorProfile { 2, "LCD2490WUXi2"} 29/07/12 12:05:59.040 AM WindowServer[109]: MPAccessSurfaceForDisplayDevice: Set up page flip mode on display 0x04272dc0 device: 0x10a91d320 isBackBuffered: 1 numComp: 3 numDisp: 3 29/07/12 12:06:00.429 AM WindowServer[109]: **DMPROXY** (2) Found `/System/Library/CoreServices/DMProxy'. 29/07/12 12:06:00.473 AM WindowServer[109]: Created shield window 0x8d for display 0x04272dc0 29/07/12 12:06:00.474 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x04272dc0: MappedDisplay Unit 0; ColorProfile { 3, "Color LCD"}; TransferTable (256, 3) 29/07/12 12:06:00.520 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x04272dc0: MappedDisplay Unit 0; ColorProfile { 3, "Color LCD"}; TransferTable (256, 3) 29/07/12 12:06:01.010 AM WindowServer[109]: **DMPROXY** (2) Found `/System/Library/CoreServices/DMProxy'. 29/07/12 12:06:01.046 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x04272dc0: MappedDisplay Unit 0; ColorProfile { 3, "Color LCD"}; TransferTable (256, 3) 29/07/12 12:06:01.064 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x04272dc0: MappedDisplay Unit 0; ColorProfile { 3, "Color LCD"}; TransferTable (256, 3) 29/07/12 12:06:01.879 AM WindowServer[109]: Received display connect changed for display 0x4272dc0 29/07/12 12:06:01.881 AM WindowServer[109]: No display devices are on-line. Switching to virtual display mode 29/07/12 12:06:01.881 AM WindowServer[109]: Received display connect changed for display 0x3f003e 29/07/12 12:06:01.890 AM WindowServer[109]: New display device coming on-line. Switching from virtual display mode 29/07/12 12:06:01.895 AM WindowServer[109]: Created shield window 0x8e for display 0x28d9e302 29/07/12 12:06:01.895 AM WindowServer[109]: handle_will_sleep_auth_and_shield_windows: no action for lock state 1 29/07/12 12:06:01.895 AM WindowServer[109]: Received display connect changed for display 0x3f003f 29/07/12 12:06:02.033 AM Console[254]: CGSGetCurrentDisplayMode: Invalid display 0x7bd8d23f 29/07/12 12:06:02.152 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x003f003f: GL mask 0x8; bounds (2704, 0)[1 x 1], 1 modes available off-line, enabled, Vendor ffffffff, Model ffffffff, S/N ffffffff, Unit 3, Rotation 0 UUID 0xffffffffffffffffffffffff003f003f 29/07/12 12:06:02.152 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x28d9e302: GL mask 0x4; bounds (0, 0)[1920 x 1200], 105 modes available Main, Active, on-line, enabled, Vendor 38a3, Model 678c, S/N 0, Unit 2, Rotation 0 UUID 0x000038a30000678c0000000028d9e302, ColorProfile { 2, "LCD2490WUXi2"} 29/07/12 12:06:02.152 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x003f003c: GL mask 0x3; bounds (0, 0)[1 x 1], 1 modes available off-line, enabled, boot, OpenGL-accel, Vendor ffffffff, Model ffffffff, S/N ffffffff, Unit 0, Rotation 0 UUID 0xffffffffffffffffffffffff003f003c, ColorProfile { 3, "Color LCD"} 29/07/12 12:06:02.153 AM WindowServer[109]: GLCompositor: GL renderer id 0x01021b06, GL mask 0x0000000e, accelerator 0x00003e27, unit 1, caps QEX|QGL|MIPMAP, vram 512 MB texture units 8, texture max 16384, viewport max {16384, 16384}, extensions FPRG|NPOT|GLSL|FLOAT 29/07/12 12:06:02.452 AM WindowServer[109]: Created shield window 0x90 for display 0x003f003f 29/07/12 12:06:02.457 AM WindowServer[109]: Created shield window 0x91 for display 0x28d9e302 29/07/12 12:06:02.458 AM WindowServer[109]: Created shield window 0x92 for display 0x003f003c 29/07/12 12:06:03.896 AM WindowServer[109]: **DMPROXY** (2) Found `/System/Library/CoreServices/DMProxy'. 29/07/12 12:06:07.458 AM WindowServer[109]: post_notification : Time out waiting for reply from "Console" for notification type 109 (CID 0xe807, PID 254) 29/07/12 12:06:07.459 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x28d9e302: MappedDisplay Unit 2: Startup Mode 1920 x 1200, CGSThirtytwoBitColor, Resolution 1, IOMode 0x43e, IODepth 0x1, IOReturn 0x0 29/07/12 12:06:07.459 AM WindowServer[109]: Display added 29/07/12 12:06:07.460 AM WindowServer[109]: Display removed 29/07/12 12:06:07.473 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x28d9e302: GL mask 0x4; bounds (0, 0)[1920 x 1200], 105 modes available Main, Active, on-line, enabled, Vendor 38a3, Model 678c, S/N 0, Unit 2, Rotation 0 UUID 0x000038a30000678c0000000028d9e302, ColorProfile { 2, "LCD2490WUXi2"} 29/07/12 12:06:07.473 AM WindowServer[109]: GLCompositor: GL renderer id 0x01021b06, GL mask 0x0000000e, accelerator 0x00003e27, unit 1, caps QEX|QGL|MIPMAP, vram 512 MB texture units 8, texture max 16384, viewport max {16384, 16384}, extensions FPRG|NPOT|GLSL|FLOAT 29/07/12 12:06:07.473 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x003f003f: GL mask 0x8; bounds (2944, 0)[1 x 1], 1 modes available off-line, enabled, Vendor ffffffff, Model ffffffff, S/N ffffffff, Unit 3, Rotation 0 UUID 0xffffffffffffffffffffffff003f003f 29/07/12 12:06:07.473 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x003f003c: GL mask 0x3; bounds (2945, 0)[1 x 1], 1 modes available off-line, enabled, boot, Vendor ffffffff, Model ffffffff, S/N ffffffff, Unit 0, Rotation 0 UUID 0xffffffffffffffffffffffff003f003c, ColorProfile { 3, "Color LCD"} 29/07/12 12:06:07.492 AM WindowServer[109]: MPAccessSurfaceForDisplayDevice: Set up page flip mode on display 0x28d9e302 device: 0x10a91dd30 isBackBuffered: 1 numComp: 3 numDisp: 3 29/07/12 12:06:07.546 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x28d9e302: MappedDisplay Unit 2; ColorProfile { 2, "LCD2490WUXi2"}; TransferFormula (1.000000, 1.000000, 1.000000) 29/07/12 12:06:07.571 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x28d9e302: MappedDisplay Unit 2; ColorProfile { 2, "LCD2490WUXi2"}; TransferFormula (1.000000, 1.000000, 1.000000) 29/07/12 12:06:07.586 AM Dock[257]: CGSGetDisplayBounds: Invalid display 0x7bd8d23f 29/07/12 12:06:07.586 AM Dock[257]: Ignoring display reconfiguration, bounds is zero did=0x7bd8d23f bounds=0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 flags(0x1200)= kCGDisplayDisabledFlag kCGDisplayDesktopShapeChangedFlag 29/07/12 12:06:09.459 AM WindowServer[109]: **DMPROXY** (2) Found `/System/Library/CoreServices/DMProxy'. 29/07/12 12:06:09.496 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x28d9e302: MappedDisplay Unit 2; ColorProfile { 2, "LCD2490WUXi2"}; TransferFormula (1.000000, 1.000000, 1.000000) 29/07/12 12:06:09.513 AM WindowServer[109]: Display 0x28d9e302: MappedDisplay Unit 2; ColorProfile { 2, "LCD2490WUXi2"}; TransferFormula (1.000000, 1.000000, 1.000000)

Nooooooooooo!! Happened to me again with Mountain Lion.

For those that experience this again in Mountain Lion, did you do a clean install or just an upgrade?

There might be no correlation between the two but it might be useful to rule it out.

I did an upgrade from Lion.

Also, has anyone gotten an Apple genius to examine the problem? I was talking to one of them recently and he said to bring my iMac and secondary display in. I thought I'd wait until Mountain Lion was installed before doing so just in case ML did fix the problem. I guess it hasn't.. 😟

Just give up. That's what I did. Sad but true. It's pretty obvious at this point that either nobody cares, or the problem can't be fixed. I think I read somewhere that the machines exhibiting this behavior are likely to have faulty hardware.

I bought a Retina MacBook Pro. Not sure if it has the same problem because I don't use an external monitor any more. The Retina screen is too amazing. When they come out with a Retina Apple Thunderbolt Display, I'll buy one of those. For now I have it on a Rain mStand so it's closer to my face. I realize this doesn't really solve any existing problems for other users, but I grew so tired of the problem that I don't even mess with external displays any more.

Somebody really screwed up and at this point it's pretty hopeless to think a fix is coming. Sorry to be a Debby Downer but it is what it is: a never-ending problem of doom. I wasted countless hours of my life messing with sleep problems, killing the dock, logging in to have my system go off and then having to logon again, dealing with login boxes off the screen, and thin smashed windows all over my desktop that went through some horrible process while I was away—which I then have to resize back to shape. Oh and then searching the web for fixes, trying to apply fixes, tweaking settings, trying to reinstall stuff, and subscribing to this thread hoping each new email update would lead to a solution. But no—I took the easy way out. And by easy I mean bought a $3k machine and stopped using an external monitor.

Lame.

A mod needs to close this thread. It's pointless.

Hi everyone... Just wanted to post back cause I post on the same day I installed Mountain Lion...

The gray background didn't appear again for me yet... Anyway I read a couple of post declaring that ML is not fixing the problem so I guess it's a matter of time?

For the record, I installed Mountain Lion as an upgrade of Lion (on a MBP early 2011) where I used to experience the Gray Background Issue every 2-3 days... (no fresh install here)

Have just encountered this for the first time running ML (10.8) on a new MBP 15" Retina with all updates installed.

I logged in after resuming from sleep mode.

External display was showing wall paper without an issue.

Retina display was showing gray background.

killall Dock resolved the issue.

I've been having this problem for a while - I have four monitors and two of them do just fine but the two NEW 27" Cinema's lose their wallpaper and revert to gray every single time they go to sleep or lose power (I turn off all my monitors via my light switch when I leave for the day).

The solution that is MUCH easier than killing the dock and works for me every time is simply clicking on my name in the bar, selecting the login window and just logging in again. Takes two seconds, doesn't log me out, doesn't require me to open everything again and PRESTO my wallpaper is back on the two 27's.

Yes, it's a bummer to have to do a workaround but let's face it, be it Apple, Microsoft or anyone else, all software has glitches somewhere. I'll take Mac OSX with it's few little annoyances over Windows constant crashes, security problems and performance every single day of the week.

Hi Craig,

I didn't have the chance to try it... anyway in my case it's faster to open the terminal cause killAll Dock is one of the few commands I use so I just open the terminal, press the UP key on my keyword and the latest command appears there... (usually killAll Dock... if not I just press UP one more time in case I use something else in the middle...) and Enter...

I have a long password so if I go to my login Window I will have to click on my name and re-enter my password... 🙂

John... I guess that apples filosophy its very interesting... as I said in previous posts, I own a whole collection of new apple devices... all of them have from stupid to big problems... I have this problem with the gray screen from my macbook 2007 to my macbook pro 2011... my ipad 2 restart randomly... my ipod touch 4g performs very poorly... montain lion still loosing conectivity with my wacom after I did everything what they suggest me to do... and some times even freeze... apple tv? have problems too... oh I cannot connect screen share between Lion and mountain lion without restarting the lion... and I can keep going...

Then I read this article and I understood something...

http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/29/tim-cook-why-i-joined-apple-/

Apple was the only technology company that I knew of, including the one I was currently at, that when a customer got mad at a company, they'd continue to buy. If people got mad at Compaq, they'd buy Dell. If you were mad at Dell, you'd buy IBM. But an Apple customer was a unique breed; there's this emotion that you just don't see in technology in general. You could see it and feel it at Apple. When I looked at the balance sheet of the company, I thought I could do something in turning around a great American company.

I had similar issue today when for the first time ever I plugged external display while MacBook Pro was still closed and asleep. But I managed to fix that really quickly.

I switched to "Login Window...", logged back in and problem has gone. So no need to log out, just use the fast user switching feature.

I upgraded to 10.8.2 from a clean install of Mountain Lion and I wished that I was still getting the grey screen. Now the secondary monitor won't turn on at all even after a killall dock! Only a reboot fixes it and it only happens after the system sleeps. I turned off system sleep (not good I know) and it hasn't happened since.

I also have the gray background issue

im running 10.8.2 and use my macbook pro's monitor beside my external samsung monitor. i have my external setup as my primary monitor.

i notice that when my mac wakes from sleep it sometimes has the issue.. other times it happens when having the display in sleep (i have a hot corner setup to put the displays to sleep). i have it connected through a thunderbolt to hdmi, to a hdmi splitter (as my ps3 also uses the monitor). a workaround for me is just to use the switch on the splitter. when i select the ps3 my mac recognizes its not connected to the monitor and makes the mac the primary display again. then when i switch back with the splitter the screen works fine again. it actually usually happens when my display goes into sleep (wether through time or a manual hot corner) and then woken.. so then i just switch it back and forth and it works fine again.

i am not having any of the other odd issues with launchpad and dashboard, nor do i understand how this is related to the dock 😝

but i thought id share my workaround to this issue..

i havent tried the logging out and in again yet.. but i think this is faster..

maybe it also works better if the macbook stays open with the external monitor connected.. you can just dim the backlight.. at least thats what i do when i have a fullscreen app on the external..

the only other issue ive been having is that my mac wont properly shut down and ill have a white screen with a spinning wheel and i have to force shutdown.. but i dont think that is related to this thread..

hope this helps 😉

how exactly do i do this?

in automator create a .app and drag the Run Applescript

then i copy pasted what you wrote (sudo kill -HUP `ps -ef |grep [D]ock.app | awk '{print $2}'`) but then it says Expected “,” but found identifier.

i dont know much about scripts so i have no idea what im doing wrong 😝

so if anyone knows how.. please enlighten me..

id like to put this .app into the dock so i can just click it do kill the dock process and have my desktop "fixed"

My problem is quite different. I dont use external monitor and after the mbp goes sleep or lock the screen and log in again the wallpaper goes blue background. This does not happen all the time. A wallpaper application named Kuvva Wallpaper was installed and i removed this app whether it may cause this problem and nothing changed. I am setting my background picture and then not all the time but sometimes it just goes a blue background. What may be the reason?

Edit : Btw killall Dock command just closes dock and open again but not resolve my issue

Experiencing grey background on Lion 10.8.2. Seems to be related to external monitor. Have an HDMI converter. Just started happening this week (1/12/2013). Did not happen for the previous six months. I do not believe I upgraded Lion recently, but I do always install the latest updates when they come out. Killing the Doc process does restore the wallpaper.

I have this problem too (2011 MBA,OS X 10.8.2), mostly when I close the lid and disconnect my external monitor at the same time. The solution that works for me is connecting my external monitor again (through VGA adapter), close the lid, wait a few seconds for the MBA to react, than opening the lid again --> nice background.