Screen flashes even when Universal Access feature is off?

Question

Level 1

91 points

Screen flashes even when Universal Access feature is off?

Occasionally my MacBook Pro somehow decides to enable the "screen flash" feature that is part of Universal Access (that is, the screen flashes white briefly whenever the Mac would normally beep). I've never intentionally turned this feature on, nor does it show as enabled in System Preferences (the checkbox for this is OFF in the "Hearing" tab in Universal Access). Yet the screen flashes when it would normally beep.

This is OS X Lion 10.7.4.

Anyone seen this? Or know how to turn it off? Or even what turns it on in the first place?

Thanks,

Tim

Mac OS X (10.7.4), 4GB RAM

Posted on Jun 22, 2012 1:27 PM

Reply

Answer 1

borgeano

Level 2

291 points

Mar 4, 2013 2:31 PM in response to borgeano

Argh.... Outlook is actually causing it. Not sure why, but closing Outlook makes it go away. Will post more if/when I find out what the root cause is...

Reply

Answer 2

borgeano

Level 2

291 points

Feb 27, 2013 1:34 PM in response to Tim Hill1

Just ran into the same issue. Check the following, in order:

1. System Preferences > Universal Access > Hearing > Flash the screen when an alert sound occurs (make sure it's checked off)

2. Make sure the sound effects (System Preferences > Sound > Sound Effects) all "exist", which you can do by double-clicking on each

3. Check the User/[your_username]/Library/Preferences folder for a "com.apple.universalaccess.plist" file, and delete it or move it to the Desktop, then reboot and see if the issue persists (to access the Library folder in 10.7, click on "Go" on the top menu bar while on the Finder, then hold the Option key down to access that "hidden" folder; or click on "Go To Folder..." at the bottom of that same menu, and enter "~/Library/Preferences" without the quotes).

Hope this helps!

Reply