Blank screens when viewing certain apps

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Level 1

8 points

Blank screens when viewing certain apps

In the last couple months I've noticed some random problems displaying webpages when using Chrome (updated it to the latest version) The window is drawn fine and the toolbar area appears normally but sometimes there are black squares covering the webpage and sometimes the pages are completely blank even though the toolbar shows that the page is finished loading. The contents of the page are there, I can hover over links and click on them but it seems like a layer is being displayed over the content of the windows. I thought this was an issue with Chrome but now the problem is occurring in Safari, the App store and sometimes when I use Preview or when I click on the space bar to view a file without opening it in Preview. Firefox is now my only working web browser. This leads me to believe there's an issue with OSX.

I'm running a Late 2012 iMac with OSX 10.9.5 (13F1712)

CPU: 2.9 GHz Intel i5

RAM: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

GPU: NVidia GeForce GTX 660M (w 512MB)

Below are some sample screen shots

Image 1: Using Chrome to view an email in GMail

Image 2: Using Chrome to view the help page

Image 3: Using Preview to view a PNG file (which is image 1 above)

Image 4: Using the App store to view the El Capitan upgrade

Also when scrolling the webpage (image 1) those black squares would blink randomly in a checker board pattern.

I tried to take a video screen capture with Quicktime but whenever I hit record, it would crash.

Has anyone ever experienced an issue like this? I've scoured the net trying to find something similar but can't find any thing that matches what I'm experiencing.

Thanks for any help.

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), Late 2012 iMac

Posted on Apr 19, 2016 9:03 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Eric Root

Level 10

684,027 points

Apr 20, 2016 9:44 AM in response to AlphaMagus

Try a restart.

Do a backup, using either Time Machine or a cloning program, to ensure files/data can be recovered. Two backups are better than one.

Try setting up another admin user account to see if the same problem continues. If Back-to-My Mac is selected in System Preferences, the Guest account will not work. The intent is to see if it is specific to one account or a system wide problem. This account can be deleted later.

Isolating an issue by using another user account

If the problem is still there, try booting into the Safe Mode using your normal account. Disconnect all peripherals except those needed for the test. Shut down the computer and then power it back up after waiting 10 seconds. Immediately after hearing the startup chime, hold down the shift key and continue to hold it until the gray Apple icon and a progress bar appear. The boot up is significantly slower than normal. This will reset some caches, forces a directory check, and disables all startup and login items, among other things. When you reboot normally, the initial reboot may be slower than normal. If the system operates normally, there may be 3rd party applications which are causing a problem. Try deleting/disabling the third party applications after a restart by using the application un-installer. For each disable/delete, you will need to restart if you don't do them all at once.

Safe Mode

Safe Mode - Mavericks

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Answer 2

AlphaMagus Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 29, 2016 3:00 PM in response to Eric Root

So, after some testing here are my results.

After a restart, the problem goes away for a time. I was trying to figure out what might be causing it as using a new user account would not be ideal (this is my work computer and I can't really do my work with a blank account) I've found that I can make the problem recur after a restart by locking my screen for a long time. I've had only Chrome and Firefox open, locked my screen at the end of the day and when I come to work in the morning, Chrome would be messed up again. I'm not sure what that really means though.

I'm going to try logging in with the test user before leaving today and setting up the same scenario (having Chrome and Firefox running) with the screen locked. I'll try this for a few days and come back with some results (hopefully)

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