You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

High Sierra screen artifacts

I'm seeing residual screen artifacts on my desktop and also in applicationUser uploaded file windows that were previously active, but which have been hidden or closed. These artifacts are very faint, and I think over a suitable period of time, the initial set of artifacts "fade"... but they're replaced by artifacts from other open then hidden/closed windows.


Also, if I change the desktop to any solid color, I cannot see these artifacts. And they are visible only with certain background images. (I think if the background image being used is very bright or very dark then you cannot see these artifacts.


NOTE - the artifacts are VERY faint - I've attempted to create some screen shots, which as I look at the screen are relatively easy to see, but when I look at the actual screen shots, they are almost impossible to detect.

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), macOS High Sierra (10.13), Display issues - 27" iMac mid 2012

Posted on Sep 29, 2017 10:06 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 1, 2017 12:38 AM

I have done a restart and that didn't change anything. This is not that big a deal for me to go through a reinstall. I'm only trying to report what I see as a problem on my iMac in case others are having the same problem, and also in case Apple engineering is not currently aware of this problem. I will also try to file a bug report as I'm already an Apple Developer.


I'm adding camera-generated screen shots as the normal screen shots do not help in showing the 'artifacts' - which I now can tell are pixels from other windows which are "bleeding" through and into the top-most window, and which I can now tell are hidden app windows which are somehow still bleeding into the desktop image.


I'm including some more screen shots, this time taken with a camera (though hand-held and not corrected for lens distortion). But with literal screen shots, I think you are not actually able to see the extraneous pixel details that you can see with your eyes. The camera was able to capture the pixel artifacts.


The 2 vertical images show the artifacts visible in my Finder/Desktop image, and also the hidden window for Transmission which is doing some file downloads for movies. If you look at the image of the Transmission window, you can clearly match up the bleeding content in the Finder when the app window has been hidden. I've also included an image of bleeding coming into a Photoshop window, this time with the Transmission window in the background and not hidden.


User uploaded fileUser uploaded fileUser uploaded file

62 replies

Jan 25, 2018 4:25 AM in response to LuxViz

Hi, I have the exact same issue.


I'm on iMac 27 late 2013 with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4 GB (iMac 14,2). I'm using the MacOs High Sierra 10.13.2 (17C205).


Note that a lot of people (including me) have huge problems since the High Sierra update with Nvidia graphic cards and Cuda drivers. You can read a lot of bad experiences here : https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/1025945/cuda-setup-and-installation/mac -cuda-9-0-driver-fully-compatible-with-m…


I don't know if the screen artifacts are related to this but it is a nightmare. Are they using the same technique like the did with iPhones to "invite" us to buy new computers ?

Jan 25, 2018 6:36 AM in response to sdpz

My thoughts exactly!


Since I'm not going to spend another 3k for a new computer " just because" and I had perfectly working machine.
I had to go through a lot of trouble and installed El Capitan again. Everything works now. Not a single sign of ghosting. I really, really hope they will fix this sooner than later of ever. I really wish they would at least give an official comment about this.

Jobs would turn on his grave if he saw what kind of OS they pushed out, huge problems with a big variety of macs from old to new and let's not forget the security problems, audio button thing nor the automatically appearing random user account... So frustrating.

Feb 2, 2018 4:06 AM in response to LuxViz

I can confirm, based on another comment, that enabling the Flurry screensaver does indeed remove the burn-in. I started doing this yesterday and I haven't seen the issue since. Though, I'm not working all day long on this particular Mac, I do use it most of the night. We should all submit a formal ticket to Apple, but in the meantime you can enable the Flurry screensaver as a temp solution.

Feb 2, 2018 4:40 AM in response to spydrlink

For me, the screensaver would not work, since only leaving for example. Facebook open for ~4 minutes was enough to leave a "burn" to the screen. Meanwhile I edit images, I might need to search for stock images for example from the websites and even that lead to the burn.


It did remove the burn once in a while but not for long enough. I have sent my feedback but I'm quite sure Apple will not respond in any way or if it does the answer will be something like " Buy a new computer " 🙄

Feb 9, 2018 5:04 AM in response to LuxViz

Thank you for posting this! I am noticing exactly the same issue. It's extremely clear to see. It doesn't appear on my cinema display (only on iMac).


Worse still, ended up creating Raid 0 on my LaCie Big 5 using APFS. Although array was working for 2 days, the second I wiped my data the array would panic on a mount. Argh! Thankfully data was backed up (albeit via Backblaze - which I must commend. They restore data onto drive and sent it from San Mateo in Bay Area to Sydney, Australia in 4 days flat.

Apr 22, 2018 9:40 PM in response to LuxViz

I am having this exact same issue on my Late-2012 27" iMac with NVIDIA GeForce running High Sierra (10.13.4). I never experienced it before upgrading to latest OS. It makes retouching photographs very difficult because of the screen burn in. I set my screensaver to engage after a few minutes of the machine being idle -- and it seems to help once it's run for awhile -- but it's certainly no longer-term solution. It's extremely frustrating!!

High Sierra screen artifacts

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.