pdf rendering as black rectangle

Just scanned a file to JPEG format with same result. Preview renders as black! Mac Mini 2011 macOS 10.13.1

Yes - great! Worked here for me too on a Mini mid 2011 - thx a lot!

As I stated previously, don't just post here, file feedback at the URL above stating your precise system configuration.

I've looked at the posted PDFs on several Macs and I can't reproduce the issue on the machines I've tried, but I don't have access to 2011 hardware.

pjgrandinetti wrote:

Looks like Apple solved this problem for us mac mini 2011 owners...

https://www.macrumors.com/2017/12/04/2011-mac-mini-obsolete/

😠

You may not like it, but that is has been the official practice since I can remember: models are declared obsolete 5 years after they are discontinued.

Anyway, I am not convinced this problem is somehow specific to some mac mini or other models.

I can think of a way this can be tested, but I don't have any system affected by the issue.

pjgrandinetti wrote:

Can you share how you would test this?

Sure.

Suppose you have a mac mini (call it A) showing the problem, and another mac (call it B) which does NOT show the problem.

We want to determine if the problem is hardware-specific (i.e. it happens on A because it is a certain mac mini model) or system specific (i.e. it happens on A because of some combination of software in the system).

Here is what I would do: boot A from the system installed in B, and vice-versa, and test.

My conjecture is that the machine B, if started from the drive in the machine A, would show the issue; whereas in the reciprocal case, A, booted from the drive in B, would display the pdf just fine.

How can you boot A using the drive of machine B?

In what follows, I will assume both machines have a Thunderbolt port (alternatively, one could do the same with Firewire). [If that is not an option, the same can still be done, but requires making a clone of the system drive to an external drive and booting the other machine from that external]

1) Turn both machines off, and connect them with the appropriate cable (Thunderbolt or Firewire)

2) Start B in Target Disk Mode (by holding T at startup). This makes B behave just as an external (Thunderbolt or Firewire) drive. Start A holding down the Option key, and select the B drive as the startup drive.

At this point, you are running machine A with the software installed on B. Test. Do pdf files look ok?

3) Shutdown A, then turn B off pressing and holding the power key.

Repeat step 2, now reversing the roles of A and B.

And just like in the initial post - the PDFs look just fine when I use e.g. chrome to open them, the page-preview in the side-bar of the preview app also looks fine. So it seems to be something wrong with preview - at least that's my best guess. If it was the file, it should be broken for all PDF viewers; or preview is more sensitive to subtle errors in the file...but then again, that's not good either if other apps have no problems with such errors.

I have the same problem with High Sierre 10.13.2 on my MacBook Pro 15" early 2011.

Saved a copy of the pdf which works perfectly without the black rectangle... to find that after this copy, even the original works now fine !!!

It's puzzling but I appreciate this easy way to get rid of the problem. There is no need to convert to png and back to pdf, only create a copy and delete it.

Not sure what you mean with "saved a copy of the pdf which works perfectly without the black rectangle" ... if there is no problem with the file and if it renders fine, then why would you expect the copy to be different?

I opened a broken PDF in colorSync utility, where it looked fine (all rendered just fine), saved the file and opened it in preview: problem persists.

Did the same using chrome: problem persisted.

Opened the file in colorSync utility, printed it as PDF: printed-as-PDF-file still has the problem...

...guess only apple can fix this. However, since only early 2011 machines seem to be affected it'll be probably not be high up on their priority list.

I noticed that all reported the hardware configurations, mac-mini or MB pro have the video card in common: Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 512 MB.

Could a video card be responsible for such strange behaviour?

Sorry, my idea works only on one page pdfs. For the others, you need to turn off "Automatic graphics switching" in the "Energy Saver" preferences, provided your Mac has two graphic cards. If there is only an Intel HD Graphics 3000 inside, there is no hope.

Cmetzendorf wrote:

As for the others where this was tested. So what could be the reason? Preview using the graphics hardware - Intel HD Graphics 3000 512 MB - in strange ways?

Possibly.

I guess there is a way to test that hypothesis, if you have at least temporary access to another mac (that does not show the problem with these PDF files).

Start your mac in Target Disk Mode, and use it to boot the other mac (using a Thunderbolt or Firewire cable, depending on the mac models in question).

This way you would be using your own mac's OS and user accounts, but running on the other mac's hardware, including the graphics card.

If the pdf look fine, then it pretty much guarantees that it is related to Preview and your mac's graphics card.

If they show black, then it is something in your mac's software installation.

(You can also do the same test in reverse, in which case black pdf means something with the graphics card.)

Thanks! That really did the trick. I am happy it was such a simple solution to the problem! When I chose the original color profile, the image is black again, when I chose my own color profile, the image displays just fine. Funny that the original color profile causes rendering problems in an app specific manner.

Hi, had the same issue with mit Fujitsu ScanSnap s1300 (no "i").

I was using Firefox as a workaround pdf viewer which sucked.

Fujitsu was not able to help me, because my scanner is not supported by High Sierra.

The new profile works like a charm, many thanks for this great help!

OK, here's my Etrecheck report:

Dropbox - EtreCheck.txt