Intermittent screen distortion - entire screen washed out

Intermittently, my entire screen will go a yellow/orangy type color - i can still make out the screen contents, but everything is slightly distorted or blurry and hard to make out.
Most times, it goes away after a minute or two, or repeated restarts will also fix it most of the time. No amount of adjusting or resetting the Display System Preferences seems to help.
There seems to be no predictability when this anomaly will occur, but it happens fairly frequently.
I took it to the Apple Genius and he did hardware and video test but could find nothing wrong.
Any ideas?
TIA

If you do not yet have a temperature monitoring utility, you may wish to get one, like this free Dashboard widget:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/status/istatpro.html
If the video effects only show up when the temps are high, they may not show up in the short time the computer was with the Genius Bar.
Use System Profiler (Apple menu > About this Mac > More info) and click "displays" in the left pane. See what video chipset is installed. Some nVidea 8600GT chipsets have failed, necessitating a logic board replacement. The replacement is covered under a Repair Extension Program if the computer is less than two years old. Click the link below for details:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377

Similar Messages

Why does the screen "wash out" with the statement "Firefox is not responding" This happens at least once in each session.

I am not sure what more details I can provide. Suddenly, the cursor for the mouse will freeze, the screen washes out. You can still see the underlying webpage faintly. After a few seconds, the problem corrects itself and Firefox resumes normal operation. This happens with the new Firefox 4 as well as the previous version.
It is major annoyance.

My situation got worse. FF 3.6.12 started doing that; then it just stopped loading. Since then, I have uninstalled & reinstalled, moved my profile to force it to make new one, set it so that it is not the default browser, installed in different drive on computer, cleaned out regedit, ran a spyware program, & nothing. It starts to load then hangs up almost immediately. This has been going on for about 3 days & I'm about ready to chunk it. Any ideas?

IMac 20" vs iMac 24" : screen WASHED OUT on 20"

I went to two Apple stores and I noticed that the new Aluminum iMac 20" SCREEN CONTRAST is set different from the 24".
I tried using two side by side 20" and 24" and I set the screen settings the same. But not matter what I did the contrast on the 20" was pretty bad. 24" was normal but the 20" was Washed out (when viewing photos, there's no detail in the highlight areas).
Anyone else notice this? Or it just me? I foun this at two stores I went to.

GREAT! I thought I'd read all of the down sides to the new 20" iMacs. How'd I miss this? Well, I knew that with the minor CUP speed bump made to the new iMacs and no "Extreme" option on the 20" I was about to take a beating down the road here...very shortly. That "shortly" is already NOW, I guess. My 20" screen was washed out using the iMac's display color setting, so I went into Preferences/Display/Color and played with the RGB profile settings. This helped a lot, but it made me wonder why Apple would have let it be shipped with their poor "iMac" color profile. Geez, I hope changing the setting, making the screen colors pop, won't burn out this monitor!!! GULP!!! If only our old Mac G4 tower hadn't died a few months back, we'd been waiting so long already and a 20" monitor looked big enough to us.
BTW, where are all of my Apple Loops in the preinstalled iLife '08 GarageBand? I just got this iMac yesterday. Time to do more digging!
Kat

Upgrade to 10.6.7 Fans full blast and Screen washed out

Update went well but after restart, the icons, finder windows, system preferences all look washed out. It is almost like they are 8 bit color not 24 bit color. At the same time the fans go crazy at login and then settle down later. Logged in with Safe Mode and it did not change anything. I reinstalled from Combo, still no joy. Any ideas?

Update: The fans seem to have settled down, maybe it was an update to Spotlight?
Screen still washed out. It looks like when you attach an external monitor and you do not have the cable fully set. In Finder, you don't see light gray lines, in Excel, you don't see the grid. You could also say that the resolution is not at "millions of colors" but at 256 or less.

T410 Screen Washed Out on Wake

Hello,
I was wondering about an issue that I've been having... sometimes when the computer wakes up from standby (on battery power only) the screen colors become very washed out, but eventually fade back to normal. Is this a normal occurrence with the T410 screen, or is it something that I should be concerned about? Otherwise, the T410 seems to be a very solid computer.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Never mind, I solved my problem, it is normal: http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/T410-unstable-screen-brightness/td-p/212150

Bright Screen/Washed out colour!!!

I have an imac g4 which has the same symptoms as an earlier post, ie. an overly bright and washed out display. My hunch is that it could be a loose wire somewhere. The fault developed after it was in transit, it was in all its original packaging.
Has anybody else had this problem? If so what is the remedy???
I'd rather have a go myself than get ripped off!!
Imac g4 Mac OS X (10.2.x)

Hi guys,
Thanks for your input!
Here's and update... i downloaded the service manual on the page you directed me to a few days ago, it's very interesting. I've formatted the harddrive and re-installed OS 10.1.
I still have the same problem!
I reset the PMU, this had no effect.
I took the bottom off and checked the video cable, i also checked the cables in the monitor. I did this a couple of times to make sure, powering on and checking each time! Still the same problem!!!!
The universal access has no contrast setting, altering the colorsync profiles hasn't had any effect.
The next step in the manual is to replace the inverter, could this be the cause??
Not sure what happens when the inverter malfunctions, does anyone know?
Are Apple parts expensive? I should have stuck with my trusty PC!
Imac g4 Mac OS X (10.1.x)

Screen Washed out?

So my phone has been working fine since last august when i bought it (3G), however suddenly today the screen has gone very white, as if you've added a white layer in photoshop or something. I have dropped or damaged it in anyway, although i did put it to sleep while playing 'airport mania', anyone have any ideas? i'm at uni so getting it to a shop would be a real hassle although as my 1 year is about to run about i'd probably have to do it anyway.
There is also a thing greyish line running vertically down the screen just off to the right of the centre
~Hal

loaded screenshots into iphoto and all look the same so its a display problem on the phone rather than it actually being that colour, o and when i talk about damage it should say "Have Not" damaged it in anyway

20" iMac screen washed out on bottom corners, Tech says normal?

Ok, I have been through all the monitor issues with the 20" iMac G5s... many posts about the ghosted line along the bottom.... anyway
My new Intel 20" iMac has a different issue that I don't know if it is normal or not? I use a small free app called PiXel Check http://homepage.mac.com/macguitar/FileSharing16.html
to check a screen for bad or stuck pixels. In the all Black screen I have these two ghosted triangles on both corners of the machine that fade upwards to the middle of the screen. Dead center on the bottom of the screen, about 4-5" wide is dead black, but as you go along to each corner it gets very lite. It looks like the edge of the screen is missing black paint or something and is allowing bleed from the tubes.
I don't know if it is possible to capture this to show, but I will see if it is possible and post it. I went in to the Apple store and asked them about it and they said that since these are not Pro machines you should not expect perfection and that this sounds pretty normal for iMacs.
I sure hate that response. Gee, sorry you didn't spend more money, then you would get a machine that is near perfect... crap.
Anyway, is anyone else having issues like this? At first it may seem like reflection from the keyborad or desktop, but if you turn off the lights or get it pitch black and set the screen to total black, it shows very easily.
Ok, end of long post so pleas post if you are seeing this or anything like this.
thanks,
Cory
20" G5 iMac and 12" PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Hello Cory,
A problem that is common to some LCD displays is backlight leakage. If pressure is put on the display, you can end up crushing some of the pixels. Sometimes the display doesn't flex back, leaving the user with dark spots or bright spots in some areas. This can also result from a manufacturing defect within the LCD.
Did you accidentally put too much pressure on the display, or is this truly a manufacturing defect we are looking at?
Calling AppleCare about this is definitely the right move, however.
Good Luck finding a solution to your problem.

Screen or backlight problem - washed-out colors, fuzzy white overlay

I've had my iPod for quite a long time now and have been living with this problem for at least a year. Some times, when I start using the iPod, the screen gets all washed-out with a fuzzy white overlay. It looks fine when the backlight turns off from not touching it, so I think the problem might be with the backlight. If I completely recharge the iPod, letting it fully turn off, the screen will usually come back to clarity. Also, if I leave it in the refrigerator for a while, that too will often solve the problem.
The fuzziness usually happens after having the iPod go to sleep - either from me pressing and holding the pause button, or from the songs being stopped or paused and the iPod not being used for a time. I don't recall, but it might also happen when playing if it's been playing for a fair time and the backlight has been off. It seems like, if the iPod goes into sleep mode when it is warm - room temperature or greater seems to do it - it's fuzzy the next time I start using it. Having it fix itself from being outside in the cold, in the refrigerator or in the basement seems to suggest it as being a heat-related problem.
So, what part do you think is causing this problem? A light? The screen? A chip or connection somewhere?
Are there others out there with this problem? It's rather upsetting, as I like to watch videos and play games on it but I can't rely on it having a clear screen.

All the things that my iPod has been through (in no particular order):
- Age; I've had the iPod pretty much since they came out
- Manufacturing problem or Firmware update bugs; I've survived a multitude of problems in the past (seemingly bricked being stuck in a loop of trying to turn on, the videos don't play video or sound problem, the not-recognised-by-iTunes problem, not being recognised by the iPod updater)
- Slight bending and pressure from by carrying it in my pants pockets (front and back) on occasion over the years
- Damage from being dropped on occasion
- Possible damage from being used in a hot, smokey environment for months
- Being exposed to heat or static from fuzzy jacket pockets
- Being exposed to heat from my waterbed
- Being exposed to cold over some very cold winter days
- Pressure and scratching from a plastic shell I bought to protect it, which turned out to be a very bad idea as it caused many scratches to the screen and may have been too tight as the lcd was showing distortion with it on
- Probably got some water on it a few times
Thinking back to when I first had this problem, the causes may be one of:
- Possible damage from being used in a hot, smokey environment for months
- Being exposed to heat or static from fuzzy jacket pockets
- Being exposed to cold over some very cold winter days
- Probably got some water on it a few times
- Age; I've had the iPod pretty much since they came out

Washed out screen in iPhone 3G - after upgrade to iOS 5.0.1

I have an older iPhone 3GS. Have been very happy for 18 months. Recently upgraded to iOS 5.0.1. Immediately afterwards, I started having a washed out screen. It was intermittent at first, but now the screen is washed out all the time. The problem started immediately after the iOS upgrade, so it's clearly a software or firmware issue - not glue curing. Any ideas how to get back to the crisp white screen, or go back to iOS 5.0?

I have an identical problem. Apple recommends doing USB troubleshooting and checking to see if security software is causing the problem. http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3694
In my case, neither helped.

Ver 10.0.1. Entire screen blacks out for a few seconds when scrolling.

I recently updated to Reader X 10.0.1. Now when I scroll through a large document my entire screen blacks out for a few seconds. So far it has recovered. I get an error message saying that the NVidia nView driver (ver. 135.50) has stopped responding. I am running Windows 7 Pro on an HP Laptop, feeding to a large Samsung monitor. Never happened prior to this update. Any fixes/ideas?

You are still under warranty. Call Apple Care. Make sure you get a case number as all repairs have an additional 90 days of warranty.
#1 - You have 14 days from the date of purchase to return your computer with no questions asked.
#2 - You have 90 days of FREE phone tech support.
#3 - You have the standard one year Apple warranty.
#4 - If you've purchased an AppleCare Protection Plan, your warranty last for 3 years. You can obtain AppleCare anytime up to the first year of the purchase of your computer.
Take FULL advantage of your warranty. Posting on a message board should be done as a last resort and if you are out of warranty or Apple Care has expired.

MacBook Pro starts off in blue washed out tint then goes to grey screen

So I took out the stock HDD and replace it with a SSD and the laptop with working better then ever. Then later on at night I used the thunderbolt plug to connect it to a TV. After about 5 min the computer froze so I restarted it. But now when it reboots the screen has a blue washed out look. It won't open into OS X, instead the apple logo comes then the screen turns into a solid grey. It recognizes the SSD when I hold option but won't open it up. So I put the HDD back in and it does the same thing.
My MacBook Pro is an early 2011 15 inch with anti glare display
I'm pretty sure it was running on Mountain Lion because I didn't get a chance to upgrade to Mavericks yet.
The SSD is a 960 Crucial SSD.
I am past warranty with Apple Care so is there anything I can do to fix this?

#2 NVRAM reset
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
Use TRIM Enabler on your third party SSD over at MacUpdate.com to enable TRIM in system profiler to check.
Right or control key click to open past Gatekeeper.

Having an intermittent issue where my iMac blanks out on me. On restarting I get bands running down the screen with pixels jumping around, then the white screen of death and nothing... Wouldn't restart all weekend, now fine..? any ideas whats wrong?

Having an intermittent issue where my iMac blanks out on me. On restarting I get several bands running down the screen with pixels jumping around within the bands, then the white screen of death and nothing... This happens intermittently and usually restarts OK. Happened again three days ago and wouldn't restart for two days (again the bands/pixels etc) but now operating fine? Any ideas whats wrong with my iMac and what the solution may be? Also gets very hot from time to time, particularly if I'm playing music/watching youtube/movies for extended periods. Mac is 3.5 years old, running OS X 10.6.8, processor 3.4 GHz i7 memory 8GB 1333 MHz DDR3

If you live near an Apple Store, make a Genius Bar appointment to have the computer tested. Supposedly there is no charge for testing. Use 2nd link if not near an Apple Store or aren’t in the US.
Genius Bar Reservation US
Authorized Service Provider

17" Imac core 2 duo cheap one washed out screen

Just got the $999 imac. The screen looks somewhat washed out. I have it next to my macbook which is hooked up to a Dell external monitor and the icons and everythgin looks much more washed out then on the dell monitor.
Is there a way to chage the color. The color is more vivid on the dell. and the shadows etc are darker.

Go to system preferences, select displays, select color, and try another profile.

How come start up screen colors look washed out.

Hi,
I tried to change the background for the login startup screen on my iMac. I noticed that the colors from my image appears faded.
When I look at the image in other origram(ie. preview) the colors are what they should be.
So what is OS X(Lion) doing to cause the colrs to look this way? And is there a way to fix it?
Thanks and I look forward to your reply.
...Bruce

I had this problem with my R705 too. It has to do with one of the bloatware that is already installed from the factory. The reason that I say this is because after I put in a ssd and did a clean install without any of the bloatware, I don't get the washed out screen effect anymore. Now which one of the bloatware is responsible for this, i couldn't tell you.

Intermittent screen distortion - entire screen washed out

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for