Black lines around opened files

[tintenter]

For the past couple months, occurring sporadically a few times a week, when I open a file there are numerous black lines of varying width around the opened file. In the attachment you can see 2 thick black lines at the top of the file, 1 thick black line below the file and multiple narrow lines on the left and bottom of the file edges. Once they appear on 1 file all the following files I open will have these lines. If I restart the laptop they will go away. Any ideas? I have a MBP 15inch, mid 2010. OS X 10.9.1. Thanx, bj

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Do they appear in a screenshot?

Do you mean these lines?

What happens if you close the Finder window or switch to another Desktop?

 

[tintenter]

The attachment was taken with my iPhone and downloaded to my laptop. I have not tried taking a screenshot. bj

 

[simsaladimbamba]

The attachment was taken with my iPhone and downloaded to my laptop. I have not tried taking a screenshot. bj

The picture I attached to my post has some areas of the photo highlighted. Are those the areas or black lines you talk about?

 

[tintenter]

The lines you outlined in red are what I'm concerned with. I'm not very knowledgable about computers. When I see this occurring I restart the laptop. bj

 

[simon48]

The lines you outlined in red are what I'm concerned with. I'm not very knowledgable about computers. When I see this occurring I restart the laptop. bj

And then it's fixed?

 

[Montymitch]

I have the exact same thing on my machine occasionally. It's like the drop shadow around a window corrupts and displays artifacts. Switching dgpu fixes the problem, but it kills battery life.
I hope someone here has an awesome fix for us (they always do!).

 

[tintenter]

And then it's fixed?

Restarting does fix the problem. When the problem starts - any file I open will be affected. There is no predictability as to when this will occur. bj

----------

I have the exact same thing on my machine occasionally. It's like the drop shadow around a window corrupts and displays artifacts. Switching dgpu fixes the problem, but it kills battery life.
I hope someone here has an awesome fix for us (they always do!).

What is "dgpu" and how do you switch dgpu? When I described what was happening to a coworker who is experienced with Macs he thought possibly my video card may be going bad. I sure hope not. bj

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Restarting does fix the problem. When the problem starts - any file I open will be affected. There is no predictability as to when this will occur. bj

----------



What is "dgpu" and how do you switch dgpu? When I described what was happening to a coworker who is experienced with Macs he thought possibly my video card may be going bad. I sure hope not. bj

dGPU stands for "dedicated Graphics Processing Unit", which is the Nvidia GeForce 330M GT in your 15" MBP.
Have you tried gfxCardStatus[/URL] is the tool to manually switch GPUs, as you also have an integrated graphics processor (IGP), the Intel HD Graphics, inside your Mac.