Black or White bars at top or bottom of screen

Anonymous
2018-06-18T23:22:01+00:00

Hi all, 

I am technician at an IT company and we are pulling out our hair over an issue with one of our clients using Google Calendar.

They are 2 users, both using different computers, both running the latest version of Windows 10 and Chrome.

The symptoms happen at different times on both machines. The symptoms can vary but are generally a form of bar on the top or bottom of the browser. They have to restart the computer for the issue to disappear. They can work around it by reducing the screen size from full screen, to something slightly smaller.

We have tried Firefox, Edge and Chrome Canary with same symptoms, updating all drivers, BIOS, re installation of the OS and still issues are occurring. We originally thought the issues were graphics related, but they seem to only be happening when in Google Calendar. Seems like an OS bug? 

We have also turns hardware acceleration off in the browsers.

I have included some screenshots as well. The black bars at the top began in Firefox on Google Calendar and have penetrated other windows that have been placed on top (Acrobat in this example). 

We are using an Intel NUC and a Laptop.

Any advise would be most appreciated.

Regards, Sam

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Performance and system failures

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2019-03-26T15:04:26+00:00

Hello everyone,

You can use the shortcut CONTROL + SHIFT + WIN + B to reset the graphics adapter on affected machines. This will get rid of the white/black bars without navigating through menus. 

All the fixes I've seen (Intel graphics panel, reboot computer, change resolution, etc) just reset the graphics driver anyway. For example, when you change the resolution on a computer, the monitor(s) shuts off for a moment and then comes back up. This is because the graphics adapter reset.

I don't have a permanent fix unfortunately, but this is a quick band-aid fix that takes less than a second when you see this problem occurring. I've observed this problem over the last ~6 months and am disappointed that some of my organization's fully updated computers (Windows 10 1809 with all updates as of March 26th, 2019) still display this problem. 

Thanks.

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Anonymous
2021-11-30T00:53:12+00:00

Solved! After a few years of just accepting this problem, a tech guy at Best Buy found the answer. He worked on it for an hour or so and voila! In google chrome (chrome://extensions), he eliminated the extension on stock tracker program and the bar is now GONE! I had the same problem on my other computer so I made that change and it's gone! Hopefully, that or something similar will work for everyone else who has suffered with this problem. Good luck!

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-10-07T15:30:58+00:00

    For me this issue arises when I am using a 2nd monitor connected to my Dell Laptop and I open MS Word. 

    I Open MS Word, compose/edit/whatever my document, and go back to my Chrome Broswer, and there is a large black bar the top of my 2nd screen.

    As with others, minimizing helps. 

    To Fix it: I press [Windows]+P to bring up my screen options, and I select PC Screen Only, then toggle back to Extend. This fixes it until the next time I open Word. 

    I've tried everything in this article as well as some other things with no help, but at least my quick fix works well. I can even do it while on a Zoom call, though I often need to restart my screen share afterwards.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-09-29T17:29:24+00:00

    Removing the HDMI cable for the external monitor stops the bar from covering the top of the browsers.

    Apps opened on the extrernal monitor will minimize and need to be moved go the monitor again, but no data will be lost.

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