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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  1. Anonymous
    2021-07-14T11:45:26+00:00

    I have had a similar problem. I have a laptop connected to a monitor. I use the monitor as my main screen. Sometimes when I use Chrome I get a white bar across the top of my screen. If I open another app the bar appears black. My remedy was simple. I switched off the monitor (leaving Windows running on my laptop), Chrome and all other open apps automatically move to my laptop screen and the bar is gone. I restart my monitor and drag Chrome from my laptop to my monitor.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-07-23T20:12:35+00:00

    Microsoft Support: We need real help with this, it's been going on since at least 2018!!!

    This is an OS issue with something in Windows itself, possibly with MS web-based user accounts specifically. I use Windows 10 (over multiple computer brands) and this has happened to me intermittently in Firefox, Chrome, Adobe, MS Office, and in the windows explorer screen etc. The only thing they all have in common is the Windows formatting and that I am logged into my computer with the same MS account. When the white bar appears, I can no longer use the white area in the program, it is as if that part of the screen never existed. In fact, if I click on it and there are other windows behind it, I will interact with those windows behind the white bar. I must force the program closed and once reopened the problem happens again. This can be TEMPORARILY fixed by switching screen resolution back and forth, sometimes by keyboarding the minimize/maximize function, but there is no PERMANENT fix, and it has cost me much productivity in changing settings and restarting my computer, only for it to happen again. There are multiple forums on MS Support for this question specifically, and NO ANSWER. I've tried calling support only to be lead back here. This result is UNACCEPTABLE! Please help! Here are present screenshots of Adobe and Windows Explorer.

    Just below my writing here is where the screenshot of my Windows Explorer screen should begin, It is white, not missing (red arrow for emphasis). The rest of the window works as it should and I can open the files (as long as their associated program is not imminently affected).

    Here is another. Just below my writing is where the screenshot of my Adobe Acrobat screen should begin, It is white, not missing (red arrow for emphasis). Also, the viewable minimize and close buttons do not work even when visible.

    Please, please help us so we don't have to move to Mac/Apple. Have a human being respond instead of a computer, there is no human or computer generated permanent fix for this available that I have found.

    Thank you!

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-10-14T09:00:24+00:00

    Entering and exiting the application to fullscreen in any way fixes the problem for me.

    That is, in the browser, I can hit F11 twice and the problem is gone.

    More difficult when it happens in other programs, like Teams.

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