SeaMonkey 2.40 on an HP Spectre x360: "screen turds"

[Dan Kies]

Hello SeaMonkey community,

Does anyone else have this machine: http://store.hp.com/us/en/mdp/Laptops/s ... -211501--1 ?

If so, are you too seeing "screen turds" (sometimes in the drop down menus, sometimes in the content window)? I have tried the default theme and add-on themes. Same results for each theme.

Regards,

Daniel

[barbaz]

Do you see the turd when starting SeaMonkey in Safe Mode?

[Dan Kies]

Hello barbaz,

Excellent suggestion. Let me experiment for a while, and I will report back. For the record, this is a one day old machine, a fresh install of SeaMonkey 2.40, and a new profile.

[frg]

If it has Intel graphics check that the latest drivers are installed. Look also on intel.com if HP does not provide new ones. Driver support for Intel graphics under Windows is so bad I have sworn to no longer buy any new laptop with Intel only graphics. They typically discontinue support after two years and let you rot with any followup problems.

Also turn off 'Use hardware acceleration when available' in Preferences -> Appearance -> Content

FRG

[Dan Kies]

Hello SM community,

I have some reports:

@barbaz: safe mode did not help. But it was a good thought and worth checking. After a few hours, though, I still found SM rendering "screen turds" in the content window.

@frg: Thank you for the suggestion. This idea occurred to me too, but I did not remember the location of the option. Thanks for the breadcrumbs. So far, disabling hardware acceleration seems to be working (though honestly I really need to spend more hours checking if that stays true). And thanks too for the suggestion of checking the graphics drivers. (It turned out that the most current drivers are already installed -- not unusual since this machine is new straight from HP itself.) You are right too about avoiding Intel's graphics (the value of a dedicated graphics card instead) if one can.

Daniel

PS: a short review of the HP Spectre x360 (for what its worth): I bought this machine as a replacement for my wife's older (i.e., Vista) notebook. She choose this because she liked the functionality and the aesthetics of the design. However, the motherboard died after a few months. (A common problem for the x360, judging by HP's own community forum.) The machine I link to in the OP is the replacement that HP sent us (rather than replacing the defective motherboard). In the course of setting up the replacement machine (the usual prompts for language, time zone, county, name, password, etc.), I had about a dozen pop-ups telling me that "the graphics driver crashed and has been restarted." Rebooting several time seemed to settle that down. Next, I ran Windows Update. Rebooting after the updates, I discover that the system didn't recognize ANY audio playback device. Even in the device manager: no audio device at all. After more reboots (and the installation of newer audio drivers from HP), I finally have audio, but it cuts out on occasion, requiring a system restart to restore audio. That will be a pain if one is in the middle of a presentation.

All in all, if I could have convinced HP to give me the money back, I think I would have purchased a Dell XPS 13 instead. Similar functionality and aesthetic appeal. One hopes better quality control/components as well.

[barbaz]

@barbaz: safe mode did not help. But it was a good thought and worth checking. After a few hours, though, I still found SM rendering "screen turds" in the content window.

@frg: Thank you for the suggestion. This idea occurred to me too, but I did not remember the location of the option. Thanks for the breadcrumbs. So far, disabling hardware acceleration seems to be working (though honestly I really need to spend more hours checking if that stays true).

It likely won't. Safe Mode also disables hardware acceleration. Still, probably a good idea to leave it disabled, given the situation.

I think you have bigger problems with your computer than turd on SeaMonkey. Fixing those may well clean up the turd as well.

[frg]

The latest drivers seem to be from August 19:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/downlo ... 15-40-?v=t

I would do a RAM test first. If this chip isn't that different from the older ones it uses system ram as graphics card ram. Older ones also had problems if only a single bank was equipped. Putting ram in both slots cleaned up graphics on the really old generations (i965 and 4500). My HP elite company laptop suffers from occasional white streaks thru the picture. Also has only one bank equipped.

I would probably RMA it again to be on the safe side.

FRG

[therube]

There was an issue with HP & "Dreamcolor display" (but not seeing where your Spectre has that?).