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Thunderbird 38 does not work properly: constant "blanks and blacks"

  • 8 replies
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  • Last reply by Ella_hari
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Ella_hari
Ella_hari

After the update to 38.1.0 version I have constant problems with "blanks and blacks". when I write a new email it suddenly goes blank or black, when I search for some emails, the email list goes blank or black (comes back after some time, or not), sometimes I cannot even move my coursor anywhere over the emails because then they partly go, yes, blank or black. I already turned off the add-ons/plugins, it did not help. is it fixable? if not, could someone walk me through the steps to return to the older version 31.7.0 (it was almost fine, with more bearable bugs). My laptop: Lenovo Thinkpad W520.

After the update to 38.1.0 version I have constant problems with "blanks and blacks". when I write a new email it suddenly goes blank or black, when I search for some emails, the email list goes blank or black (comes back after some time, or not), sometimes I cannot even move my coursor anywhere over the emails because then they partly go, yes, blank or black. I already turned off the add-ons/plugins, it did not help. is it fixable? if not, could someone walk me through the steps to return to the older version 31.7.0 (it was almost fine, with more bearable bugs). My laptop: Lenovo Thinkpad W520.

Chosen solution

First make sure your graphics driver is up to date. Confirm driver is up to date.

re; I already turned off the add-ons/plugins, it did not help. I presume you mean you restarted Thunderbird in Safe Mode. Help > Restart with addons disabled. If this did not offer any change then disable the hardware exceleration. Confirm Thunderbird Safe mode offered no change.

Tools > Options > Advanced > General tab or Menu icon > Options > Options > Advanced > General tab uncheck 'Use hardware acceleration when available' click on OK

REstart thunderbird. retest for blanks and blacks. Confirm whether this resolved the issue.

Please report back on results for each test.

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All Replies (8)

Toad-Hall
Toad-Hall
  • Top 25 Contributor

Chosen Solution

First make sure your graphics driver is up to date. Confirm driver is up to date.

re; I already turned off the add-ons/plugins, it did not help. I presume you mean you restarted Thunderbird in Safe Mode. Help > Restart with addons disabled. If this did not offer any change then disable the hardware exceleration. Confirm Thunderbird Safe mode offered no change.

Tools > Options > Advanced > General tab or Menu icon > Options > Options > Advanced > General tab uncheck 'Use hardware acceleration when available' click on OK

REstart thunderbird. retest for blanks and blacks. Confirm whether this resolved the issue.

Please report back on results for each test.

Modified by Toad-Hall

Ella_hari
Ella_hari Question owner

hello, thank you very much for your fast reply. I started from the beginning and it looks like disabling the hardware acceleration did the thing. no more blanks and blacks. thanks a lot! one more question - I turned off all the addons, how can I restore them? (calendar for example)

Toad-Hall
Toad-Hall
  • Top 25 Contributor

If you restarted in Safe Mode:

Restart Thunderbird again and it should open in Normal Mode with all addons enabled.

Otherwise you would have to go through all the addon extensions, etc and manually enable each one. Tools > Addons or Menu icon > Addons.

Ella_hari
Ella_hari Question owner

it seems I have to enable them manually, because they are totally gone:)

thank you very much for your help!

Wayne Mery
Wayne Mery
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor

Ella_hari said

My laptop: Lenovo Thinkpad W520.

I also have W520. Which GPU are you using for Thunderbird, onboard Intel or NVIDIA? And which version and date of driver?

Ella_hari
Ella_hari Question owner

Hi Wayne, I think NVIDIA but how can I check this info to be sure?

Wayne Mery
Wayne Mery
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor

Ella_hari said

Hi Wayne, I think NVIDIA but how can I check this info to be sure?

Help | Troubleshooting See Graphics section

Ella_hari
Ella_hari Question owner

Here is what I found: Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000 driver: 9.17.10.3347 1-29-2014

GPU 2 NVIDIA Quadro 2000M 9.18.13.4520 2-4-2015