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Onshape workspace background color flickers between white and black.

ed_beickmaned_beickman Member Posts: 5 EDU
in Community Support
I have students using onshape in class on their chromebooks, running Chrome version 107.0.5304.92, .  They have started experiencing their workspace back ground change to black and then back to white.  This could be dependent on them just moving their mouse around on the screen while modeling.   

I have some students whose chromebooks are not having this issue, they are running Chrome version 106.0.5249.112, 105.0.5195.134. I have Chrome version 107.0.5304.88 running on my windows laptop and don't see this happening.

I know in prior posts (around 2020), there was an issue with a chrome update.  Is this something similar?  Is there a setting change we can make in Chrome?

Answers

  • Domenico_DiMareDomenico_DiMare Member, Onshape Employees Posts: 87
    Hi @ed_beickman. Sorry you are running into an issue with your students.

    The black background is often caused by a Chrome/graphics driver issue, especially on older Chromebooks.

    Have you tried going to chrome://flags/ and enabling "Override software rendering list" on the affected devices? This usually fixes the issue. Let us know if it doesn't.
  • ed_beickmaned_beickman Member Posts: 5 EDU
    I change the setting in chrome://flags to enabled and it did not fix the problem.  I'm wondering if I can figure out how to undo the update to the chrome verision...
  • Domenico_DiMareDomenico_DiMare Member, Onshape Employees Posts: 87
    Could you also try turning on "hardware acceleration" in addition to "Override software rendering list" if it isn't :
    1. Go to chrome://settings (chrome://settings/).
    2. Click the Advanced dropdown on the left side of the window.
    3. Scroll down to the System section and ensure the Use hardware acceleration when available checkbox is checked.
    4. Relaunch Chrome so any changes take effect.
    The team is investigating this issue. It seems to be caused by the recent Chrome update. Another workaround if the above does not work is to revert to an older version of Chrome as you suggested.
  • dave_foresterdave_forester Member Posts: 2 EDU
    The black and white flickering with Onshape / Chrome incompatibility makes Onshape unusable. This is an issue for my students as well, but only those whose machines are running 107.0.5304.92 just like ed_beickman. The flickering issue is certainly caused by the latest Chrome update, however our student Chromebooks (all brand new) are managed by the technology department at the district level and Chrome OS updates are pushed out meaning students are not able to control whether or not their machines get updated. Because of district level protections, students are not able to either turn on hardware acceleration or downgrade to an older version of Chrome. My PC is running Chrome 106.0.5249.103 and I am not experiencing any issues. But my Design class has ground to a stop.

    Onshape is such a valuable, generally stable platform to use in the high school classroom. A speedy resolution to this issue by the Onshape team would be greatly appreciated!!
  • Domenico_DiMareDomenico_DiMare Member, Onshape Employees Posts: 87
    We are working on a fix. I've written a support ticket for both of you @dave_forester and @ed_beickman so you will be notified when the fix is implemented.

    In the meantime, if possible, please use a different browser.
  • robert_baker847robert_baker847 Member Posts: 2 ✭
    Hiya. I'm also experiencing this issue. Chrome Version 107.0.5304.92 (Official Build) (64-bit) on Chromebook. No previous issues experienced. Really keen to see this fixed, please.
  • NeilCookeNeilCooke Moderator, Onshape Employees Posts: 5,836
    All we can do is submit a bug report to Google and wait for them to fix...
    Senior Director, Technical Services, EMEA
  • ed_beickmaned_beickman Member Posts: 5 EDU
    My original post was sent over to support.  They replied to me there with a solution that did fix the problem for my students.  The response from support is below as I don't think anyone other than myself can open that link....


    From Brien_McCormick:
    This is a Google issue with their patch to Chrome OS and related to your graphics driver.  When this happens you might be able to work around it using the following flags in Chrome:
     
    Under chrome:flags this making sure these are set.
     
    Override Software enable
    Accelerated 2d Canvas enable
    Selected HW overlay none


    Again, these setting changes fixed the issue on my end for our chromebooks.
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