FireFox and Chrome launching at pure white windows (not just the content frame)

[aaronbsmith]

Hello, I submitted this as a support ticket too before noticing the forums so I wanted to make a post here so others could reply if they are having the same problem -- or at least find a search result for it on the web.

For about 9+ months or so I've been having a problem. Not just with my computer either. It is happening between more than a dozen computers other computers and I'm connecting to them with lots of different computers, so I don't think it is just related to me.

All web browsers show white screen when opened or new tab opened. If I connect initially and the remote computer has a web page open I can see it. But after opening a new tab or new browser it is completely white. Like in FireFox, it just doesn't update to the new tab when you [+ new tab]. It stays on the current page that you are able to see until you try to do anything new like open a new tab.

I know a couple other people using Teamviewer and they sometimes have the same problem. Web browsers try to render a new screen and the entire thing is white. Not just the web browser'ss HTML content section of the window, it is the entire window. I'm wondering if web browsers have started using different rendering engines that Teamviewer is having trouble with. I connect with remote desktop and everything works just fine.

By the way, on some machines Internet Explorer will work, he problem seems to hit FireFox and Chrome more, but it does happen in IE sometimes.

I've attached a screenshot that shows FireFox and Chrome open next to each other. Currently on that machine IE does open and work, but often on others all 3 web browsers just go white.

Also I have all machines updated to the latest version of Teamviewer. I always keep them using the latest version.

I can't be the only one having the problem. I've noticed it has gotten progressively worse over the last 9 months - which could be because of the increased rate that web browsers have started to render their screen using.. Well.. I dunno, more low level hardware acceleration to render the screen?

[matt]

I use firefox almost exclusively, and frequently use firefox from a teamviewer connection, and I have never seen this.

Are some websites accessible? Or all all websites the same?
What about bookmarked sites?

[aaronbsmith]

All websites are the same. Doesn't matter what content is in the HTML display frame. The entire window is whited out. Also I just thought of something else to test. I connected to that same computer using Teamviewer for Android and the white windows (what is shown in my attached file) are there too. So my assumption is that it is purely on the host not being able to capture whatever rendering method the browsers are using. I think both FF and Chrome have been working pretty hard on having the browser interface be rendered using more modern techniques. Like lower level hardware decoding. IE has moved the same direction however while it does have the problem too, it has it less often than Chrome and FF.

So glad I'm not the only person. (Edit: I misread your post and thought you said you had seen it - So great it is only me and a couple friends, that or no else has reported it which would surprise me)  This has been driving me nuts for a long time. By the way, 2 of the computers (but not the only) with this problem are Dell Inspirion 17" laptops with 4th generation Intel I3 processors and the HD4000 gfx chipset.

[iampaulh]

It's not just you

I am having the same issue, it just started for me today. I'm remoting to a Windows 8.1 x64 (Intel and NVidia graphics) and both Firefox and Chrome show completely white windows when connected via TeamViewer.

If I start Firefox in Safe mode (hold shift while running the firefox.exe) - then Firefox runs as normal, but in safe mode, natch

IE does still seem to work though. Did you hear anything back from TeamViewer support yet?

[iampaulh]

just found this link

http://superuser.com/questions/640866/chrome-not-rendering-pages-on-a-remote-windows-8-laptop

I've contacted TeamViewer support regarding the subject and turned out that this was due to how Windows 8 handles a closed lid. Anything, what requires GPU processing, wouldn't get rendered at all, if there's no active monitor (and a closed lid is basically the same as if it was disconnected).

The fix is to disable hardware acceleration in Chrome settings:

I just confirmed it on my laptop. With the lid down, white firefox; lid open, normal firefox

[aaronbsmith]

So glad that someone other than me is having the problem. I hate being a loner thinking it is just my hardware. But considering I access about 30 different family/friend computers, and it happens no matter what computer I'm remoting in from I couldn't image it was just me. Teamviewer support did get back to me with the below message. I haven't tried them yet (probably will tomorrow), but I know it isn't anti-virus/firewall/etc. This is something Teamviewer needs to come up with a fix for, especially when remote desktop and their competing solutions don't have the problem.

iampaulh, it isn't the just closed lid (or at least not the only reason). Happens when I connect to a user with their laptop lid open all the time. IE only seems to do it half the time, and perhaps that is when the lid is closed. I'd have to do more testing.

Below is the msg from TV support and my reply:

From: TeamViewer Team [mailto:support@teamviewer.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2014 3:51 PM
To: my email address
Subject: Bug report

Dear Aaron,

Thank you for contacting TeamViewer and your patience

There are a few antivirus /firewall products that may be able to blank certain programs. Please disable them and see if that helps. If this is not the case then there is also another common reason for this, which is a closed notebook lid or disconnected/powered-off monitor. Some programs will stop rendering hardware accelerated content if no monitor is detected. It's possible that the application uses Internet Explorer (or another browser) internally so you may be able to fix it by disabling hardware acceleration in that browser.

Hardware acceleration is a new feature in Internet Explorer 9 that lets Internet Explorer move all graphics and text rendering from the CPU to the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). In some cases, you have to enable or disable hardware acceleration to check for hardware or software compatibility issues with viewing certain Internet websites, such as websites that contain streaming or full-screen video.

To disable hardware acceleration, follow these steps:
Click Start, and then click Internet Explorer.
Click the Tools icon in the upper-right corner, and then click Internet Options.
Click the Advanced tab, and then under Accelerated graphics, select the Use software rendering instead of GPU rendering check box.
Click Apply, and then click OK.
Close Internet Explorer 9 and then restart it so that the change takes effect.
To enable hardware acceleration again, follow the previous steps, but in step 3, clear the Use software rendering instead of GPU rendering check box.

For the Windows Operating System please follow the below instructions:

1. Choose Start > Control Panel.
2. Double click Personalization and select Display Settings.
3. Click Advanced Settings.
4. Click Change Settings on the Troubleshooting tab.
5. Move the Hardware Acceleration slider to None.
6. Click Apply and then click OK to accept the new setting and close the dialog box.
7. Click OK to close the Display Properties dialog box.
8. Restart Windows.

Thank you in advance and please feel free to contact us again with any further questions you may have...

Best regards,

Sebastian Gogola | Team Manager Tech Support

My reply

Hi. I will give everything on this list a try but will take me a day. I really doubt it is the antivirus or firewall. The apps all work perfectly until I connect. And I’m pretty sure the person at the computer can see the screen and interact with it, it is just Teamviewer that isn’t capturing it. It has done this with the laptop lid both open and closed. Matter fact it has done it on some PC’s that were fully logged in.

I’ll test the rest of the things, by the way – I didn’t see you have a forum before I created the ticket, so I made a post there too. In case this is affecting other people you may want to copy and paste your list of resolutions to the post so others can follow along. http://teamviewerforums.com/index.php?topic=2193.0  ?

Will get back to you ?

[aaronbsmith]

One more thing I just noticed, it also won't bring up the windows start key. I am using Start8 from StarDock

[aaronbsmith]

And update to this thread -- I expected to do more testing by now but have been busy.

With laptop lid open - YES both FireFox and Chrome fail turning totally white from window edge to window edge.
YES - as iampaulh suggested holding SHIFT while opening FF makes it work.

And now, with the latest versions of Skype for Desktop, it seems they are using better rendering techniques too and the entire window frame has gone white.

So my suggestion to TV is, either find a way to capture these rendered windows in a future fix, or temp change the windows settings just like it does setting a computer into non-Aero basic mode upon connection. Because more and more applications are going this way -- using more advanced techniques to render their screen. In no way should the user of Teamviewer have to do custom changes to a remote computer to be able to use the applications. Especially not when other solutions seem to work just fine with it.

I have faith in you TV developers. LOVED this tool for so long and it is always updating with new features and fixes. I hope they can work this one out. I can't go changing the settings on 50 computers.

[aaronbsmith]

Well this is embarrassing. Since I cannot edit my previous post, I have to correct myself in this one. I told the user on the other end I needed to test Teamviewer and to leave their laptop lid open, they misread it and closed it. So once they were back they re-opened it and FF and Chrome and Skype worked. So yes this is tied to closing of the laptop lid. But my other statements stand. I believe TV needs to change the function of the close lid function upon connection to re-awaken the rendering features it is losing when the laptop lid is closed. I believe the hardware acceleration and actions upon laptop lid close can be modified when TV connects so that these applications and the start menu work again. Since so many of my family and friends close their laptop lids or their computer is going into some sort of power saving mode while still letting me connect and the "all white" windows are happening, there has to be a fix.

Teamviewer staff, are you following this thread?

[matt]

Teamviewer staff, are you following this thread?

Unlikely is my guess.

someone did follow here for a while, but I haven't seen evidence of them in more than a year.
(perhaps I'm wrong and they will reply)

[mencik]

I've been conversing with someone about this on the Teamviewer FB page. They do not monitor this forum since it is not run by them.
I've submitted a ticket on this exact same problem. I'll forward any responses I get.

[Admin]

spread the word about the forum !

[mencik]

I'll spread the word, but you need to fix the registration process. It took 7 tries over two days to finally receive the activation email to be able to post to the forum. There is no way to contact anyone that has difficulty as even the technical contact for teamviewerforums.com in whois is hidden (yes, I looked). There should be a link somewhere to send a message to the administrator.

[matt]

I'll spread the word, but you need to fix the registration process.

Yep, I remember the 'are you a robot' or similar question that tricked me.
I had to re-register with a different email address

[Admin]

hmm, ill look into it , sorry folks, we maybe got a bit over zealous on preventing bots after and rash of registrations on day.. i think there were over 200 independent registrations all that posted some sort of trash spam.
when you say it took 7 tries, where was the issue specifically...number of questions asked>  incorrect answers or just not receiving registration emails?