Vscode: macOS High Sierra: parts of the UI not rendering

[EagleEYErus]

• VSCode Version: 1.16.1
• OS Version: macOS High Sierra 10.13

Steps to Reproduce:

Interface crashes when I open a file in the project folder tree.

Reproduces without extensions: Not Tested

[isidorn]

Can you reproduce this with vscode insiders?
https://code.visualstudio.com/Insiders/

[EagleEYErus]

@isidorn I will try, but I have not yet understood the sequence of steps to cause the crash. This happens randomly.

[isidorn]

@EagleEYErus without the sequence of steps there is not much we can do

[chasegiunta]

I’ve also recently had this begin happening after update to High Sierra, though it’s not specific to opening a file in tree. Completely random. It also appears to happen on other electron apps (Slack) though I haven’t been able to track down an electron issue for it anywhere yet.

[chasegiunta]

@EagleEYErus are you using an external monitor by chance? Is it high dpi?

[bpasero]

@chasegiunta does it make a difference if you run "code --disable-gpu" from the command line?

[elijnzaad]

I've experienced similar problems since upgrading to High Sierra. After a while the screen goes to a screen like EagleEYErus's. The after a minute or so it gradually comes back to life. I am using a MacBook Pro with a 4K external monitor, but I've experienced the same problems while not using the monitor.

Running "open Visual\ Studio\ Code.app --args --disable-gpu" from the terminal seems to have fixed the problem. It is running trouble-free for about an hour now.

[bpasero]

@EagleEYErus @elijnzaad does it run any better with our insiders build (NOT using --disable-gpu): http://code.visualstudio.com/Download#insiders

[elijnzaad]

No, it doesn't.
Although I'm not sure I actually got the insiders build. I did follow your link, but the 'about' still shows 1.16.1.

[bpasero]

@elijnzaad sorry, bad link: https://code.visualstudio.com/insiders/

[elijnzaad]

I'm sorry, but the insiders build does have the same problem as the production build. It didn't take me more than 2 minutes. The screenshot shows the first thing I did, which is adjusting the user settings.

[EagleEYErus]

@chasegiunta I did not use external monitors at the time the error was received. The first time a bug appeared on the MacOS High Sierra on the MacBook Air 13' 2013. For one development session, UI crashed several times. Then I ran into this problem yesterday on my iMac 27' late 2013. Then I tried to cause the error intentionally, but I did not find the sequence of steps, although it arose again when I changed the application window, but when I tried to repeat these actions nothing happened. I do not remember exactly, but the discord also seemed to give out this crash.

[EagleEYErus]

@elijnzaad UI after the crash was restored only once otherwise I had to restart the application

[EagleEYErus]

@elijnzaad Don't you have extensions for the insider version?

[bpasero]

@EagleEYErus @elijnzaad does this only reproduce on external monitor or also on the macbook pro screen? for external monitor, are they 4k/5k monitors?

[elijnzaad]

@EagleEYErus I actually hadn't done anything in the insider build. I downloaded it, started it and selected Preferences -> User settings from the menu. That's all, no extensions.

[EagleEYErus]

@bpasero I did not use external monitors during the crash, and, as I wrote above, the maximum resolution of all the devices I use is 2560x1440

The first time a bug appeared on the MacOS High Sierra on the MacBook Air 13' 2013. For one development session, UI crashed several times. Then I ran into this problem yesterday on my iMac 27' late 2013.

[elijnzaad]

@bpasero I did use a Philips BDM4037U 4K external monitor. I'm currently running VSCode Insider without the external monitor on a MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1 GB
Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB. So far no problems yet.

[bpasero]

@EagleEYErus on what device are you seeing this currently?

@elijnzaad and this is without using --disable-gpu right?

[EagleEYErus]

@bpasero This screenshot I made on iMac 27-inch (2560 x 1440) late 2013
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M 2 ГБ

[elijnzaad]

@bpasero Yes, I'm running VSCode Insider without --disable-gpu and without the external monitor. No problems yet.

[EagleEYErus]

@bpasero Again, this error occurred a few hours ago on iMac, UI crashed when I changed tab and recovered in a few seconds.

[bpasero]

@EagleEYErus so this issue goes away after some second back to a functional UI, is that true?

[EagleEYErus]

@bpasero Last time, yes, but not always.

[bpasero]

Can someone capture a video when this happens and attach it? I would just like to understand how this surfaces.

[EagleEYErus]

@bpasero I found an excerpt from my stream (music plays loudly)
https://clips.twitch.tv/AbnegateEndearingAnisePRChase

[chasegiunta]

If it's relevant for graphic driver issues, using MBPro Retina (Late 2013) NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2 GB / Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB. High Sierra - using a High DPI external display, but happens on both screens.

Does go away after some 2-30 seconds. Typically hovering the mouse over the UI helps after some time. Hiding / Minimizing the window and bringing back has no effect in resolving.

Just started today but will report back if I continue to see the issue when running with --disable-gpu.

[bpasero]

@EagleEYErus thanks. It looks awfully like https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/25934 which was fixed by a Chrome fix we took in where the GPU buffer was running out of memory.

Does it help to set "editor.disableTranslate3d": true ?

[bpasero]

@EagleEYErus @chasegiunta @elijnzaad here are a couple of things to try out to see if it improves the situation:

• run code --disable-gpu-rasterization
• run code --disable-mac-overlays
• run code --force_integrated_gpu

[elijnzaad]

@bpasero VSCode 1.16.1 with "editor.disableTranslate3d": true is running fine for an hour now (on the 40-inch Philips monitor).

[elijnzaad]

@bpasero Would you like us to try out the flags one-by-one to see which one does the trick?

[bpasero]

@elijnzaad yeah that would be nice. Thanks for doing this.

[EagleEYErus]

@bpasero Is it normal that the VSCode says that the property editor.disableTranslate3d was not found: "Unknown configuration setting"

[bpasero]

@EagleEYErus sorry for that, I forgot that we took out the setting disableTranslate3d some releases ago. Still, the test with the other command line flags would be interesting to do.

[EagleEYErus]

@bpasero Well, I'll try now with the flag code --disable-gpu-rasterization. After restarting the VSCode, does the app start without flags in normal mode?

[bpasero]

@EagleEYErus no unfortunately not, these flags need to be provided on startup. I fear there would not even be a simple way for us to make this configurable via settings...

[elijnzaad]

@bpasero code 1.16.1 --disable-gpu-rasterization runs fine so far. Will now try --disable-mac-overlays

[EagleEYErus]

@bpasero worked with the flag --disable-gpu-rasterization for about an hour and a half, everything worked well too. Will try code --force_integrated_gpu

[elijnzaad]

@bpasero code 1.16.1 -disable-mac-overlays does run without the major blackouts, but it is more sluggish and sometimes it makes the windows flicker. This is not my favourite option so far. Will now try --force_integrated_gpu (I presume you do mean underscore characters there)

[EagleEYErus]

@bpasero code --force_integrated_gpu start and immediately crash

[elijnzaad]

@bpasero Confirmed. --force_integrated_gpu causes problems on my system as well.

[bpasero]

@EagleEYErus @elijnzaad and whats the exact hardware this is on (e.g. which hardware model and year?). Maybe this issue only shows up for very specific GPUs.

I am now also on high sierra and so far have not seen any issues.

[elijnzaad]

@bpasero
Laptop:
MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012),
Processor 2,6 GHz Intel Core i7,
Memory 16Gb RAM 1600 Mhz DDR3,
Graphics NVIDIA GeForcte GT 650M 1 GB, Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536Mb

Monitor:
2017 Philips BDM4037U 40-inch 4K, running at 30Ghz connected via HDMI

[EagleEYErus]

@bpasero
iMac:
iMac (27-inch, Late 2013),
Processor 3,4 GHz Intel Core i5,
Memory 16Gb 1600 MHz DDR3,
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M 2Gb

MacBook:
MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2013),
Processor 1,3 GHz Intel Core i5,
Memory 4Gb 1600 MHz DDR3,
Graphics Intel HD Graphics 5000 1536Mb

On both computers, I encountered a crash

[chasegiunta]

Macbook Pro (Retina, Late 2013)
Processor 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2 GB, Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB

Late to the replies here, but as the others have echoed, it doesn't occur with --disable-gpu . Will attempt the other flags today.

[elijnzaad]

@bpasero VSCode 1.16.1 seems to be running fine without any flags on my iMac 5K 27inch late 2014, 4Ghz Intel Core i7, 32Gb 1600MHz DDR3, AMD Radeon R9 M290X 2GB. So perhaps you are right in thinking that it is hardware related.

[bpasero]

At first I was thinking it could be the integrated GPU on the Macs, but given https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/35527#issuecomment-334469117 on an iMac where afaik there is only a single GPU, this theory seems wrong.

GPUs:

• Integrated: Intel HD Graphics 4000, Intel HD Graphics 5000, Intel Iris Pro 5200
• Discrete:  Nvidia Geforce GT 650M, Nvidia Geforce GTX 775M, Nvidia Geforce GTX 750M

So far the only pattern I can see that it happens with Macs before 2014'ish.

[EagleEYErus]

@bpasero I don't know if this information will be useful, but I just got exactly the same problem in the discord

[chasegiunta]

I also experience it in Slack (another Electron app).

[EagleEYErus]

@chasegiunta can there be an error in the electron?

[chasegiunta]

@EagleEYErus I would assume so. Though _there could potentially be_ some steps that apps like vscode could take to remedy them.

[EagleEYErus]

@chasegiunta hope so

[trumbitta]

I managed to somehow get it to work again by:

• downgrading to 1.16.1
• waiting for 1.17 to be ready for installation again
• rebooting High Sierra
• done

[trumbitta]

Now that I re-read my own comment, it reminds me of when playing DAoC at some early version you had to reboot the PC every few hours because artefacts would start popping all over the screen and wouldn't go away. It ended up being an issue with some video buffer and rebooting would clean it.

Also, @bpasero , my MBP is from < 2014 too.

[nktka]

Same occurs to me in chrome, in addition to VSCode.
I have mid 2012 non-retina macbook pro + external hiDPI monitor.

[EagleEYErus]

@bpasero @nktka

Same occurs to me in chrome, in addition to VSCode.

Maybe the problem is in chromium or v8 and macOS High Sierra because electron and Chrome use it both.

[bpasero]

Reported this to Electron as https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/10736

[chasegiunta]

@bpasero Appreciate the help. It may be even higher than them. I've noticed the same issue in Chrome a couple times over the past few days (it's very apparent that it happens _way more_ in Electron apps for some reason). So, potentially a Chromium issue? Though, as I mentioned before, hopefully there's some steps to alleviate it in Electron or vscode. Thanks for the report.

[mrazahasan]

i am unable to code on Visual studio because Visual studio code UI is destroyed when i open it on my mac Sierra v: 10.12.6
my screen resolution is: 1600 : 1200
attached is the screenshot

[Jasonlhy]

Surprisingly, after I upgrade my MacBook Air 2011 to High Sierra. vscode 1.17.1 works fine.

[EagleEYErus]

@Jasonlhy yesterday or the day before yesterday I caught a few UI crashes for one development session on my device

[chasegiunta]

This is above vscode, and likely even Electron. Anyone stumbling upon this issue and wants to echo their troubles, you can do so at https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/10736 or better yet on the Chromium issue https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=773705

[bpasero]

If anyone seeing this issue could report back if it still reproduces with this insider build: https://az764295.vo.msecnd.net/insider/7dec12f226bc98992bc8413340ea28281f6e94a0/VSCode-darwin-insider-unsigned.zip

Thanks!

[mrazahasan]

@bpasero nupz still UI not rendering properly. Its electron problem i guess. :(

[bpasero]

@mrazahasan I think you might be seeing something else, so far I thought this issue would only manifest on macOS high sierra.

[bpasero]

@EagleEYErus @chasegiunta ping, do you still see it in todays insider update?

[brosner]

@bpasero I have been following this issue and have been experiencing it myself. I can confirm today's insider update is showing very positive signs of a fix. I have not yet seen the issue yet. I will continue to use it and see if it crops up as it is mostly random. One case that caused the issue for me before updating was with vigorous window resizing and I don't see it after updating.

[bpasero]

@brosner awesome, thanks

[chasegiunta]

@bpasero Would love to test this out today if there's an easy way to reliably bring all my extensions & settings into Insiders. Can I ask what potential fixes were made? Checking for GPU and/or device type and conditionally disabled GPU?

[bpasero]

@chasegiunta the fix disables certain GPU features when a NVIDIA GPU is detected.

For syncing, maybe try https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=Shan.code-settings-sync

[stenmuchow]

Every time I update OSX i get such crap... Im gonna try the insider update and see what happens. Remember when OSX made good softwear? Nah - me neither :(

[stenmuchow]

@bpasero the insider install via the link you shared seems stable - for now.

[stenmuchow]

After using insiders for the last 5 days i confirm no more strange problems. Will this be moved to the regular vscode or do i continue to use insiders? @bpasero

[bpasero]

@stenmuchow thanks for the confirmation. Yes, the "fix" will go into stable. It is not a real fix of the underlying problem, rather we disable certain GPU features on certain hardware. So I would still like to keep this open and see if a real fix lands. The real fix might actually require Apple to fix something in High Sierra, so it might not even be possible to fix it in Electron.

[mehulkar]

Another piece of info that I didn't see in this thread on quick glance... after the glitches happened, I quit VSCode and then can't reopen it. It crashes immediately on launch. It's in that state right now. This has happened once before and a reboot fixed the issue. Let me know if I can get you any more info before I reboot! (I tried launching through CLI with some of the flags mentioned in this post, but it still crashes on launch immediately). I'll wait till tomorrow to reboot my machine and use a diferent editor till then.

[stuartaccent]

just for info and sorry if u already know all this.

Have OSX 10.13.1 with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M 512 MB and just downloaded nvidias own drivers from https://www.tonymacx86.com/nvidia-drivers. So far all glitches have gone for any app using electron. Im a happy man again :)

[trumbitta]

@stuartaccent how come NVIDIA provides official drivers via tonymacx86.com?

[stuartaccent]

thats just a page with links ie: macOS 10.13.1 High Sierra = https://images.nvidia.com/mac/pkg/378/WebDriver-378.10.10.10.20.107.pkg

[bpasero]

Closing, since our workaround is in and Chrome has fixed this meanwhile, we just need to pick it up in one of our future Electron updates.

[sledsworth]

Did this ever actually get fixed or is the ‘fix’ still disabling hardware on Macs with Nvidia cards?

[stenmuchow]

Seems updating NVIDIA drivers has given my machine a more stable feel... Using link from @stuartaccent

FYI - i have a late 2014 15" MBP with 2GB NVIDIA 750 geforce