Mac OS X 10.4.8 Special Report: Display coloring issues: Blue tinting and more

CNET staff

Sept. 2, 2009 12:16 a.m. PT

3 min read

One of the more perplexing issues with Mac OS X 10.4.8 is the manifestation a light blue display tint that cannot be remedied through the settings in the Display pane of System Preferences.

Fixes

Delete .plist In some cases, the solution may be to delete the file "com.apple.universalaccess.plist" from

~/Library/Preferences

This file can become corrupt during the update process, resulting in the blue tint.

Replace color profile A poster to Apple's Discussion boards, "mymacluvsme" has posted a custom color file (download) that appears to resolve the blue tint in some cases.

After downloading this file, place it in the directory:

Library/ColorSync/Profiles/Display

Then navigate to the Displays pane of System Preferences, go to "Color" and re-select the new Color LCD profile.

Reader reports

MacFixIt reader Aaron writes:

"Have you had anyone else come to you with the 'tinted blue' screen after doing this update yet? I am having that problem, and after being on the phone with Apple for an hour it seems to not be fixable unless I make a brand new user account, or erase my entire preferences folder, in my home folder, for my standard user account, and my admin level account."

Another reader adds:

"I installed OS X 10.4.8 (Intel) on my MacBook and found that the color tint is now quite a bit cooler than before. Changing settings in System Preferences does not return it to before, but it is possible to make the tint quite a bit cooler than it is. The grays seem more bluish than before."

One reader writes:

"I can without question say that I am experiencing the 'blue tint problem' that some other users have experienced. The default calibration seems to be much bluer. You can change this in Displays by re-calibrating, with some degree of success, it appears. Also, oddly enough, switching to 'Thousands of Colors' removes the blue tint. I also opened Colorsync Utility and ran a verification & repair to my Colorsync profiles. Four profiles showed errors. Repairing the errors seemed to moderately help, but the tint is still a little too blue for my taste."

One reader writes:

"The color of the display appeared to be over-brightened, especially the blue background and desktop folders. It looked to me like the CRT was on its way out and needed replacing. I received a tip from a helpful Apple tech guru and this solved the problem. I was also no longer able to see the gray grid lines in Excel, and two of the colors on the Excel color palate were showing only white. I deleted the plist file, rebooted, and it worked fine. This also could explain why your one contributor found success with creating a new user account."

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