Black Out in all text Fields

[Jeffrey]

Hey all

Searched the WWW for an answer and I have only found one thread even remotely close to this issue.
Basically, every input field is reverse contrast. Black background typing white. Microsoft Word, Excel, IE, File Explorer, Google Chrome. Anywhere requiring selection of icons or input of text... The contrast is reversed. (four screenshots attached) Minor major annoyance, but it came accompanied by a more consistently running fan and then the computer began to freeze intermittently. I ran Malwarebytes. I ran Norton. I adjusted so Windows did not pick display prefs auto, then back again. I booted in Safe Mode, issue still there. Re-installed all sorts of drivers, repaired Windows, etc. I system restored. Issue still there. I system refreshed, Issue still there...

I literally have no programs on my computer right now except the basic out of the box Windows 8 apps...and still the issue persists.

Any ideas? I appreciate any input

 

[XweAponX]

You got a High Contrast Theme turned on -

Hit Right Alt-Shift plus PrintScreen, then change to a regular Theme. Be careful if you have other Windows 8 Puters, cos that HC theme was Synced.

 

[Jeffrey]

I wish it were that simple. I only have the basic theme on. All default settings have been restored.

 

[XweAponX]

Ok, then you have to choose an Aero Theme. Look above the Basic Themes. All of the basic themes look like
yours.

 

[XweAponX]

Also if you are in Windows 8 and have ex7forW8 installed and set to use Win 7 Explorer, you will nto be able to change it from a HC theme, you have to switch back to Windows 8 Explorer.

 

[Jeffrey]

My initial thought was that this was a theme. Since then, I tried all types of themes with no luck. Based on your advice, I just changed themes and restarted computer 3 times, once with each "type" of theme. The themes changed, but the field black out still remains. I have not installed anything to make Win 8 backwards compatible with 7. I do use Compatibility View for Microsoft Outlook Web Access. Another item to mention. If I use my computer long enough in one sitting, sometimes the black out fields go away and the window looks normal again. Notice in the screen shots that the menus are completely not visible. When I open Favorites or the main side bar on Libraries, it is white type on white background

 

[XweAponX]

Ok, thats it then, you are seeing Compatibility View- If the Theme is not changing it, it's the Compatibility View, and it's stuck in High Contract mode.

The Alt-Shift PrcScreen is not working, cos it is a setting in your Outlook Web Access.

 

[XweAponX]

[DEL]Actually the setting may be in Office, if you have Office installed. Not sure where it is, i'll look[/DEL]

Thats not it - You are stuck in some kind of Basic High Contrast Mode, if you choose an Aero Theme, try hitting left Alt-Shift PrcScr and see if it goes back and forth when you have that same windows up from the Doc.

 

[Jeffrey]

I really appreciate your help on this. I have checked all the items you mentioned. Apparently, after System Refresh, I had not turned Compatibility View back on. I tried it on and tried with it off, same issues.
In High Contrast, typically you can READ the words. Whatever is going on here, you can't read the menus. You can't see the text unless you highlight it. the exception being Tabs. (see image 2 and 3 ).

Also, around the same time this issue began, system began crashing at sleep. It won't come out of sleep mode. Sometimes it crashes going into sleep and screen doesn't turn off. This issues is not 100% of the time, but would this happen due to contrast theme issues?

Sorry images uploaded that way, but took screen shots before system refresh. Have not re-installed Office or any image editor since the problem is not solved and might be a waste of time. That was the only way I could get them to display

 

[XweAponX]

It may be a Video Driver issue then, if you fill out your system specs in your user control panel, I can see what you got. If you are using any kind of Beta video driver, it could cause this.

 

[Jeffrey]

updated what I knew. Let me know if you need something more specific. other than mouse and keyboard, this is the family computer and the devices have not been modified since coming out of the box

 

[Jeffrey]

newest discovery in my attempt to fix this. If I start the Task Manager, then close it, without doing a thing on it, the problem is fixed until I restart my computer.

Literally, I hit CTRL-ALT-Delete, select Task Manager, close Task Manager and the problem has gone away.
Any advice? I'm starting to lose my mind on this.

 

[MicaR]

Jeffrey, did you ever solve the issue?? I'm encountering exactly the same problem with the black text entry fields, and it's driving me bonkers. And your Task Manager "trick" worked! But ... why? How do I make it stop doing this????

newest discovery in my attempt to fix this. If I start the Task Manager, then close it, without doing a thing on it, the problem is fixed until I restart my computer.

Literally, I hit CTRL-ALT-Delete, select Task Manager, close Task Manager and the problem has gone away.
Any advice? I'm starting to lose my mind on this.

 

[Jeffrey]

Unfortunately, I did not. I tried several forums. One removed my thread... Calling it Spam. Perhaps they are related to this site. Everyone wants to say it's a contrast issue. It's obviously not. I think it's a hardware compatability or driver issue. I refreshed then I reformatted. After windows was reloaded... Issue continues. Basically I use the ctrl-alt-dlt everytime I start up. If you come across a fix please let me know.

 

[David Bailey]

Have you ever run sfc /scannow & Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth cmds ?

 

[Jeffrey]

Based on your advice I attempted running both. No luck. I had refreshed my computer. Last night I reset it. Only Change is I purchased it with windows 7 and now I am running windows 8... Same issue still occurs... Unless I open and close task manager, all of my windows are white text in white field, black text on black fields and many fields reversed. Whatever is causing the issue ends up causing my system to freeze. (Haven't verified since reset, but historically)

 

[HippsieGypsie]

Hi there. Did you purchase this with 8 installed? If so, did you upgrade to 8.1?

 

[Jeffrey]

The computer was a touchscreen that came preloaded with Windows 7 pre Windows 8 launch. Knowing 8 would be touch screen compatible, we were attempting to be pro-active. When 8 released, we purchased it and installed. It worked fine for several weeks and then this began happening. I have all the recent updates installed.

 

[Jeffrey]

Today, I performed a clean install of windows 8. I installed all updates. Downloaded and installed 8.1, installed all updates. Still had issue. Updated all drivers. Set default theme. Still had issue. Performed a clean boot. Still have issue. Going crazy here. Any suggestions?

 

[mm-ficlean]

2022 phoning in and I am having the EXACT same issue with for no apparent reason.
This is literally the ONLY post I could find anywhere with this issue. I am at work and it is not feasible for me to wipe this computer and try and start fresh--which did not appear to work for Jeffrey anyway.
I am running Windows 11 on an Acer Aspire Z24 AIO and this is just coming completely out of nowhere this morning. Same computer was NOT doing this yesterday as of 5:00 pm EST when I left.
Some fields appear to be in contrast while empty, so only show high contrast once something is typed in.

The only thing I can ascertain is that it seems to be a Chrome issue as it does not replicate in Firefox or Edge.