Is your chrome tab flashing? Suddenly, when you scroll down the web page, Google Chrome starts flickering. Or after Windows 10 upgrade, Chrome keeps flickering every time you try to browse on it or watch a YouTube video.
Google Chrome may be flashing on Windows 7, 8, and 10 or Mac or even Android. According to user reports, here are the most common cases where this chrome error appears:
- Chrome browser is strobing or flashing when browsing or scrolling;
- Screen flickering when Chrome is not maximized;
- Chrome black is flickering recently and happens now and then after Windows 10 update;
- Screen flickering on Chrome Mac.
Whatever your Chrome glitch is, you need to fix the flickering browser and try some ways to protect Chrome from strobing. Follow this guide and you will find the right answer.
Why is my Chrome Flickering?
It is confusing that why Chrome flickers while other browsers like Firefox run well on Windows and Mac. In fact, Chrome flashing error to a large extent originates from the conflicts between the system and Chrome app or the device hardware issue or Chrome app error.
It is necessary for Chrome to work on a normal system and the Chrome app to run smoothly if users want to use this browser without glitches.
However, once it is found that the Chrome app is outdated or the graphics driver on Windows or Mac is corrupt, Chrome flickering will pop up.
How Do I Stop Chrome from Flickering?
If you are to fix Chrome flashing on Windows 10, 8, 7, or Mac, you need to troubleshoot errors with the computer hardware, Chrome app, or the system settings. In other words, Chrome can be caused to flicker or flicker due to the app errors within itself.
Solutions:
- 1: Check the Hardware
- 2: Try Browsing on another Browser
- 3: Disable Automatically Pick an Accent Color
- 4: Update the Graphics Driver
- 5: Disable Chrome Smooth Scrolling and Hardware Acceleration
- 6: Check Chrome Updates
- 7: Check Windows Updates
Solution 1: Check the Hardware
You would better check the hardware problems on your computer to ensure the display of the PC runs well. Especially, for the screen flickering issue, you need to check the cable connections.
Try to plug out and then plug in the cables and adapters to see whether the Google Chrome screen will flash. Or you can change to plug into another USB port. If necessary, replace the old cable or adapter.
Solution 2: Try Browsing on another Browser
In case the flickering screen happens to a single webpage on Google Chrome, you can copy the website address and then paste it onto another browser.
Then press Enter to start searching. If you noticed that that webpage flickers even in another browser, it implies that the problem lies in the webpage instead of the browser.
While chances are that flickering disappeared after you searched the webpage on another browser like Firefox or Opera.
In this way, it means that the error consists in the Chrome app or the conflicts between the system and Chrome.
Solution 3: Disable Automatically Pick an Accent Color
The accent color customized for the taskbar, start menu, or action center will be likely cause Chrome to strobe. Normally, users set the accent color to match the customized wallpaper, but when enabling this option leads to Chrome flickering, you might as well try to turn it off then automatically pick an accent color option.
1. On the blank space on the Desktop, right click to Personalize.
2. Under Color, locate Choose your color and then uncheck the box of Automatically pick an accent color from my background.
After disabling the accent color option, you might as well open Chrome and navigate to the web page to check whether Chrome will flicker this time.
Solution 4: Update the Graphics Driver
Since the screen flashes in Chrome on Mac or Windows, the display driver may be the potential culprit. Therefore, you can try to update the display driver to get rid of the flashing screen.
Here, Driver Booster is recommended to you to automatically update the graphics driver automatically and quickly. Particularly, when you encounter Chrome flickering on a device with an NVIDIA graphics card, just start to update the display driver or any other drivers.
1. Download, install and run Driver Booster.
2. Click Scan.
3. Find out Display adapters and then Update the display driver.
Upon finishing the updating, try to launch Chrome. This time Google Chrome constantly flashing will not show up.
Solution 5: Disable Chrome Smooth Scrolling and Hardware Acceleration
When you find that the Google Chrome screen flickers every time you scroll down and up the webpage, there is much need for you to turn off Chrome smooth scrolling and hardware acceleration options.
Although these two Chrome settings may have facilitated your browsing experience, they can also lead to the flickering Chrome screen on Windows 7, 8, 10 or Mac, or even Android smartphones.
Part 1: Disable Chrome Smooth Scrolling
1. In Google Chrome, type chrome://flags in the search bar and then press Enter.
2. Scroll down to locate Smooth Scrolling and then set it Disabled.
As you can see, this setting is enabled to animate smoothly when you are scrolling page content on Windows, Linux, Chrome OS, and Android. After you turned it off, it will not conflict with the Chrome app and cause it to flash when scrolling.
Part 2: Turn off Chrome Hardware Acceleration
1. In Chrome, type in chrome://settings/ in the search bar and then hit Enter to move into Chrome Settings.
2. Scroll down to locate Advanced, and then switch off the setting “Use hardware acceleration when available”.
Usually, hardware acceleration utilizes the computer’s (GPU) to tackle graphics-intensive tasks, like playing videos and games. But it will cause trouble to the Chrome app. You can disable it temporarily to see if it works to remove the screen flickering in Google Chrome YouTube or Twitch.
Solution 6: Check Chrome Updates
If you keep seeing a flicking Chrome screen after the Windows update, to avoid the incompatibility between the Chrome app and the system, you can try to update Google Chrome to see whether Google has provided fixes for the strobing screen.
1. Launch Google Chrome.
2. Type in chrome://settings/help in the Chrome search bar and then hit Enter.
3. Under About Chrome, it is Checking for Updates and then Updating Google Chrome.
Reboot Google Chrome or even the computer to take effect. With the latest Chrome version, odds are that the Chrome screen will not flicker when you are browsing or scrolling on this browser.
Solution 7: Check Windows Updates
Apart from Chrome updates, you may as well update Windows 10 to gain new features. In this way, there may be fixes for the bugs of the display on Windows.
1. Go to Start > Settings > Update & Security.
2. Under Windows Update, Check for updates.
When Windows system new updates are installed and your PC restarts, start Chrome to check whether flicking Chrome will re-appear.
