Mac OS X: Background Is Black in Some Windows

Symptom

Finder, Sherlock, and Help windows have black backgrounds, making it impossible to read the text content.


Solution

This occurs if a Classic application changes the display's color depth setting to 256 colors, or if you use the Monitors control panel in Classic to set the display to 256 colors.

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

1. Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu.
2. Choose Displays from the View menu.
3. Click the Display tab, if necessary.
4. Choose Thousands or Millions from the Colors pop-up menu.

For more information, see technical documents:

106175: "Mac OS X 10.0: Only Use 256 Color Mode and/or 640 x 480 Resolution When Required by Classic"
25305: "Mac OS X 10.0: Using Mac OS 9 Control Panels in Classic Environment"