1. mmhmm Studio
  2. Error messages and problems

mmhmm has encountered a problem (color striped background)

Mitesh
Updated

You may receive an error message that states, "mmhmm has encountered a problem. If you are seeing a static color bar image in your video conferencing software this means the virtual camera is not working properly." 

mmhmm_color_bar_popup.png

You may also notice our color striped test pattern background instead of your presentation when you use Meet, Zoom, etc., which means mmhmm isn't able to communicate with the app you're using.

colorful_striped_background.png

On macOS Ventura (13.0 and newer)

  1. First, navigate to your Mac's System Settings app.  
  2. In System Settings, click General in the left-hand side menu, and then Login Items. If your System Settings app does not look like the screenshot below, follow the steps here. 

    system_preferences_login_items.png

  3. Scroll through the list of items and enable the mmhmm inc. background helper by clicking on the slider. 

    mmhmm_background_helper_enable.png

  4. Restart mmhmm.

On older versions of macOS (12.6.2 and older)

old_macos_system_preferences_.png

If your System Settings window looks like the screenshot above, you are using an older version of macOS and will need to perform the following steps:

  1. Quit the app you're using (Zoom, Chrome, Firefox, etc.).
  2. Quit mmhmm.
  3. Start the app you were using.
  4. Start mmhmm.

If that doesn't resolve the issue, open the Activity Monitor app and type "mmhmm" into the search box on the top right-hand side of the window.

You should see two processes running, mmhmm Studio and mmhmmAssistant:

mmhmm_activity_monitor.png

If you don't see the mmhmmAssistant running, you can start it by opening the Terminal application on Mac and pasting in the following, then pressing the return key on your keyboard:

zsh

Next, in the Terminal application, paste in the following, then pressing the return key on your keyboard:

launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchAgents/app.mmhmm.Camera.Assistant.plist
launchctl start app.mmhmm.Camera.Assistant

SCR-20220907-slw.png

After running those commands, you can quit Terminal. You should then restart the app you were using with mmhmm (Zoom, Chrome, Firefox, etc) so that it can see the mmhmm camera.

Don’t see the answer to your question? If you’re having technical difficulties or want to suggest a topic for this guide, submit a request or email us at help@mmhmm.app.

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