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Screen Goes Black

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stealth2920

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Sep 24, 2017
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I searched the forums but most of this same issue was posted years ago. While in Develop mode, my screen will randomly go black. The screen will return within a few seconds. This is a continuous issue. I have the latest version, I have the latest video drivers, I have the video acceleration unchecked. I am using Win 10 will all the latest updates etc.
 
I searched the forums but most of this same issue was posted years ago. While in Develop mode, my screen will randomly go black. The screen will return within a few seconds. This is a continuous issue. I have the latest version, I have the latest video drivers, I have the video acceleration unchecked. I am using Win 10 will all the latest updates etc.

Three questions:

1/ What sort of performance is your W10 machine, RAM, CPU, free disk space, SSD/HDD, gpu, number and size of monitors?
2/ Is there any pattern to this? Does it happen after a longish period of editing a given image, after editing a bunch of images, early in a session (after restarting LR/after re-booting the PC)?
3/ Have you cleared out the cache?
 
W10 machine, 16 gb ram, I7 7700 cpu, One Viewsonic 23 in monitor, 500 gb SSD and 1 TB HDD
No pattern at all. Totally random and every few seconds when editing an image in Develop section. Starts immediately. Sometimes just moving around the menus will cause it. Screen goes completely blank for a couple of seconds then right back on. No changes after restarting Lightroom or rebooting computer.
Have it also installed on my wifes computer with no issues at all.
Where do I clear the cache?
Thanks for your help.
 
Have you also tried to turn off the GPU in Lightroom? Preferences>Performance Tab>Uncheck "Use Graphics Processor".
 
Have you also tried to turn off the GPU in Lightroom? Preferences>Performance Tab>Uncheck "Use Graphics Processor".

That was never checked at default. In fact when I try to put a check in the box, it says "unable due to errors". So that box has always been unchecked. Also unknown if I mentioned this before but this issue only happens when I am in the Develop mode.
 
I have checked all those and nothing is corrupt. I have rolled back the video driver to previous releases but no difference. What I have now discovered is I am using a laptop connected to an external monitor. This issue does not happen when using the laptop alone but obviously the screen is too small to actually use the program. So the issue only occurs when the attached monitor is connected. I can view the laptop and the monitor at the same time and the screen will go black on the attached monitor but not on the laptop.
 
I seem to be having a problem with my post.

Some things to try. Search the forum for more detailed discussions on each.

  • Corrupt settings file.
  • Corrupt screen profile.
  • Most appropriate driver for your video card (latest is not always best)
  • Conflict with anti virus .... consider removing the catalog / preview folders from your anti virus scans.
  • Test your memory. Lr is very demanding on memory and is often found to explain strange behaviour.
 
Try something simple -- when it starts doing it, just shut down lightroom, wait 10 seconds or so for it to fully stop, and start it again. See if the problem goes away (for a while).
 
Try something simple -- when it starts doing it, just shut down lightroom, wait 10 seconds or so for it to fully stop, and start it again. See if the problem goes away (for a while).

Ok will try that. I have noticed that it doesn't do it initially but only after lightroom has been running for a while. Will check and get back.
 
Has been running for approx. 15 min. and hasn't started yet. This is normal. Once it starts though it will continue to black screen even just moving the mouse around the menu. Once it starts again I will shut down lightroom and wait for awhile then restart to see approx. how long it takes to resume the black screen.
 
This is strange. So far it has ran for 2hrs without the black screen issue.
Too funny. As soon as I posted this, the black screen issue started again. Went for 2 hrs without doing it. Have shut down lightroom and will started again in a couple min to see what happens.
 
It's a problem many of us have had for a long time, it is not reproducible on demand, but it happens a lot. I find a restart always clears it up, but if I try to reproduce to show Adobe it never happens. Until next time I'm in a hurry.
 
Thanks. I guess if it lasts 2hrs between issues, I will live with that. I have googled this and appears this has been an issue for years. Guess they can't find the cause.
 
OP, I had a similar problem. I updated my version of Windows (to 8.1 not 10) and my monitor screen kept blacking out for a second or two and then recovering. It would do this frequently. Occasionally I would get a message saying the graphics driver had failed but had recovered.

I assumed it was a graphics driver issue so I updated and downgraded and repeatedly installed/uninstalled and reinstalled. I turned it off and on again and even tried banging it on the left hand side of the screen (always worked with the old CRT TV my Mum and Dad had when I was a kid). Nothing worked.

So, I went to manufacturer's website and they have a system update util. I used that to check and found that it thought I had a couple of things missing. One was a monitor INF file which basically told the system how to interact with my monitor. Installing that fixed the issue.

All that by way of saying that it may not actually be a Lightroom or a Graphics card issue.... it may be your GFX card having a problem interacting with your monitor.
 
OP, I had a similar problem. I updated my version of Windows (to 8.1 not 10) and my monitor screen kept blacking out for a second or two and then recovering. It would do this frequently. Occasionally I would get a message saying the graphics driver had failed but had recovered.

I assumed it was a graphics driver issue so I updated and downgraded and repeatedly installed/uninstalled and reinstalled. I turned it off and on again and even tried banging it on the left hand side of the screen (always worked with the old CRT TV my Mum and Dad had when I was a kid). Nothing worked.

So, I went to manufacturer's website and they have a system update util. I used that to check and found that it thought I had a couple of things missing. One was a monitor INF file which basically told the system how to interact with my monitor. Installing that fixed the issue.

All that by way of saying that it may not actually be a Lightroom or a Graphics card issue.... it may be your GFX card having a problem interacting with your monitor.

The computer is a Dell 7779 laptop. I have it connected to an external monitor. I have all the latest updates and have run a diagnostic from Dell, but nothing was found. I also have used various intel drivers but the result is the same. I have connected to a different monitor and the results are still the same. As reported this has been an issue for a very long time with no answers. Sometimes it runs fine for a couple hours then starts going black. No clue. Oh and I can look at the laptop screen and the external monitor and while the external monitor goes black, the laptop screen runs without any issues.
 
My computer (i7-2600 3.40GHz 16GB RAM 64bit W10) has started doing this the last couple of days, even when I reboot the computer and have no other programs running. Every time I move a slider or hold down shift and double click to set the black or white point the screen momentarily goes black and I get a "Lightroom Not Responding" message at the top of the screen. Lightroom has become an increasing struggle over recent months and I've avoided jumping on the "LR is slow etc" bandwagon but something is clearly amiss and it's becoming unusable. Meanwhile I'll double check that all the auto updates have been done. :(
 
My computer (i7-2600 3.40GHz 16GB RAM 64bit W10) has started doing this the last couple of days, even when I reboot the computer and have no other programs running. Every time I move a slider or hold down shift and double click to set the black or white point the screen momentarily goes black and I get a "Lightroom Not Responding" message at the top of the screen. Lightroom has become an increasing struggle over recent months and I've avoided jumping on the "LR is slow etc" bandwagon but something is clearly amiss and it's becoming unusable. Meanwhile I'll double check that all the auto updates have been done. :(

I have tried all the so called fixes people have posted on different forums and I still have the black screen issue. I can use the program initially for a while but eventually it starts going to the black screen when moving the mouse or adjusting any of the programs settings. After research it appears this has been a problem for years with Windows and Mac PC's. Apparently it isn't going to be fixed so I won't be doing any upgrading of this program unless it is a free upgrade. I should have researched more extensively before I bought this.
 
What happens if you switch the screens .... reverse their roles .... so a different screen might be regarded as the main screen (ie within Lr)
 
It's a laptop and I'm using an HDMI cable to attach to the external monitor. The laptop screen is too small to do much photo editing. I have tried a different monitor and different cables and the results are the same. My wife has a desktop with Lightroom and her computer doesn't have this issue. I just have no clue. I wonder if others that are having black screens have laptops or desktop computers.
 
Fortunately, apart from a gradual slow down, I've been using Lightroom for a couple of years now without a problem. After another re-boot I've managed about another hour of work before the black screen's returned. I hope you find a solution.
 
I searched the forums but most of this same issue was posted years ago. While in Develop mode, my screen will randomly go black. The screen will return within a few seconds. This is a continuous issue. I have the latest version, I have the latest video drivers, I have the video acceleration unchecked. I am using Win 10 will all the latest updates etc.

I have found the resolution to my black screen issue. On my laptop there are two video adapters. One is the internal intel video adapter and the other is the nvidia video adapter which is normally activated for gaming etc. During research I found that most laptops will defer to the intel adapter as it uses less power etc. to save the battery. I disabled this adapter and now the laptop has to use the better/faster nvidia video adapter. Lightroom now works without any issues. Apparently the intel integrated adapter wasn't powerful enough to run lightroom.
 
Surely though this is a memory issue, it certainly got better after I upgraded my lesser machine from 8-12gb. It's getting slowly worse on my better machine, I just ordered another 8gb for it (taking it to 24gb), I'll report back.
 
I searched the forums but most of this same issue was posted years ago. While in Develop mode, my screen will randomly go black. The screen will return within a few seconds. This is a continuous issue. I have the latest version, I have the latest video drivers, I have the video acceleration unchecked. I am using Win 10 will all the latest updates etc.

In my case this was happening when I was in Library, keywording. Every time I entered a lowercase "a" in the Keyword field the screen completely blacked out until I hit the key again, or any other, to toggle it back. I discovered a duplicate keyword within a keyword group (architecture>architecture). When I fixed that it's golden. So my speculation is that you ought to look for conflicts within the functional mode your working.

If that doesn't work, open a window, unplug your computer, and move it towards the window. ;-)
 
I would call that a bug not a feature. So if anyone who works for Adobe wants to test my theory, please do.
 
In my case this was happening when I was in Library, keywording. Every time I entered a lowercase "a" in the Keyword field the screen completely blacked out until I hit the key again, or any other, to toggle it back.

This is exactly what is happening to me, except in my case it is the letter "s".

Graham
 
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