really weird issue with illustrator

hey guys, I don't know how to explain it entirely but my drop menus keep dissapearing? initially I had that weird flashing white screen when I would launch illustrator, looked into the fact of my LG Mx mouse, doesn't seem to the be issue as I tested my old wired mouse. I looked into the fact that I had a dual display set up (my laptop I5 processor hooked to a separate monitor through HDMI) and for measure I tried reverting back to only my laptop as a display, still the same issue, I've dedicated one display now to ensure I'm not straining a graphics card that isn't supporting it. for example when I create a character box and want to change the font, none of the menus stay open they seem to close right away, I try at the bottom of the screen to open the characters menu and that vanishes too.. I managed to get past the first issue of the flashing white screen.. I did the whole gpu on off toggling.. but this is driving me mad now! any help? reccomendations?? thank you in advance!