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A
Anonymous
December 6, 2018
Answered

White flickering screen while in Illustrator or InDesign cc 2019

  • December 6, 2018
  • 17 replies
  • 26409 views

Just wondering if any one else is having issues with a seizure inducing white flickering that only seems to happen while in Illustrator or InDesign? I am running iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) with memory at 32 GB 1867 MHz DDR3 and a AMD Radeon R9 M395 2048 MB graphics card and fully up to date Creative Cloud programs. It seems to happen later in the day say after 2pm and it won't stop flickering until i restart my computer. Moving the mouse seems to aggravate it and it only happens on my main mac display, not on my two externals. A screen recording does not capture it but i have attached a video i found that shows the issue. i have talked to Apple and sent them diagnostics and they can't seem to figure out what's going on, now that it's also happening to my coworker as well I'd really like to get this fixed.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer garyl64472086

    Thanks for sharing the details, Marc. If you have multiple GPUs on your system, please disable Automatic GPU Switching on Mac (How to Disable Automatic GPU Switching on MacBook Pro  ) and let us know if that helps.

    Also, I would request if one of you can share this on our Adobe Illustrator Feedback page and share the link here so that we have a significant number of votes for this issue.

    If somebody has already done that please share the link here.


    I've shared this in the Adobe Illustrator Feedback forum to be upvoted:

    Illustrator 2019 gltches out video card in Macs with AMD Radeon R9 M390 2 GB graphics card... – Adobe Illustrator Feedba…

    Go there and click the 'vote' button; get this problem dealt with.

    FYI -- I have turned off GPU Performance in Illustrator and the problem seems to have stopped HOWEVER...working in Illustrator is now very laggy draggy, even for doing basic vector manipulation, Illustrator really seems to have a much tougher time doing the work. NOT GOOD.

    17 replies

    Show previous replies
    Wayne!
    Wayne!
    Participating Frequently
    July 10, 2019

    Same problem for me: AMD Radeon R9 M290X 2 GB

    Illustrator 23.0.4

    Unbearable – I tried the resetting SMC and NVRAM – after a while it's straight back flashing again! If this carries on Adobe – I will not be able to provide my subscription payment!!

    C
    craigr22280930
    Participating Frequently
    June 24, 2019

    I have also been having this issue for about 4/6 months now. It also only happens in Illustrator and Indesign. It has since been back to Jigsaw24 (the company we purchased from) 3 times as we thought it was a hardware issue. They passed it back to Apple. It has now had its logic board replaced and a brand new Retina display fitted. None of this has made the slightest bit of difference. I have also completely formatted the drives before and after these 'repairs' were carried out.

    G
    garyl64472086
    Participating Frequently
    June 7, 2019

    My coworker and I have just started experiencing the same issue. Googling the problem led us here. We both have the same iMac model and AMD graphics card as listed in the OP. We're both also UTD with the latest Mojave MacOS. Seems Illustrator 2019 is the culprit not getting along with this particular graphics card. I'm currently trying rolling back to earlier versions of Illustrator to see if that fixes things. No other Adobe CC 2019 apps have this happen -- just Illustrator 2019. Not a definitive fix, but might be a decent workaround to rollback to 2018 version.

    C
    craigr22280930
    Participating Frequently
    June 26, 2019

    I have an identical spec iMac and getting the exact issue here. Did you manage to get to the bottom of it?

    G
    garyl64472086
    Participating Frequently
    June 26, 2019

    No -- my own conclusion is that it's an Apple/ & Adobe conflict with each other regarding the AMD graphic card driver(s) + Mojave OS 10.14. Rolling back to Illustrator 2018 didn't fix it. Craig22280930's response implies that it's not a hardware issue, which is what I first thought it was (dying graphics card) until we experienced the problem on multiple Macs in the same way.

    This issue didn't exist prior to updating to Mojave, however, I think Mojave and Adobe were fine together until updating to Adobe CC's 2019 products which had the initial conflict and, in turn, created the same conflict for the prior Adobe CC versions + Mojave.

    Again, this is my theory based on my experience, detective work and others' experiencing the same problem. About the only thing we can do at this point is hope it's fixed with the next Adobe CC update and/or Apple Mac OS Catalina 10.15 release this fall.

    I suspect it won't be fixed, though; I think it has entirely to do with the AMD graphics card. AMD graphic cards are no longer offered in the current line of Macs for sale. I don't know how long this has been the case; our Macs are 2015 models. It seems that AMD graphics card Macs are the only ones affected by this problem. Since new Macs don't have AMD cards, Adobe isn't updating their wares to support AMD cards. Again, just my theory.

    V
    verseau1955
    Known Participant
    April 24, 2019

    This problem began when I started using Logitech MS Master 2S mouse. Wondering what type of mouse you are using.

      M
      MattPenroseCSQ
      Participant
      September 24, 2019
      This is interesting, I use a Wacom Intuos graphics tablet about 90% of the time. I wonder is it could also be having an effect combined with Adobe / Graphics driver issues.
      V
      verseau1955
      Known Participant
      April 21, 2019

      I'm having this exact same problem. Did you find the solution?

      Kanikas
      Community Manager
      KanikasCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      December 7, 2018

      Moving to Illustrator​

        kglad
        Community Expert
        kgladCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        December 7, 2018

        update your graphics card drivers.

        A
        Anonymous
        December 7, 2018

        While my OS is not up to date (I am still on High Sierra due to paranoia on other issues and not wanting to break stuff again) my coworker who is having the same flickering issue is fully updated. I've read that the only way to update a graphics card driver on a mac is to update the OS. So if this is the case and that is indeed the fix wouldn't my coworker not be experiencing the same issue?

        kglad
        Community Expert
        kgladCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        December 7, 2018

        try disabling the start workspace setting: Illustrator CC Flashing/Flickering

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