Lightroom CC & Screen Flicker

[tom1979]

Intel HD Graphics 620 with Windows 10 on Dell Inspiron 13-5378 i7 16GB RAM.

Hi all I have the above setup, today I noticed that when making adjustments to images in Lightroom there is some kind of screen flicker.  I have managed to disable GPU acceleration but the problem persists.

All my drivers are up to date and it's a brand new laptop.  I've not seen this problem before and all the web posts I have seen suggest disabling GPU, but this has no affect.  Is anyone else experiencing this ?

[Just Shoot Me]

I suspect a defective display or defective built in GPU.

Have you tried it with an external display and does this happen at all with any other program you use.

[tom1979]

I haven't tried it with Photoshop yet, but it's limited to Lightroom at the moment.

Interestingly my driver version installed is 21.20.16.4526, however the latest available to download from Intel is 15.45.10.4542, which would appear to be older?

[Just Shoot Me]

Even though it is a new Dell there might be updates available from Dell. 99% of the time once a notebook model is released and a set of drivers/software set up to work with that model notebook no new updates are applied at the factory. So it is up to the user to apply them.

IIRC Dell has a utility installed on the computer to kind of do that automatically but it is best to check on your own.

[tom1979]

Thanks, yes although the version number appears to be older it does have a newer date than the one installed, so I will try replacing it and see if that helps.  According to the Dell Utility installed everything is up to date, but as you say these can often be incorrect!

[tom1979]

Downloaded and the installer said it wasn't validated for this computer and to contact the computer manufacturer!  I guess I do have the latest one after all.  Back to square one....

[Just Shoot Me]

Check the Dell download site for any updates.

http://support.dell.com/us/en/home.asp

[tom1979]

Double checked and all up to date.  I will have to contact Dell and ask if there is something wrong with the display, although they will probably pass me back to Adobe!

[tom1979]

And that's exactly what they did, "it must be one of the Adobe programs".  I guess I will have to put up with it

[tom1979]

I managed to capture these from a slow motion video.....  Not sure if that helps?

[tom1979]

Well, Dell can find nothing wrong with hardware, Intel can find nothing wrong either.  It has to be down to Adobe.  Does nobody else have this issue?

[bhousto90]

Try downgrading the video driver to a older one from the Dell support site.

You can also try using a 2nd monitor and see what happens with it as the only active monitor, cloned and as a extended desktop with Lightroom running on the external monitor.

Let us know if the flicker reoccurs any of those other possible combinations.

Does the flicker occur while you say you are making adjustments in develop mode:

Is it just while making Basic panel adjustments or also when cropping, radial tool etc.? Library mode affected at all?

The more details you can provide the better and/or the full cell phone video of it occurring rather than just the snapshots.

[tom1979]

I tried a second monitor and worked fine until I started Lightroom at which point the monitor was put to sleep, every time!

[Just Shoot Me]

You have a Hardware problem. It is not LR or any other Adobe program. If with a secondary monitor running by itself, IE Not using the built in display of the notebook at all (That notebook display dark/black) and the screen shuts off that is a hardware problem.

I run 2 system. My main desktop, an i7 Intel CPU, built in early 2011 with basic, at the time 6 years ago, NVidia GPU card with 2 monitors connected to it and a Dell E6420 notebook bought in late 2011 using a i7 CPU and NO Discrete GPU (Just the Intel GPU on the i7 CPU) and I have used it with separate, Add-On, Stand Alone, monitors in addition to using it as a notebook with the built in screen and never had any of the problems you are having. That is running LR, PS and 2 different CADD programs along with all types of Office program. No flickering, screens shutting down or whatever.

No matter what Dell is saying or any Intel software diagnostics you are running YOU HAVE A HARDWARE PROBLEM.

If this was something involving LR or any other Adobe software program this forum, and many other forums, would be filled with posts about it.

Sure LR may be taxing the Graphics system but if there wasn't a problem with the graphics system in your particular notebook this problem would show up on million of computers running LR all around the world.

If you are still within the Dell Return policy period I suggest you just Return it for a Full Refund and buy another, Dell or other brand, notebook.

[tom1979]

Thanks, this is what I was thinking.  I will try another monitor first to be sure.  However, since it only occurs with lightroom does that not come back to lightroom?  Without lightroom running there was no problem.

[Just Shoot Me]

No not at all. Please do a Google search on something like "Lightroom make my notebook screen flicker" or "Lightroom turns off my monitor when started". You won't find anything. If this was a LR problem there would be XXXXXXXXX number of posts and all the Tech magazines would have articles on it.

It is something in your specific notebook. What all that is is Hardware.

[tom1979]

Del reckon this isn't a good enough setup to run Lightroom!!!  So its not their problem

Intel HD Graphics 620 with Windows 10 on Dell Inspiron 13-5378 i7 16GB RAM

​Ay ideas??

[LightBrigade]

I have a brand new setup, HP, BenQ, and it flickers just like it did with my old setup.  It's not Dell, it's Lightroom.  In Develop module, which of course is the module where I and probably everyone else uses for post processing.  Also, I have 100G free space and primarily only have Adobe and OnOne software on my machine.

[Todd Shaner]

I suggest creating a new post with this issue and provide full details as LR version, OS version, System Memory amount, CPU, etc. and any other relevant details.

[bhousto90]

What modes were you trying with the 2nd monitor? i.e just as a 2nd display or did you try to use the external monitor as the only display?

At the beginning of your post you indicated you are using Lightroom CC.

From your CreativeCloud app you should be able to install the older version 5 of Lightroom to see if this changes anything.

The older version does not have any of the Graphics GPU acceleration features that may be triggering a hardware problem with your laptop.

(Not saying this is a fix but may get us closer to the root of the problem)

You may also want to try playing a 4K video to see if you can get a program other than Lightroom to create the flicker.

It may be something with Video RAM and so far only Lightroom is using the upper end?

I do not think that it is a case of the laptop being under powered for Lightroom, from the specs I found it looks like it is several steps up from what I use for Lightroom.

[tom1979]

Adobe now say the Intel HD Graphice 620 is not supported!!  I've had some pretty rubbish laptops in the past that ran Lightroom ok, albeit with GPU acceleration turned off.  However as this problem is limited to Lightroom they may be right.

ive not seen an option to install LR5 anyway but I'll have a look later.  Any ideas where i can get a 4K video to test?

[Just Shoot Me]

It is not supported to use the newer LR GPU feature but that is not the reason your screen is flickering. I have that option disabled on both my systems and don't have any flickering.

Also that GPU option only came out with LR CC 2015 so you certainly couldn't of used it on previous version of LR.

Why would you need a 4k monitor to test what?

[tom1979]

Sounds like they were just trying to get rid of me!  It does seem to still come back to Lightroom though.   I will see if I can install LR5 somehow....

It was suggested above to "You may also want to try playing a 4K video to see if you can get a program other than Lightroom to create the flicker.  It may be something with Video RAM and so far only Lightroom is using the upper end?"

[Just Shoot Me]

Open the Creative Cloud Desktop app and go to the Apps tab . Look at the Find Additional Apps section. Click on the All Apps link on the right and select "View Previous Versions". In there you should find LR 5.

So tell me this. With all the tens to hundreds of thousands of Dell notebooks sold and out of them the thousands to tens of thousands of them running LR, let alone all the other notebooks sold by whoever running LR CC 2015, why isn't both the Dell, Adobe, and any other forum that deals with Photography filled with posts about screen flickering caused by LR?

[tom1979]

I'm not disagreeing with you, I quite agree.  It is Adobe and Dell that are disagreeing.  Since the diagnostics tests all pass and my GPU is not specifically "supported" it would seem I am on my own with this one!!

I have got LR5 installed but cannot open my Catalog so need to test later today.