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]

The GPU is only NOT Supported for the newer LR GPU feature which is only good for using 4-5 k monitors. On my desktop if I enable that feature LR runs slower than with it disabled.

[tom1979]

These people are pretty dumb.  Trying to explain to them is quite difficult.

[tom1979]

Just trying to decide how best to proceed with this.  As far as Dell are concerned all the diagnostics pass, including  GPU stress tests and the problem only seems to occur with LR.  As far as Adobe are concerned my GPU is not supported so not their problem.

not sure where to go with this now?

[Todd Shaner]

Google is your friend. It appears screen flicker is a common issue with Intel HD graphics and laptops:

https://www.google.com/search?num=100&biw=1620&bih=967&q=laptop+Intel+HD+display+flicker&oq=laptop+I...

Numerous solutions offered....perhaps one of them will work for you?

[tom1979]

Thanks!  I had looked at some power settings but hadn't fully investigated if there were multiple power settings.  I will have a good look through tomorrow

[tom1979]

I have looked at all the power settings and everything is set for maximum performance, there were no settings for varying the refresh rate automatically.

In Lightroom 5, there is no flickering at all.  If this is the workaround this is going to be a royal pain downgrading my catalog of 51,000 images.

However in Lightroom CC when I look at the System Info I see the following:

Graphics Processor Info:

Intel(R) HD Graphics 620

Check OpenGL Support: Passed

Vendor: Intel

Version 3.3.0 - Build 21.20.16.426

Renderer: Intel(R) HD Graphics 620

Language Version 3.3.0 - Build 21.20.16.426

From this it would seem the 620 is supported?

Is this a glitch with Lightroom CC after all?  The flickering occurs whether or not use of the GPU is checked, and mainly in the Develop module.  Adobe were saying the images were not being rendered properly, however in the Library module they are rendered fine with no flickering! edit: with Pentax 645Z files (51MP) there is some flickering even in the Library module when zooming to 100%.  I tried the same file, exported as DNG, in Lightroom 5 and NO flickering in Library or Develop

[Todd Shaner]

Make sure you are using the latest LR version update 6.8 or CC 2015.8.

Next try resetting the LR Preferences file as outlined below under heading Resetting the Preferences File – Lightroom 6/CC only. You can do this by renaming the Preferences file with an extension of .OLD extension.

To preserve the existing LR 6/CC preferences file should the reset not fix the problem and you want to revert to the pre-existing file. Thus you do need to rename this file before using the reset procedure:

Windows: C:\Users\your username\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom\Preferences.OLD

[tom1979]

I have even tried a fresh install of LR so I don't think just resetting settings is going to help.

[Todd Shaner]

tom1979  wrote

I have even tried a fresh install of LR so I don't think just resetting settings is going to help.

When LR is uninstalled, reinstalled, or updated the original LR Preferences file is not removed or replaced with a new one. The only one to change it to see if that fixes your issue is as I outlined. It's simple and can be restored easily if no joy.

[tom1979]

Ok thanks I'll give it a go!  Just assumed reinstalling would do the same...

[tom1979]

Resetting the preferences made no difference.  This does seem to be more of a glitch with Lightroom than hardware.  I've yet to see it do it when LR CC is not running.

[Todd Shaner]

Did you close and restart LR and then uncheck 'Use Graphics Processor?"

[tom1979]

Yes I did, I can't think what else would be causing it.  seems odd that all the diagnostic/stress tests seem to pass fine.  I might try some of the various drivers that Intel

provided to see if any of them offer any additional power settings.

[Todd Shaner]

See if this helps: How to manually update your Windows Intel HD Graphics drivers | Plugable

[tom1979]

Thanks but I have tried many drivers provided by Intel, including ones which have not been released yet.  I have even tried disabling the touch screen and for a short time i thought that had solved it, but it hadnt.

interestingly when monitoring the CPU usage I see that when zooming into images in Lightroom the CPU usage goes up quite a lot, sometimes to 99%.  its an i7 processor with 16GB of RAM.  Seems odd to be using that much memory on such a task.

[tom1979]

I noticed this morning that after exiting LR there is still some screen flickering for a few seconds.  The flickering is not limited to the edit window in LR like in most common cases, it is across the whole screen including Task Manager if running.

I also tried completely uninstalling the graphics driver and the flickering still occurs.

Testing in LR 5 with a large 645Z file - the CPU usage does not go over 30%.  With LR6/CC it's maxing out.

I may just go and buy a cheap laptop from PC World and see what happens, either way I think this one has to go back.

[tom1979]

This morning as a test I installed LR CC on another Dell laptop, of much lesser specification as follows:

Dell E4310 with Intel i5 processor 4GB RAM with "Intel HD Graphics" on driver 8.15.10.2418 dated 10/06/2011.  The OpenGL Support in "System Info" shows as failed, therefore GPU acceleration is impossible with this machine (note that with the Intel HD 620 this test passed despite them saying its not supported).

Result is NO FLICKERING, even with working with 50MB Pentax 645Z files.  It is as slow as a three legged dog but no flickering and would be quite usable on normal images.

I'm not sure if this proves a fault with my GPU or not??  It certainly proves that nothing fancy is required to run LR, and even when underpowered it does not cause flickering

[Todd Shaner]

tom1979  wrote

Testing in LR 5 with a large 645Z file - the CPU usage does not go over 30%.  With LR6/CC it's maxing out.

I may just go and buy a cheap laptop from PC World and see what happens, either way I think this one has to go back.

I suggest getting a laptop with a high-performance quad-core processor. The one you have now (i7-7500U) is at the low-end for 645G 51.4 Mp raw file editing. It will work, but may cause issues when doing intensive editing (Spot Removal, etc.). I also suggest getting a laptop with "switchable" Intel HD and Nvida graphics adapters. You'll need to check because some laptop displays are hardwired to the Intel HD GPU and the Nvida GPU is only connected to the external display ports (DVI,DisplayPort). Here's an example: Solutions ht078706

[tom1979]

We posted at the same time.  The laptop is for "on the go" editing, I have a respectable desktop PC for proper work.  As above I did a test on an inferior laptop and found although it is slow, there is no flickering.  I think the specifications for my laptop are suitable for what I need when I'm out and about, but I am concerned there is some fault.  The CPU on the 4GB laptop does not max out like mine and I have four times the memory.

[Todd Shaner]

There's one more check you can run. Windows 10 often assigns a display profile that is incompatible with LR. The symptoms are color differences between the Library and Develop module and/or performance issues (flickering?). Try the procedure outlined below to temporarily assign the sRGB profile to the laptop display. Make sure to close and reopen LR to load the newly assigned profile. See if this makes a difference.

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/articles-page/how-do-i-change-my-monitor-profile-to-check-whether-its...

[tom1979]

Just checked, there are no ICC profiles installed at all !  I will try adding the "sRGB IE61966-2.1" one, also have to now re-install LR CC on it as I can only have two installs running!!

[Todd Shaner]

No need to uninstall just Sign Out as outlined here: Sign in and sign out to activate or deactivate Creative Cloud apps

[tom1979]

Still the same.  It has to go back !!!!  If a 4GB laptop can render and image (eventually) without flickering and stuttering then I am pretty sure this one should be able to.

[Todd Shaner]

Agreed, and we've eliminated LR as the cause.

[tom1979]

There is a bad video here in this dropbox folder showing what happens : Dropbox - DELL

This was when I tried to connect a second monitor, but you can see the flickering even in the Library module.