White flickering screen while in Illustrator or InDesign cc 2019

[Guest]

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.

[kglad]

update your graphics card drivers.

[Guest]

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]

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

[Guest]

Disabling the start workspace doen't seem to help.

[KanikaS]

Moving to Illustrator​

[verseau1955]

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

[verseau1955]

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

[MattPenroseCSQ]

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.

[garyl64472086]

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.

[craigr22280930]

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

[garyl64472086]

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.

[craigr22280930]

Thanks Gary, that is exactly my opinion as well, it's taken us 4/5 months to get to this. Appreciate your response. Thanks

[garyl64472086]

I goofed on my info -- I didn't realize that Radeon IS AMD. ( I don't follow component manufactures that closely) BUT -- that doesn't kill my theory, though. I think there is a problem specifically with AMD Radeon R9 M390 graphics cards & Adobe CC 2019. I discovered we have a slightly older iMac with a different (and older) AMD card totally updated to Mojave and Adobe CC 2019 and it doesn't have any flickering problem at all.

[Srishti Bali]

Hi Craig/Gary,

Thanks for reaching out and sharing your observation. Sorry to hear about this ongoing issue. I would request if you can share a few more details like:

• Exact version of the graphics driver installed on your system. Did you try updating the driver? Does that help?
• Exact version of Illustrator installed on your system? Try installing 23.0.1 or 23.0.2 to check if that helps.
• What happens if you turn off GPU performance from Illustrator preferences?

       

Regards,

Srishti

[verseau1955]

I thought that drivers were automatically updated with Apple software updates?

[craigr22280930]

Hi srishtib8795206,

My issue has also happened in Indesign as well as Illustrator. My Graphic Drivers are EFI Driver Version: 01.00.799 which is what Apple installed automatically. I have never manually updated or changed them. I'm currently using Illustrator 23.0.4. and ID 14.0.2.

I have recently turned off the GPU performance box and so far (2/3 days) it hasn't happened, but surely by having this off I'm not using these programs to their full ability which seems a bit counter productive.

Thanks

Craig

[garyl64472086]

• Drivers get automatically updated on Macs, as far as I am aware, so they should be UTD. My system is totally current with the latest & greatest from Apple.

• I have Illustrator 2019 totally up to date. I thought maybe it was the actual problem and rolled back to 2018 to test. Same problem in 2018 as well. Didn't exist before in 2018.

• I have not tried the GPU box, but this wasn't a problem at all until I updated to Adobe 2019 products on my iMac.

I 100% believe there is a problem with the 2019 suite on Macs running MacOS 10.14 Mojave AND this particular graphics card: AMD Radeon R9 M390 2 GB. I think the drivers for this particular model of graphic card were not updated or accounted for by Adobe when updating their products to the 2019 suite. The problem did not exist when we updated to Mojave and were running the 2018 suite. Everything ran just fine, including having the GPU performance turned on. I would even say that possibly the initial 2019 23.0 version of Illustrator was fine, but one of the incremental updates messed it up. I think I was running 23.0 with no problems as well, but I can't be totally sure. Now, the 2018 version experiences the same issue.

So -- I believe something in an Adobe 2019 update messed its functionality with Macs that have the AMD Radeon R9 M390 graphics card, in turn, passing the problem on to previous versions of Illustrator and possibly InDesign.

[topkatbosk]

Am having the exact same issues and only in Indesign and Illustrator after a few hours of usage. Generally quitting /relaunching the app fixes it, but today I had to do a restart as it seemed to be flickering when any app was active.

[Srishti Bali]

Hi All,

Sorry to hear about this frustrating issue. We are investigating this issue right now and all the observations shared above are really helpful. I would request you all if you can share a few more details like:

• OS and Version of Illustrator (those who have not shared earlier).
• Graphics Cards and the exact version of Driver installed on the system.
• Does turning off GPU performance from Illustrator preferences helped you?

      

• If you have multiple GPUs on your system, please disable Automatic GPU Switching on Mac (How to Disable Automatic GPU Switching on MacBook Pro )
• Check if the same thing happens in Safe boot: Start in Safe Boot mode for Adobe products on Mac OS X?

Regards,

Srishti

[reallynice-thanks]

Hi,

My Illustrator version: 23.0.4

My OS: 10.14.5

[Srishti Bali]

Hi there,

Thanks for sharing the version of Illustrator and OS. Looking forward to the more information from your end.

Regards!

[topkatbosk]

Hi Srishti

My Illustrator is 23.0.4 and Mac OS 10.14.5. This issue has been happening since Illustrator 23.0.2 and now it's affecting the latest Indesign too.

Have turned off GPU performance in both apps, and will observe the results. Generally this has worked before, especially with Photoshop corruption occurring on PSDs. However the GPU usage for both Illustrator and Indesign is welcome addition, and this should really be an interim fix before the issue is properly resolved.

My GPU is AMD Radeon R9 M390 2 GB.

[Srishti Bali]

Thanks for sharing the details. Please share your observations after turning off the GPU performance.

[Marc Swarbrick]

Same specs as everyone else, turned off gpu. Fixed it. The lag without gpu was unbearable so turned back on again and no issues again yet but I feel like this is a bug that either Apple or Adobe have to squash otherwise it makes both products unusable.