White flickering screen: Illustrator 2019 gltches out video card in Macs with AMD Radeon R9 M390 2 GB graphics card...
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 doesn't fix it. I first thought it was a physical hardware problem (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.
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.
The quick fix (it seems for now) is to turn off GPU Performance. This makes using Illustrator very draggy and slow, but the screen flicker has stopped. This needs to be addressed by Adobe and fixed.
More details and discussion on this video card glitch can be found here:
https://forums.adobe.com/message/11159643
Based on feedback, this issue is fixed by upgrading to MacOS Catalina . We are closing this .Let us know if you are still observing this on MacOS Catalina and we will reopen this thread.
Regards
Ankit Goyal
Illustrator Team
-
Marc Swarbrick commented
I've got the same system as everyone else here:
iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015)
4 GHz Intel Core i7
32 GB 1867 MHz DDR3
AMD Radeon R9 M390 2 GBI am not running or have ever had installed ANY Microsoft products so that definitely isn't the cause.
One thing I can add is that while the main display freaks out, I also have a 24" LED Cinema Display which appears unaffected even though they are being driven by the same graphics card (image attached).
I hope this helps shed some light on the situation because I, like everyone here, is fed up to the back teeth of having to restart all the time. Turning off the GPU acceleration simply isn't an option as InDesign and Illustrator become virtually unusable.
-
Chris B commented
Hi all... I've heard rumours that this problem has been fixed in the upcoming MacOS Catalina (10.15) ...Can anyone confirm or deny this?
Search for Catalina on this page: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/running-outlook-on-the-imac-causes-the-screen-to/cabec9be-a656-4685-8fe4-3e75725ac47e?page=15
Disabling 'GPU Performance' in Adobe InDesign preferences is a good workaround for the time being. This definitely worked for 2 of our users, although it does produce a bit of lag if working with large image files.
-
Nick commented
We use O365 but use it in the browser, not one single Microsoft app installed. It seems the problem occurs when resizing elements in both Illustrator and InDesign.
-
Ian commented
We are using 365 and Creative cloud. We are experiencing very similar issues to what everyone else is posting.
As Ashutosh is saying that they can re create the issue why can't you fix it? This is a pain!! -
Arash Teymourian commented
We have the same issue . 2015 mac with white screen while using adobe apps ,InDesign, illustrator.
2015 IMAC, Os Mojave version 10.14.5 . video card AMD Radeon R9 m395 2GB. -
Mary Read commented
When does issue start to happen? Is it after updating to Mojave?
Almost immediately following the updateIs the issue related to a specific document("ai,.indd or ps)? If yes, could you please share the document with us? You can upload it to the creative cloud and share the download link.
Not specific to documents -- it happens in all .ai or .indd documents, sometimes within minutes of opening the document, sometimes it gives me 30 minutes of working time
Any specific operation or action after which issue starts? Screen recording of the workflow will be very useful.
Frequently it is when clicking and dragging a placed graphic but it is not limited to that instance. Basically it happens all the time, no matter what I am doing.
Are all of you using 27-inch late 2015 iMac and AMD Radeon R9 M395?
Yes
Do you use Microsoft Outlook with Adobe products?
I do not use Microsoft Outlook but I do have Microsoft Office installed. I uninstalled Outlook when I read there might be an issue. I've also disabled GPU Performance to no effect and to be clear it is not a 'flicker' it is a major, heart-stopping series of flashes that looks like the machine is going to blow up.Please help!
-
Wiebe Brandsema commented
It happens when I resize elements in my design in Indesign. On the background Outlook and Word are running.
-
Marc Swarbrick commented
I do not have any Microsoft products installed. Happens when using Illustrator or InDesign but there doesn't seem to be any specific trigger.
-
Anonymous commented
Yes, using Office 365 w apps installed
-
Anonymous commented
Same here. happened a few times before, after recent updates- happens all the time when I pan or flythrough an opened Illustrator document with GPU on.
Got MS office installed, among the rest.
Macbook pro 2017 -
Laura Thies commented
The issue started just after updating to Mojave and CC 2019. it is not document related, it's illustrator in general. it doesn't seem to matter how complicated it is or the size of the file. for me it generally happens later in the work day like 2pm or later but not always. It has happened as early as 11:30 or so. It doesn't seem to be a specific action that triggers it but moving the mouse while it's flickering does make it worse. Yes my machine is the 27-inch later 2015 iMac with AMD Radeon R9 M3595 2GB. I am forced to use outlook for work, so yes it is always running while I'm working. If i could use something else i would. Outlook is garbage and has it's own set of issues, it does not let me open or view attachments but i believe that to be an unrelated issue.
-
Grace Reid commented
My screen continues to flash whether or not I have Office running. I uninstalled Outlook (which I never used anyway) but that did not improve the situation. Likewise with turning off GPU Performance, which had little or no effect on the issue in Illustrator.
I've been noticing that flashes will often happen when clicking and dragging with my mouse (in both indd and ai), although not exclusively so. I get a few more minutes out of both apps if I use the x/y axis palette or arrow keys instead of dragging. I'm not sure if this is relevant but it does seem to frequently initiate the flashing in both apps.
I am down to about 5 minutes of productive user time in both indd and ai. I will be very, very grateful if you can return my design life back to normal!
-
Grace Reid commented
I have the full Office Suite installed but don't use Outlook at all. I'm reluctantly disabling GPU Performance in Illustrator since I rely heavily on animated zoom, but I'm getting desperate. The flashing/flickering is common to both Illustrator and InDesign, but it does seems to happen more often in InDesign when I'm moving placed graphics. I've discovered that if I position objects using the X/Y axis palette or with arrow keys (in both apps), I can really reduce the number of times I have to restart to recover my monitor. But are there any items I can disable in InDesign that will give me at least a few consecutive minutes to do my work?
-
Anonymous commented
I do have Microsoft Outlook installed. I have noticed the flickering start while in Outlook.
-
Jake commented
Mine also seems to happen when I am dragging logos/graphics around, but not since I turned off GPU performance on both AI and ID, which brings it's own baggage.
-
Anonymous commented
Yes I am using office 365 applications. It has just happenend to me in InDesign again and I managed toi record it on my phone - link below. It started while dragging a logo to a new position
-
Anonymous commented
Yes I am using office 365 applications. It has just happenend to me in InDesign again and I managed toi record it on my phone - attached. It started while dragging a logo to a new position.
-
Marc Dooley commented
Yes I’m using Microsoft Office.
-
Anonymous commented
I have an iMac 2015 with the AMD Radeon R9 M390 and running Adobe Cloud CC (current). I only have Microsoft OneNote installed but have not used it other than a few times a few years ago. I use Libre Office to open Word documents occasionally but rarely use it either.
I get the flickering screen on the main integral monitor when using Illustrator but have had it happen in InDesign and Photoshop as well. However, law of averages, I use Illustrator all day long but the others only once a day a couple of times a week.
If i work quickly to get to the GPU preferences and toggle it off, the flickering stops but then I have "double vision" windows and still have to reboot but at least can find the save button to rescue my work.
-
Mark commented
Yes, I'm always running Outlook 16.27 and Excel 16.27 at the same time as Illustrator CC 2019 when I get the flickering issue. I am usually working in Illustrator when the trouble starts (with an Excel spreadsheet and Outlook both open in the background), but lately there have been a couple occasions when I have been working in Excel and the flickering started (with Outlook and Illustrator both open in the background).