Strange screen blanking problem

John Emmas 161

About a week ago I updated VS2019 Community Edition to ver 16.7.2 (I'll provide a build number if someone can tell me where to find it...) I'm running it under Windows 10.

Since the update I'm having constant issues with my screen going blank (i..e totally black, with no picture at all). It always happens when using Visual Studio - sometimes when I first load a project and sometimes when working in the Properties page for a project.

My screen stays black for typically 4-5 seconds. The picture then returns - but only Visual Studio has any visible contents. Any other screen windows which were open at the time will be totally black until I minimize them and then restore them.

Is this a known issue?

Anna Xiu-MSFT 27,731 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2020-08-31T09:47:24.11+00:00

Have you tried launching other apps and checking if the same situation occurs? What is your project type? You can try to create different project and check if the issue occurs in a specific project. I suggest you repair it in Visual Studio Installer and update all pending Windows Updates.

7 answers

John Emmas 161 Reputation points

2020-09-02T08:30:34.547+00:00

Grrrr.... it just happened again :-(

I'll go back to checking the option Optimize rendering for screens with different pixel densities and try it like that for a few days.

[Edit...] Nope, that didn't work - it just did it again :-(

[Edit2...] and again - that's 3 times today in the space of two hours. (even after re-booting). And yet it was fine all day yesterday. I can't think what else to try....
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Anna Xiu-MSFT 27,731 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2020-09-03T09:18:41.273+00:00

Hi JohnEmmas, in order for us to investigate this further, please refer to the Visual Studio 2019 System Requirement to check if your Visual Studio 2019 Community meets the system requirement. In particular, please ensure that sufficient drive space is available. Meanwhile, we need your help to collect your installation logs and check if the update is successful. You could download and run this collect.exe tool, go to %temp% folder and find the vslogs.zip file, upload it to https://onedrive.live.com/ and share the link in here.

John Emmas 161 Reputation points

2020-09-03T13:17:16.847+00:00

1) Okay thanks... my .NET framework is showing up as 4.5.1 which is below the minimum requirement so I'll try updating that but - where do I find the version number for Windows 10? All I can see in Control Panel is "Windows 10 Home"

2) I'll try running collect.exe and I'll then then upload vslogs.zip

[Edit...] I've never used OneDrive before. Do I need to upload the zip file to my Documents folder or my Vault ??

BTW - it's gone back to being absolutely fine again today !!

Anna Xiu-MSFT 27,731 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2020-09-04T08:18:40.923+00:00

1) Where do I find the version number for Windows 10?
To do so, just type winver in the start search box and press Enter. We suggest you install a newer version of .NET Framework and update your Windows to the latest version.
2) Do I need to upload the zip file to my Documents folder or my Vault ?
Please upload the vslogs.zip file to your Documents folder and share link with us.

John Emmas 161 Reputation points

2020-09-04T09:14:06.237+00:00

Okay - my Win10 is showing version 2004 so that seems okay. I'll update .NET later (although I don't use .NET as far as I know). In the meantime, here's a link to my uploaded vslogs file, from yesterday:-

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AvOmC_x0rHiHcbziE1yhU2MrNRQ?e=SQ4NG1

[Edit...] Just checked my .NET installation this morning. According to Visual Studio's installer I have .NET 4.5.1 installed - but I also have 4.6.1 installed, as well as 4.7.2 and even 4.8. However... Control Panel only shows me 4.5.1

So I'm guessing that Windows itself installed 4.5.1 whereas the others all got installed by Visual Studio.

Anna Xiu-MSFT 27,731 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2020-09-07T10:07:34.147+00:00

Hi JohnEmmas, is everything going right? From looking at the uploaded files, I cannot find the relevant installation logs. Have these logs been removed?

John Emmas 161 Reputation points

2020-09-07T11:39:13.667+00:00

Sorry, I don't understand... do you mean that the link works okay but the target doesn't contain any log files? After running collect.exe my understanding was that it'd produce a zip file (containing the relevant logs). I haven't deleted any log files.

Having said that... I haven't had any further problems for about 3 days now.

Anna Xiu-MSFT 27,731 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2020-09-08T10:03:18.96+00:00

Yes, I checked the folder, it seems that the update did not start if the files were not deleted. Please check if you update the VS2019 to the latest version 16.7.2.
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John Emmas 161 Reputation points

2020-09-09T11:14:30.3+00:00

Yes it's currently showing 16.7.2 though AFAICT the problem's mysteriously gone now.

A message just popped up to say that 16.7.3 is now available - but I think I'll do a backup this time before I upgrade !!
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Anna Xiu-MSFT 27,731 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2020-09-11T09:41:52.887+00:00

Hi JohnEmmas, what about this issue now? Will the same situation appear after you update the Visual Studio to release 16.7.3?
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Strange screen blanking problem

7 answers