Lightroom & Dell Inspiron 13 5378 Screen Flicker

[mikerum-hMVa1n]

There is an older discussion on this topic Lightroom CC & Screen Flicker but it is not answered and the last post seems to indicate further discussion should be posted as a new thread. So... here goes.

I have a Dell Inspiron 13 5378

Core i5 7200U @ 2.5GHz

16 GB RAM

Intel HD 620 Graphics

240GB SSD

Upgrades were: replaced HDD with SSD, added 8GB system RAM (matched). The problem was present both before and after RAM upgrade. The SSD has been installed since day 1. Drivers have all been updated from Dell website (except for HDD drivers, obviously).

Lightroom Classic CC is current version (8.0 at time of writing) but issue has been present through past few updates.

Windows 10 Home v1803 17134.345, kept up to date.

Basics: issue happens when photos are displayed and manipulated in Lightroom Develop module. Usually the longer I'm at it, the more flickery the display becomes. Changing photos on the filmstrip seems to really bring on a storm of flickering. Both laptop display and externally connected display have the same issue. I have tried the various solutions in the above-mentioned thread (disabled virtualization, etc.) with no joy. Nothing else running that isn't necessary. Issue happens both when plugged in/on battery and I've tried setting all performance to full in power options. Issue only happens in Lightroom.

Catalog has about 4600 photos, catalog is hosted on local drive with photos on an external USB drive. All RAW.

[Todd Shaner]

At the other link you provided disabling Virtualization in the BIOS seemed to fix the issue until the user upgraded the BIOS. Check your BIOS setting and make sure it is Disabled as outlined at the below link.

Enabling Virtualization Technology in Dell Systems

[mikerum-hMVa1n]

Thank you for your response. I did actually mention that I had already tried that in the initial post. From what I read in the provided link, the poster initially reported that it fixed the problem and then later updated that it had returned. It sounded like his fix was to buy a new laptop. I'm hoping to avoid that.

[Todd Shaner]

OK, sorry did see that you already tried disabling Virtualization. Intel integrated graphics doesn't have it's own VRAM and instead allocates an area in system memory. To eliminate memory as the source of the issue you might try swapping the memory module pairs in the upper and lower memory banks.

[mikerum-hMVa1n]

Thanks for the suggestion. I swapped the RAM and can't say it's made a difference.

I agree it sounds like a memory issue. There is less flickering with 16 vs 8gb... or at least that's how I perceive it to be. Maybe just to justify the expense.

[Just Shoot Me]

Have you turned off the option to use the GPU in LR? It is in the LR preferences on the performance tab.

[mikerum-hMVa1n]

I have tried it both with the GPU on and off with no difference.