One of the best voice chatting apps on the internet right now, Discord has managed to garner a large following due to its incredible functionality, fantastic user interface and compliance with other applications. People game and use Discord to voice chat with other teammates. Overall it is an incredible app for not only just your computer but for your smartphone as well.
With so many good things about this application, it only makes sense that there are a few downsides too. One of those issues being a black screen that the user comes across. This is a big problem which the users of Discord face and they would do anything to get rid of this problem. Thankfully, we are here to help you guys out of this mess.
We are going to bring the causes of a Discord black screen as well as the solutions to these problems to help you get rid of it. Make sure to read till the end to get a list of solutions and make your Discord app work perfectly. Like the black screen never existed!
First up, we shall be discussing the causes that might lead to a Discord black screen.
Causes Of Discord Black Screen
Incompatibility
At times your Discord application might be prevented from performing its complete function due to your operating system. Hence why the black screen of Discord turns up every now and then. With Windows’ operating system running Discord and showing issues, these incompatibilities can be a hurdle in letting you enjoy a good experience on Discord.
Corrupted cache
Discord’s cache also has the tendency to be corrupted at times which leads to the application to glitch when started. If the black screen problem occurs for you then close the Discord app and clear the cache of the app so that your app starts up normally without any bugs.
Hardware Acceleration
Hardware acceleration is the process used by a number of applications to cut back on the GPU’s resource usage to save up on the usage of your phone’s processor. Not all Discord users have mentioned this problem because for many of them this issue took place after they enabled Hardware Acceleration on their phones.
When the Hardware Acceleration option was disabled then it caused a black screen error on Discord. You can tweak around with your Hardware Acceleration settings to make sure you get to solve this issue.
VPN
A number of users had a VPN/proxy running while they were trying to open the Discord app and it is known that these VPNs reportedly interfere with the settings of the Discord app and can end up giving you Discord black screen. A way to fix this issue is to close the VPN and then restart your Discord application.
Time Issue
Another reason why the Discord black screen shows up is when your operating system has its time and date misconfigured. The Discord app which you’re using is going to think that due to the date and time not being correct, the web-certificates of certain applications might have expired.
Now that you know the causes of this problem, it is time to move on to the ways you can fix this.
Solutions Of Discord Black Screen
Compatibility Mode
To run your Discord app or software in compatibility mode, you will need to carry out the following steps:
- Right-click on your Discord app and select “Properties”
- Go to the “Compatibility” tab and check the box for “Run this program in compatibility mode for” then proceed to select a previous version of Windows than the one which you are currently using
- After you’ve applied these settings, make sure to restart your computer and check whether the black screen issue still shows.
Clearing Discord Cache
The next solution you can carry out of the compatibility mode solution fails to work is that you can clear the Discord cache from your computer’s files. Your desktop has a number of programs running and with so many unnecessary files and their data being collected, you will need to clear the way for certain apps to work properly. Clearing the app’s cache helps. Here’s how to do it:
- Open the run box by pressing “Windows + R” keys and search for “%appdata%”
- Locate and then select the “discord” folder and then hit “Delete” from your keyboard
- After this, restart your Discord application and check whether the black screen issue has been fixed or not
Still not fixed? Here comes the next solution your way in order to fix the problem of a black screen on Discord.
Hardware Acceleration
Here is how you can enable or disable the hardware acceleration on your system when the black screen comes up. As mentioned earlier in the causes of this problem, hardware acceleration can very much be the driving force behind the black screen issue.
To enable or disable the hardware acceleration on your PC, follow these steps:
- On your Discord app, click on the “Setting” icon at the bottom of the left pane on your screen
- Now go to the “Appearance” tab from the left pane of the screen and disable the toggle button which is parallel to “Hardware Acceleration”
- If it is already disable then you will need to enable and check whether the problem persists
Discord Cache
The Discord cache problem was a major source of the black screen problem which is why to make sure this problem doesn’t pop up any more in the future, you will need to disable the cache of your Discord app.
- Go to your Discord Home Screen and press the buttons “Ctrl + Shift + I” to open developers options
- Go into the Network tab and uncheck the box of “Cache”
- Restart your app and check if this issue has been fixed or not
Update Discord
Sometimes you might be getting the black screen issue because your Discord app might not be updated. Certain patches and updates are rolled out for apps which fix bugs and this is why you need to keep your app updated at all times. To update your Discord app on Windows, follow these steps:
- Press “Windows + R” from your keyboard and the run box is going to open up
- Search for “%localappdata%”
- Search for the name of the Discord folder and access it
- There is going to be a file that will update the app. Do that to update your application
- After updating Discord, check if the issue still persists
Update Graphics Driver
Your Discord app might be acting up due to your graphics driver which you will need to update. Follow the given steps to update your system’s graphic drivers:
- Press “Windows + X” on your keyboard and then select the Device Manager
- After you access the Device Manager, click on Display Adapters to expand the entire list of graphic drivers that are installed on your computer
- Open the properties of your graphic driver, navigate to the “Driver” tab and choose “Update driver”.
- Now restart your computer to see if you still encounter this black screen problem.
Kill Background Applications
The next solution on our list is to terminate all the background applications that are running simultaneously alongside discord. This causes your Discord app to lag. When the processing power is shared between apps then this causes apps to not work to their optimum performance. Here is how you can terminate the background applications running on your desktop:
- Open your Task Manager
- Select any unwanted app which is running in the background and click on end task
- Now check and see if this fixes your Discord blank screen issue
Disabling Proxies or VPN
If you remember, in the causes section, we mentioned how proxies and VPNs have the tendency to make your Discord app malfunction. Now, we bring an easy fix for you to solve this problem. Proxy servers working in the background also cause your Discord app to not work properly. Here is how you can disable all proxies and VPNs working on your computer:
- Open your Task Manager
- Locate all tasks that are associated with your Proxy applications or VPN and then kill those tasks
- Once you’ve done this, make sure to give your system a restart
- Once the computer boots up, open your Discord app to see whether the problem is still there
Use Discord’s Web Client
For the final solution, you can use the Discord web app if your desktop application is continuously showing the same problem of a blank screen. Even after you’ve reinstalled the app and still the problem hasn’t been fixed then there must be a problem with your system’s configurations.
You can use the web app for Discord if you think your app issue is beyond repair. The web client is more stable than the app itself and many people already use the web app instead of installing the application on their desktop.
We hope these solutions came in handy for you to solve the problem of a blank screen on Discord.
