Obsidian goes black screen instantly after I launch the app

Basement
1

What I’m trying to do

Use the app. But it goes black. (Not the whole computer screen, just the app window.)

Here’s how it looks:

  • pure black, no window frame.
  • I can’t interact with the app in any way, I can’t type anything into the open note (I checked by typing and then opening the note in Notepad++, no changes were made)

Here’s a screenshot:

Obsidianblack
Obsidianblack1076×644 37.4 KB

Things I have tried

  1. Downloading newest version didn’t help.
  2. Restarting the computer didn’t help.
  3. Searching the forum… Idk here’s what I found:
    3.1. Troubleshooting: «Remove custom themes or plugins». I don’t have any.
    3.2. «App goes black and deletes the contents of my note.» That is not my case, I opened my notes with a Notepad++ and everything’s right there.
    3.3. «Open Sandbox vault to see if the problem persists.» Can’t do that, since the app goes black in less than 1 second after opening my last vault. Well, having the fastest hand in the Wild West, I managed to open Sandbox vault, but that’s as far as I can get.

Peculiar things about this issue

I don’t know if that is of any relevance, but in case it is:

  1. Problem happens both on my PC and laptop. But laptop performed well until after I downloaded newer version (1.4.16), which is now installed on both devices.
  2. I gave up and went to cheat on Obsidian with Logseq, but same thing happens: 1-2 seconds after launch it goes black, too.
  3. This problem arose soon after I started using my flash drive as a vault (to be able to work both on my laptop and PC).
  4. The time fragment between launch and blackout is not always the same. Sometimes it’s just an instant, and sometimes it’s almost 2 seconds. Usually it’s about 1 second. However, once it was long enough for me to think the black screen went away (5-10 seconds?). That was just after the restart.
  5. This problem arose some time ago, then after a few days went back to normal. I have no idea as to why, but I was happy Obsidian worked. But black screen is here again and it doesn’t seem to go away this time.

This is all my non-computer-wise brain could think of as relevant. I will provide more information, if needed to solve the problem.

3 Likes
2

Same here. Happens after the last update. So sad that I cannot reinstall a previous version. Anyway, I managed to capture some logging:

Errors:
link failed but did not provide an info log
[131383:1115/180153.544660:ERROR:shared_context_state.cc(81)] Skia shader compilation error
------------------------
// Vertex SKSL
#extension GL_NV_shader_noperspective_interpolation: require
uniform float4 sk_RTAdjust;in float2 position;in half4 color;flat out half4 vcolor_S0;void main() {// Primitive Processor QuadPerEdgeAAGeometryProcessor
vcolor_S0 = color;sk_Position = position.xy01;}
// Fragment SKSL
#extension GL_NV_shader_noperspective_interpolation: require
flat in half4 vcolor_S0;void main() {// Stage 0, QuadPerEdgeAAGeometryProcessor
half4 outputColor_S0;outputColor_S0 = vcolor_S0;const half4 outputCoverage_S0 = half4(1);{ // Xfer Processor: Porter Duff
sk_FragColor = outputColor_S0 * outputCoverage_S0;}}
// Vertex GLSL
#version 300 es

#extension GL_NV_shader_noperspective_interpolation : require
precision mediump float;
precision mediump sampler2D;
uniform highp vec4 sk_RTAdjust;
in highp vec2 position;
in mediump vec4 color;
flat out mediump vec4 vcolor_S0;
void main() {
    vcolor_S0 = color;
    gl_Position = vec4(position, 0.0, 1.0);
    gl_Position = vec4(gl_Position.xy * sk_RTAdjust.xz + gl_Position.ww * sk_RTAdjust.yw, 0.0, gl_Position.w);
}

// Fragment GLSL
#version 300 es

#extension GL_NV_shader_noperspective_interpolation : require
precision mediump float;
precision mediump sampler2D;
out mediump vec4 sk_FragColor;
flat in mediump vec4 vcolor_S0;
void main() {
    mediump vec4 outputColor_S0;
    outputColor_S0 = vcolor_S0;
    {
        sk_FragColor = outputColor_S0;
    }
}

And so on. System is Debian 12/64-bit

1 Like
3

Even on my machine since today (2023-11-25) after some core OS updates.

Obsidian version: Latest version is 1.4.16
Linux version: 6.1.63

Mesa version: mesa-23.1.9-drivers
LibDRM version: libdrm-2.4.117
NixOS version: 24.05pre552293.5a09cb4b393d (Uakari)
sway version: 1.8.1

As I wrote it worked until today ~22:00 and stopped working after ~22:48 with one system update (unstable) inbetween.

Yes, The Internet™says it’s an OpenGL whatever problem, but please don’t hide behind that. It happens way too often on up2date systems.

4

Same problem for me just happened today. Windows 11.

5

Same thing happened to me today 2023-12-02T08:00:00Z, running obsidian on Windows 10 for several years. I was using it blissfully, trying dataview for the first time. I navigated away to my browser (Vivaldi) and came back to a frameless all-black app window. I downloaded and installed the latest version. That did not fix it. I closed obsidian through Windows ALT-Tab. Reopened it - for a moment I saw my obsidian but it did not respond to mouse-clicks. Then it went all-black again.

I use obsidian a lot, and I sure would like to get it back.

6

@BesedinIS If the same happens with Logseq, it could mean there’s a funky file in your vault.

Do you have any unusually large .md files in the vault with the issue? I have a ~2.0MB file full of callouts and embeds that will white-screen Obsidian (light mode) with no window frame if it’s in the vault and freeze Typora/Typewriter if I try to open it.

1 Like
7

i’m having this issue too.

i’ve an intel MacBook Air 2020 i7 1.2 ghz, graphics intel iris plus graphics 1536, 16 gb memory, MacOS 14.1.1.

my Obsidian vault has many PDFs and MDs, mainly PDFs at this stage, new to obsidian. my valut is 58.5gb for 23,942 items. Hopefully there is a known solution because it happens on any file. takes about 20 mins for it to stop functioning and go black.

thanks for your help

8

I had this problem and was able to solve the issue by renaming my plugins folder in the .obsidian folder and then restarting. That managed to kick Obsidian out of whatever problem it was having. I then reverted the name of the plugins folder and everything seems to be working fine now. Still not sure what caused the original problem.

9

This issue happened after updating to Obsidian v1.5.3, running on Windows 11. I deleted C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\obsidian\obsidian-1.5.3.asar, which initially seemed to fix the problem. The issue reoccurred, possibly due to having an installer version of v0.14.6. I’m not sure why but even the logs were normal.

To address this, I installed the executable version from https://github.com/obsidianmd/obsidian-releases/releases/download/v1.4.16/Obsidian.1.4.16-allusers.exe, and it automatically upgraded to v1.5.3. If you encounter challenges with v1.5.3, I recommend reinstalling v1.4.16 and disabling automatic updates in Obsidian’s settings.

You can find the full list of releases here

2 Likes
10

This right here! (The comment from daudujohn) I literally just downloaded from the link you pasted, and when I reopened obsidian, everything was working fine, can’t promise it will work for everyone, or forever, but this sure fixed my problem.

11

I’m having this problem as well, hopefully there is a fix soon as not having access to my vault that I’ve cultivated for years is brutal

12

does moving the .obsidian out of your vault not work for you?

Use Finder, go to your vault folder, press Command + Shift + ., move .obsidian out of your vault and try to start obsidian.

13

Also having this issue as of today likely tied to updating Obsidian on my work computer (Windows 10 Pro) after returning from leave. Removing the .obsidian folder does not fix this issue.

On my personal laptop (Windows 11 Pro), it has worked no issue continuously, and still appears to work (including after removal of the .obsidian folder)

I will try a few different things and report back.

14

Update - the latest install appears to work on:
Windows 11 Pro, local admin account
Windows 10 Pro, local admin account (where I conducted the install on my work computer)

But not on:
Windows 10 Pro, network account (noting that it worked until I updated it this morning)

Attempted fixes which failed:
Restarting Obsidian
Restarting Computer
Renaming .obsidian
Removing .obsidian
Reinstalling Obsidian from latest version

Fix:
Curiously, what did work was installing Obsidian from the old version link posted by daudujohn above, and then updating to v1.5.3.

15

Does it not open if you are trying to create a brand new vault?

16

Same happens to me, I’ve tried everything, even those things people put in here… I have lots of information there, it just stays there in a white window as if it was charging… but never opens. I can`t lose my work, please help.

17

Post your debug info here.

If you move your entire vault out of where it is and then try to open obsidian, does it open to the screen where it asks you to choose a vault? Are you able to create a new blank vault from there?

1 Like
18

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