Discord is a well-known messaging service, and is especially popular with the gaming community. The platform supports both text messaging and voice chats.
The messaging service can be accessed from their website, or through the official Discord app. But sometimes, you may be met with a blank display – also referred to as the “Discord black screen issue”. Here’s what to do if that happens.
Discord blank screen on Startup
The Discord app can be set to launch on Startup, and usually, the app should launch with no issues. However, there can be times where Discord launches with a blank screen on Startup.
There are a few reasons for why this could be occurring. It could be that you’re running a lot of background processes and unnecessary programs, an issue with your operating system or something to do with your settings.
We’ll go through some of these reasons, as well as their solutions, in this article.
Restart App
The first method you should try is restarting the Discord app. Discord may be lagging or struggling to load on Startup.
Multiple programs simultaneously try to launch on Startup, which can take up a lot of power.
This can cause some apps to fail to load properly. Wait until all the programs have finished launching on Startup, and restart the Discord app.
To restart Discord, first close the application. You can do so by clicking the ‘x’ in the top right corner.
When you’ve closed Discord, make sure it’s not still running in the background. You can check this by opening the Task Manager (Windows-key + X, then select ‘Task Manager’).
If Discord is listed in the Task Manager, close the program. Click on Discord, and select the ‘end task’ option in the lower right.
You can also close Discord using the notification area. Click the upwards-facing arrow on the far right of your taskbar. Find the Discord icon and right-click on it. Then, select the ‘Quit Discord’ option.
Once you’ve properly closed Discord, reopen the app. To reopen Discord, double-click Discord’s desktop shortcut.
If you don’t have a desktop shortcut for Discord, open it by searching for it in the Start Menu. Then, click ‘open’ to launch Discord.
You can also double-click the Discord .exe file in File Explorer. You can easily find its file location by searching for Discord in the Start Menu, and clicking the ‘open file location’ option.
Check Server Status
Discord may be showing a blank screen on Startup due to server issues. You can check on the status of Discord’s servers by going to https://discordstatus.com/.
Discord’s server status should be shown beneath the Discord banner. If the servers are operating as normal, the status should say ‘all systems operational‘.
If the status states that there’s an issue with Discord’s servers, try accessing Discord again after a few hours. Any server issues should be resolved by then.
Close Background Apps
Discord may be struggling to load properly because there are too many programs open at once.
There’s no need for you to delete a Discord server on your iPhone or Android, but you’ll definitely want to check the status of the server to see if it’s causing issues.
On Startup, all the programs set to launch on Startup will open simultaneously.
This can take up quite a bit of operating power, which can cause some programs to fail in launching correctly. Try closing all other applications before trying to access Discord once more.
To close the other applications, click the ‘x’ in the top right for each application. Then, make sure that no other applications are running in the background still by opening the Task Manager.
You can do so by pressing Windows-key + X, and clicking ‘Task Manager’.
All the programs currently running on your device should be displayed in the Task Manager. To close a program, select it and click ‘end task’.
Disable hardware acceleration
Enabling hardware acceleration is a good way to run Discord with more efficiency, but sometimes this can result in errors – one of the most common ones is a black screen.
Fortunately, it’s very easy to open Discord and disable hardware acceleration in the settings.
Once you’ve done this, make sure to completely close Discord before restarting it again.
Reinstall App
If Discord is still showing a blank screen, there may be an issue with the app itself. Try reinstalling the Discord app to see if it resolves the problem.
To reinstall Discord, you must first uninstall the app. First, search for Discord in the Start Menu. Then, click the ‘uninstall’ option.
You should be taken to the ‘Programs and Features’ settings. You can also access these settings by opening the control panel, and clicking Programs > Programs and Features.
Search for the Discord app using the search bar, or scroll until you find it. Once you’ve found Discord, select it and then right-click on it. Click the ‘uninstall’ option to start the uninstallation process.
Once Discord has been uninstalled, reinstall it by going to https://discord.com/download. Click ‘Download for Windows’ to download Discord.
Or, if you’re not using a Windows product, scroll down to view alternative download options.
Once you’ve finished downloading Discord again, launch it to see if the blank screen issue has been fixed.
Run App in Compatibility Mode
Discord could be showing a blank screen on Startup because of compatibility problems between the program and your device.
You can determine whether any compatibility problems exist by running the compatibility troubleshooter.
Firstly, find the Discord shortcut and right-click on it. The shortcut should be available on your desktop.
If there’s no desktop shortcut for Discord, locate Discord’s .exe file and right-click on it. This file can be found in File Explorer.
There’s a shortcut for locating the file. Search ‘Discord’ in the Start Menu, and click ‘open file location’. Once you’ve right-clicked on Discord, select the ‘properties’ option.
This should open Discord’s properties settings. Navigate to the ‘compatibility’ tab, and check the box for ‘run compatibility troubleshooter’. When you’re finished, select the ‘ok’ option.
Now, restart your device to see if Discord still shows a blank screen on Startup. This time when you run Discord, you should find that you don’t get a blank or black screen.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Discord may be showing a blank screen due to other programs using up too much power. Try closing other applications, or relaunching Discord to see if this gets rid of your black screen error.
If the issue seems to lie with the app itself, try reinstalling it. If none of the solutions mentioned in this article work in solving the issue, try stop Discord from launching on Startup.
Discord also has a range of other features available, such as statuses, roles, channels, creating banners (though you’ll need the right Discord banner dimensions) and more.
So if you’re met with the Discord blank screen issue, it’s worth putting in some effort to fix Discord, as it’s the best app when it comes to chatting with other gamers.
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