Multiple Monitor Setup / Steam Dropdown Menus Turn Black

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Xenopotamus 23 Mar, 2024 @ 7:11pm

There is a very annoying bug that happens after your PC goes to sleep and turns off the display in multiple monitor setups. When you wake up the PC, Steam's dropdown menus all turn black.

The only way to fix this is:
1) Close and restart Steam or...
2) Drag Steam to your other monitor (note that the menus now function properly). Drag Steam back to the original monitor. (note that now the menus function properly there as well)

This issue has been reported for the past 6+ months to a year, and there have been various thread on it... but it does not seem like it is getting any attention from support. I love Steam, but this bug is very annoying and makes the entire UI interface feel clunky and broken. Valve can you please look into this issue? Thank you!

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Showing 1-15 of 16 comments

PJthePlayer 7 Jan @ 3:15pm

Bump... nearly a year later and I still fight this annoying issue daily. I really wish they would fix this.

DrDigital 12 Jan @ 2:29pm

I have this same issue. I'm surprised nobody has done anything about it.

Krom 5 Feb @ 3:11am

Bump, still occurs. Thanks for the workaround, I didn't think to move it around the monitors. Until I read this, I was closing and restarting Steam.

Ny Migga 5 Feb @ 5:02am

could be your ram issue

Yipman 8 Mar @ 10:04am

Not ram issue. Tried with different computer. It's an old issue never been fixed when multiple monitor that don't have same resolutions...

rogermorse 9 Mar @ 1:43am

I have three more screens and doesn't matter if I drag the window to another screen...menu stays black and the only way is a restart. Issue is not even related to HDR sadly.

MysticalPotato 16 Mar @ 6:41pm

Unbelievable this isn't fixed yet. It happens all the time, even if I turn off my 2nd monitor and when I say turn off, I mean disable it in Windows.

MysticalPotato 16 Mar @ 6:42pm

Originally posted by Professional Racist:
could be your ram issue

Don't say things when you don't understand how they work. It's completely unrelated to RAM. If anything it's a GPU issue but technically a steam issue as it's the only app this happens with.

Mantis 11 Apr @ 12:22pm

Here we are in April, and still an issue... Steam, why is this so hard to fix? Im not a web dev, or any dev for that matter, but this has been an issue for YEEEAARRRSS. If you're not sure what this issue is, this is how dropdowns look -- https://imgur.com/a/HyNbvgT . Fresh Win 11 install just a couple weeks ago. Is it an OLED issue?

BONESTORM 6 May @ 8:46pm

I have this issue but my entire Steam client window is dark, not just the menus. Moving to another monitor doesn't fix for me. To be fair both of my monitors are at different resolutions and have minutely different refresh rates, so I'm sure it has something to do with that. It seems to have started fairly recently though, hopefully it's something they can fix.

Last edited by BONESTORM; 6 May @ 8:46pm

#10

Satoru 6 May @ 9:58pm

I have 2 monitors and 3 workspaces and this doesn’t happen

Sounds like a local issue with your video drivers

#11

rhaegar 13 May @ 2:47pm

I have had the same problem for at least 3 years. What a nuisance, incredible that it hasn't been solved yet.
Two monitors, different resolutions

#12

Winciak 21 May @ 9:39am

Same thing, two monitors, different resolutions 2160p (150% scale) and 1440p (125% scale).
It's slightly annoying, managable, but annoying

#13

bluebattlehawk 10 Jun @ 12:16pm

Still having this issue between my 4k secondary monitor and my 1080p main monitor. Always have the black dropdown menus on my 1080p monitor until I pull it to my second monitor and go through all the drop down menus to "refresh" them and then I can pull it over to my 1080p monitor again and get use out of them. Super annoying.

#14