Lightroom 2015.7+: Panels and filmstrip black when switching to Develop

Same here, the navigator thumbnail often shows the wrong image

About a dozen or so posts above Victoria Bampton provides info about how to roll back to a previous version of Lightroom.  I rolled back to 2015.6.1 and (knock wood) haven't had any recurrences. More recent updates might also work.  I just decided to play it safe.....

Yes, saw that, as Victoria has merged this with this thread. However, the latest update 2015.8 actually fixes another bug, which was annoying - a sort issue I reported. So for the time being, I'll live with the vanishing panels. At least it's a recognised bug, so will hopefully be dealt with soon. 

Perhaps someone from Adobe could let us know if there are any risks involved in rolling back (e.g. problems with catalogue or develop settings). This seems to be left to the user to find out, as usual. What is it we are paying for again?

Exactly, I can't afford to loose 2 years of editing.....

No, there's no risks to your catalog or develop settings. It's always worth having up to date backups just in case you make a mistake somewhere along the line, but the actual process is safe. When you uninstall, there's a checkbox that lets you keep or remove preferences - I'd recommend keeping them.

I found that I was missing features in the version CC 2015.6.1 I had rolled back to, so I uninstalled it and reinstalled v. 2015.7 a few days ago.  Everything is running well even with the graphic processor enabled.  So I guess I'll stay at 2015.7 until CC 2017 comes out -- whenever that is.

I just had the problem recur with 2015.7 after four weeks of okay operation.  So I guess I'll try rolling back to 2015.6.1

Hi karl, I just rolled back to 2015.7 with high hopes. Will post if it fails on me!!

I was experiencing the problem of the panels going black as well and I am still using El Capitan.  I got on the chat line to Adobe and let them take over my computer.  The rep did a full check and he disabled my Graphics processor  as well as changing the name of older versions of LR in my applications folder.
The problem seems to have disappeared.

Adobe is closed until January 3. A rollback really isn't risky, so if you're seeing it frequently, it would be worth rolling back. https://www.lightroomqueen.com/roll-back-update-previous/

Do we need to rollback to .7 or .6 to avoid this issue?

One or two were seeing it in .7, but it was reported more in .8. So .6 to avoid completely, or .7 if you weren't seeing it before you updated.

Thanks for getting back Victoria. I gotta say I think Adobe should maintain an up-to-date knowledge base hosted on their own site with official support information, rather than relying on this site and less formal advice from people like yourself. Could you ask them to give their support communications an uplift?

There is one, it's just not so friendly https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/kb/roll-back-to-prior-update.html

I have rolled back to .7 and thankfully the issue has gone. It was a bit of a palaver: back to 6 and then update to 6.7, but worth it.

i had the blackout problem as noted above somewhere and have rolled back to 2015.7 successfully , but have just had a thought to maybe take into the new year - and adobe i hope you're listening...
isn't it possible that adobe are trying to do too much ?
rather than a seemingly endless cycle of release-bug-fix-update-rerelease-bug-fix-update...you get the idea...couldn't we just take a pause and reconsider and thoroughly evaluate the whole lightroom system to make it unbreakably robust ?
no new features , no nothing , until such time as the system can take it...
lightroom is such a fantastic resource , an amazing tool , it's a pity that it sometimes seems to be creaking at the seams...
could it be that there are too many people out there who are continually wanting this that or the other extra gizmo that really we dont need ? i mean who really needs face recognition, for example ? dont most faces belong to family or friends who you already know, or clients whose names you should know ? or isn't this done in camera anyway ? i'm sorry to be picking on you face-recognition fans, it's just an example of extra algorithmic tinkering that may lead to weaknesses...
lightroom is an amazingly powerful tool - let's keep it that way - i believe in it so am happy to pay the subscription...just dont let yourself down..

Totally agree, but regular OS updates generate incompatibilities, so perfect stability is compromised. 
There are also many who are not so enlightened and with the subscription mechanism in place, some people feel they 'deserve' regular updates, with new features, to justify the sub. 

All I really want is stability, and proper communication when there is problems.
There will always be updates, new features, new OS's etc. I don't use a lot of the recent additions (facial recognition??) but I have used new camera and lens profiles, and I think Dehaze and the new Compare develop view are both very worthwhile. I am not expecting perfection, but I would prefer better quality, performance, and communication.
Luckily the market for alternatives is developing. Perhaps with a bit more competition things will improve with regard to QC, engagement and support. 

i agree re camera and lens profiles and the need to keep up with mac 'improvements' -
all i'm suggesting is a pause in the search for new additional features until what you rightly say in your last paragraph is attended to...then there would be no need to look for alternatives...

I am paying for a monthly subscription to Lightroom CC and can barely use it with my side panels frequently disappearing on my MacBook Pro. Restarting is getting old.

Since this bug has been a known issue for several months now I find it very annoying that Adobe has not fixed it.

I don't really want to go back to a previous version and lose the dehaze function. 
I am considering cancelling my subscription and going back to LR5.

You don't have to lose dehaze. If you weren't seeing it in 2015.7, go back to 2015.7. If you were seeing it in 2015.7, go back to 2015.6. Dehaze was added in 2015.1, and you don't have to go back that far.

Planning to trial some alternatives this week. Paying a monthly fee and not even an indication on timeline for a fix is not acceptable to me

Victoria, I will try going back to a previous version and see how that works out. How will I know when they fix this?
Thanks, Alex

This thread will be updated when there's an update, so if you're getting email notifications, you'll see the update. It'll no doubt also be listed on the Lightroom Journal blog post, and mine too.