Synapse 3 - All sorts of issues | Razer Insider

Synapse 3 - All sorts of issues


I swapped out my Blackwidow Chroma for a Blackwidow Elite on my new build. The keyboard is great, but the software is giving me major headaches.

1. I can't put anything onto the internal memory. The software spends an inordinate time locked up before eventually saying that it failed and I need to try again. So far I haven't needed this, but I tried it a few times because...

2. Chroma doesn't work. It defaults to Spectrum or a solid color at seemingly random. One time (and I mean one time) using the Visualizer module was able to turn the light on and off using the preview function. Beyond this, it never applies anything done in Studio. About 75% of the time, Quick Effects' drop down menu isn't there. The other 25% of the time, it does nothing. A little icon saying that only one Chroma device is connected appears sometimes that doesn't do anything when clicked.

3. The software doesn't launch correctly half the time. All services can be running and the tray agent says it isn't. Kill the process for Synapse and relaunching from that tray can work, but just as likely to pop open another Synapse ghost.

4. It doesn't recognize the Blackwidow Elite. Nothing like fighting with Synapse only to see the total lack of a keyboard. Not much of an issue since none of the functions are working on the software side, but the amount of hassle getting it to recognize the keyboard again is unreal. Most of the time I have to uninstall Synapse completely, then remove all drivers for the keyboard and replug them.

5. It likes to lock up when I try changing settings for about 30 seconds, similar to the issue mentioned in 1. Keyboard related ones only.

So, I'm pretty close to trying something else product-wise. Please help. Windows 10 Pro x64, version 1903. BitDefender, X570, nothing else on the system seems to be complaining.

I have tried...
Uninstalling, reinstalling, unplugging, driver deleting - been there, done that.
Deleting both mouse and keyboard drivers.
Not allowing Windows to auto-install keyboard drivers after deleting them.
Switching the USB ports.
Safe mode deletion and installation.
The Magic Conch.

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3 Replies

Userlevel 7
Sadsoft
I swapped out my Blackwidow Chroma for a Blackwidow Elite on my new build. The keyboard is great, but the software is giving me major headaches.

1. I can't put anything onto the internal memory. The software spends an inordinate time locked up before eventually saying that it failed and I need to try again. So far I haven't needed this, but I tried it a few times because...

2. Chroma doesn't work. It defaults to Spectrum or a solid color at seemingly random. One time (and I mean one time) using the Visualizer module was able to turn the light on and off using the preview function. Beyond this, it never applies anything done in Studio. About 75% of the time, Quick Effects' drop down menu isn't there. The other 25% of the time, it does nothing. A little icon saying that only one Chroma device is connected appears sometimes that doesn't do anything when clicked.

3. The software doesn't launch correctly half the time. All services can be running and the tray agent says it isn't. Kill the process for Synapse and relaunching from that tray can work, but just as likely to pop open another Synapse ghost.

4. It doesn't recognize the Blackwidow Elite. Nothing like fighting with Synapse only to see the total lack of a keyboard. Not much of an issue since none of the functions are working on the software side, but the amount of hassle getting it to recognize the keyboard again is unreal. Most of the time I have to uninstall Synapse completely, then remove all drivers for the keyboard and replug them.

5. It likes to lock up when I try changing settings for about 30 seconds, similar to the issue mentioned in 1. Keyboard related ones only.

So, I'm pretty close to trying something else product-wise. Please help. Windows 10 Pro x64, version 1903. BitDefender, X570, nothing else on the system seems to be complaining.

I have tried...
Uninstalling, reinstalling, unplugging, driver deleting - been there, done that.
Deleting both mouse and keyboard drivers.
Not allowing Windows to auto-install keyboard drivers after deleting them.
Switching the USB ports.
Safe mode deletion and installation.
The Magic Conch.


Hey there! Thanks for landing your concern to our Support thread. What's your current Razer Synapse version? If you are using the Razer Synapse 3.0, please update it to its latest version 3.4.711.71718 and see if the issue still persists.
Razer.Speedcr0ss
Hey there! Thanks for landing your concern to our Support thread. What's your current Razer Synapse version? If you are using the Razer Synapse 3.0, please update it to its latest version 3.4.711.71718 and see if the issue still persists.

I did another fresh install. It doesn't look like anything changed, unfortunately. Well, there was one change. When Synapse failed to launch, I tried killing the process as usual to relaunch it. That caused a Kernel Security Check Failure BSOD.
Userlevel 7
Thanks for letting me know. Please send me a PM together with a screenshot/photo of the error message from the BSOD, let's continue from there.