Periodically LogCat will stop showing messages even though I am in debug mode. At other times it will display only one line at a time! I have a solution, restart eclipse. But I would like to understand this better. It takes too much time to restart eclipse when this happens. I have seen this behavior on the emulator and connected to a device. Either the LogCat shows one line with no history or nothing.
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I always encounter this when there's too many logs. Most of the time I clear the log and restart adb (device -> restart adb) and clear the log again could help. – xandy Feb 16 '11 at 02:21
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2Glad to hear others are trying to find a solution to this. I have an HTC Desire HD and the clearing log file and removing limit of console were tried but only a restart of Eclipse seems to fix it for me. – sradforth May 13 '11 at 10:20
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This really seems like it should be addressed as part of the android eclipse plugin. – Androider Sep 30 '11 at 11:46
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1Any chance you'd consider changing the answer to the #2 solution below. I think that is the correct one. – Gray Apr 17 '12 at 04:12
10 Answers
I was with the same problem and the solutions here didn't work for me. The solution I found is open the DDMS perspective and select the device and the running process on the Devices window. With that done, the LogCat returns to life.

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1It is called "Devices" here, but other than that, this was the solution that worked for me! Thanks a million! – chesterbr Nov 22 '11 at 13:01
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The perspective is called `DDMS`. The View is in the Android folder. The view name is `Devices`. – Gray Apr 17 '12 at 04:06
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Just switching to the DDMS perspective seemed to sort things out for me. Thanks! – darrenp Jan 16 '13 at 16:25
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This should be the accepted Answer... Not sure what's going on up there. – Kevin Parker Jan 28 '14 at 06:02
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This worked for me, thank god. Trying to get this logcat output in a JUnit test. – Anna Billstrom Mar 12 '14 at 05:53
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Clicking on the device doesn't always work from me, but selecting "Reset ADB" from the dropdown menu in the Devices window does. – simonp Mar 16 '14 at 21:35
Yes, I can get the normal logcat back by clear the log. Also I uncheck the "Limit console output" in Run/Debug->Console.

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Thanks for sharing this. Usually clearing log is enough but it is not always. – Androider Apr 16 '11 at 18:13
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4I think that the best answer i the next one... using the DDMS prespective – Yuki Jun 01 '12 at 02:25
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This used to work but recently nothing stopped it short of restarting Eclipse and the device. – Jan 27 '13 at 17:49
I solve these LogCat issues in two different ways:
- Clearing the log to fix the one line at a time issue
- Opening the devices window (
Window
->Show View
->Other
->Android
->Devices
), and clicking on the device that I want to view the log for. This seems to force Android to refresh LogCat on that device.
These are much easier options than restarting eclipse, or messing with adb.

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surprisingly, opening DDMS perspective doesn't work but this one worked for me. – thinzar00 Aug 05 '14 at 02:41
I've had that "one line at a time" problem numerous times. I don't know why exactly it happens but there is a very simple fix that works for me every time. Just hit the clear log button. Simple and easy.
I've also had Logcat fail to show messages. Generally this has been due to a problem with the emulator and it required an emulator restart.

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I'll try that when it happens again and see. I am definitely seeing this with/without the emulator – Androider Feb 16 '11 at 03:03
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In eclipse you need to give more space to log buffer, default is 5000, i set it to 50000 and no have any problems.
Window->preference->android>logcat maximum num of log message to buffer __ set some number 50k is ok

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The only thing that "solved" it (seems to be a workaround) for me. Clicking the device did nothing (does it perhaps unselect when you switch view back to Java/Android?). Piece of crap eclipse. – pastapockets Nov 11 '14 at 21:03
I'd recommend adjusting the Logcat buffer size and enable workspace application message monitoring in your preferences, mine are set as seen below.

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Same here! What worked for me is open DDMS perspective and on devices pane I clicked
reset adb

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On a real Device (mine is an HTC Desire in question) I've found simply disabling then enabling ADB does not always solve it. What works more often is to disable ADB, close the page (perhaps by back) then to renter the Development page, and re-enable debug mode.

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Click "Display saved filters view" button By showing the two-pane view of your LogCat you'll be able to check the active filter in the left-pane. I once fixed the empty LogCat by selecting "All messages".

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this is what did it for me... unbeknownst to me a filter was created for a 'session'. i clicked all messages and my stuff appeared. i deleted the saved filter.. we'll see if it comes back – da Bich Nov 02 '14 at 01:05
When logcat stops displaying log entries, I find that closing Eclipse and re-opening it solves the problem for me.

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