Windows Vista: Vista-screen refresh problem
Vista-screen refresh problem
by nothing - 7/12/08 3:02 AMI have Vista Ultimate. For the last few months, almost (but not every) time I either right-click to get a context menu OR close a window by pressing X in the corner, the desktop clears completely(task bar too) and then Windows redraws all the icons again, and then restores the task bar icons, but never all of them. This is really pissing me off. I have run Spyware Terminator, AVG, Spyware Doctor and Zone Alarm/antivirus against my computer and nothing show up. I have searched for rootkits separately using AVG rootkit tool. After my computer has been on for an hour or so, the chances of this happening decrease, but it can still happen. Two things: 1) it started around the time of the big sp download for vista, and 2) it sometimes happens on the XP computers at work (but not as frequently...mine is almost every time)
Does anyone else have this problem and/or does anyone know what the cause is? Thanks in advance.
Sounds more like a driver defect.
by R. Proffitt
- 7/12/08 8:31 AM
In reply to: Vista-screen refresh problem by nothing
No make or model so the conversation can't start?
more info...
by nothing - 7/12/08 4:10 PM In reply to: Sounds more like a driver defect. by R. Proffitt
I have an ASUS laptop (2core T7500) with 2GB Ram, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256K driver version 7.15.11.108. I don't think it's a driver problem since I have seen the same thing happen on my XP computers at work.
When the screen clears, only the background pic remains. It changes the taskbar options (taskbar properties, start menu, customize)...changes all the inactive icons to HIDE, even though I set them to SHOW. I don't think this is a driver problem.
All current updates are installed. I have all the office products, including Access, Visual Studio 2005, and adobe products (Prem Pro, Photoshop, Bridge, Illustrator).All software is uptodate, current versions.
The problem is now happening EVERY TIME I CLICK X to close any SYSTEM window...application windows close fine,with no problems (firefox etc). Note..only occurs when closing SYSTEM generated windows.
When right-clicking, it goes into never-never land, sometimes coming back in a couple of seconds; sometimes 4 or 5 min. If you try to do anything during that time, the whole screen fades out and it keeps asking you if you want to end the process. If you finally say Yes, everything gets wiped out and redrawn as described.
Bad news.
by R. Proffitt - 7/12/08 4:34 PM
In reply to: more info... by nothing
The last time I ran into this and all was updated it was a defective chip. Call ASUS now and get the lodged as soon as possible so you can get them to fix it ASAP.
Bob
ok
by nothing - 7/12/08 5:37 PM In reply to: Bad news. by R. Proffitt
Thanks Bob... I think you are correct. I've been checking all the system error logs and windows is identifying problems but can't seem to resolve the source of the problem. That makes me think, like you, that it's a flaky chip. Thanks for your help; I really appreciate it.
There is one last hurrah test.
by R. Proffitt - 7/12/08 5:38 PM
In reply to: ok by nothing
I boot up my live linux CD. If the video is flakey there I call it.
Was a fix found?
by NoellyB - 9/8/08 6:26 PM In reply to: Vista-screen refresh problem by nothingHi there!
I'm so shocked and relieved to know that I'm not the only person that's experiencing this problem.
I've routed this issue down to an explorer-related problem, because not only do I have the issue while using the desktop, task-bar, etc, but even when I delve down into C:\Users\[UserName]\Desktop, right-clicking onto any icon there also gives me the screen-refresh that you described.
The timeline you gave on this is spot-on - my issues started soon after I installed SP1, though I don't remember it happening the moment it was installed. Unfortunately, it's quite possible that this IS indeed an SP1 issue, but my own timeline is just not clear-enough to make the association between the problem and SP1.
As for my hardware, I'm on a desktop with completely different hardware than yours, although admittedly, I AM running an Asus motherboard. That being said, I can't for the life of me see this as a hardware issue. I say this because if it were video, BIOS, or chip-set related, I'd have found it. My own work as a software engineer allows me to poke around quite a bit into Windows, but I can't figure this one out.
Anyway, is there any fix for this? Has any further information been found on this? I'd be grateful for any answers. If I can't find an answer, I'm heading for a full disk format and a reinstall of Vista Ultimate.
thanks
by nothing - 9/9/08 3:44 AM In reply to: Was a fix found? by NoellyBI feel the same...I was wondering if I was the only one. I haven't found a fix but you run system prgs from the start menu (I have the free Vista start menu), then I have no problems. So that's what I am doing. But if I click on "my Computer" icon, I KNOW that when I close off the window, it's bye bye everything except the desktop background. I was was checking with my nVidia drivers but they seem fine. I think it is one little file involved in screen refreshing after system windows are closed, but I haven't been able to identify it yet. I'll let you know if I eventually get it and hope you do the same. Since I can work around it, I don't want to commit to a full Ultimate re-install. I'm sort of hoping (the same kind of hope you have of winning the lottery) that MS will come out with an update one day that will include the suspect file and all the problems will evaporate (yea, I know, but you have to hope anyway) 
Ok, so let's work on this!
by NoellyB - 9/9/08 5:34 PM In reply to: thanks by nothingIf you're interested in working on this as much as I am, I have a few ideas.
Maybe we can compare installed programs, config's and such and see if we can track some things down.
I too have been going through the start menu to run my programs, but I also have a few other computers that I use regularly, and this is what has kept me from doing a format and reinstall to this date - but my patience is waning, because it is my own personal 'bedroom desktop' that has this affliction. While I don't use it as much as my laptop for example, it's QUITE annoying to me when I do use it for anything serious.
My setup and config is mostly software-development related, but my children have installed a few games and things on there as well. My setup includes Visual Studio 2k8, Windows Live OneCare, Nero 8, Sql Server 2k5, the full Adobe Suite CS3 (Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver, etc), a few no-name text editors, and things like that.
What scares me is that I have made a few manual registry edits here and there, and although I don't think they would have anything to do with this problem, I'm just imagining that if I start comparing things like that to other people's configurations, it'll be more difficult to track down similarities that could possibly point to the solution we need.
Finally, I KNOW we cannot be the only people that have this problem. My issue with finding others is finding the proper terminology for the issue itself. My searches through google have been along the lines of 'screen refreshes when right-clicking icons in vista,' with a few variations. So far though, you've been the only other person I've tracked down that shares my issue. Have you had any other success with finding other people with this issue?
ok..some details
by nothing - 9/10/08 3:28 AM In reply to: Ok, so let's work on this! by NoellyBI too come from a software background, so I have VS2K5, and I have all the Adobe prgs (CS2 versions..Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver, AfterEffects, Audition), PaintShopPro (never use it now),Office 2007 complete, spyware doctor, as well as a hoard of utility programs. I run ZA firewall suite with antivirus. I don't think your tweaking of reg. keys was the cause. It's really hard to zero in because I, like you, can't remember the exact time frame that the problem started happening. So it looks like we have the ASUS mb in common, as well as the adobe prgs and some develop. software.
So far you are the only other person I know who has this problem. Do you ever remember doing a hard shutdown while the drive was being accessed? I accidently did this one time and the problem appeared some time after that...I just wonder if I have corrupted a file. I do remember having a start problem one time where it found some bad file fragments but I can't remember if that was before or after the hard shutdown. Other than that, everything seems ok and works fine.
Let me know if you have anything in common with this.(maybe your kids did a premature shutdown???) I don't have any game software at all on my computer.
Hope this gives you something to go on/compare.
I gave up
by nothing - 11/12/08 3:33 AM In reply to: ok..some details by nothingOk, so I bought a bigger hard drive, added some memory and upgraded to vista 64. Since doing this, I haven't any problems with anything. From my standpoint, this case is closed. I suspect a corrupted Explorer file but I don't know which one it was.
Wow - sorry to hear that, kinda
by NoellyB - 11/12/08 8:52 PM In reply to: I gave up by nothingHey there,
I've just about given up too - I'm sorry I didn't reply to your last message - I didn't see it. I'm going to end up wiping my system and redoing it as well. This problem has become such a nuisance. Just last night I had to make a quick web page and link to a file so that I could get a Save dialog so I could overwrite another file. After doing that, I found that the file I wanted to overwrite had the Archive attribute attached to it, so I had to use PowerShell to remove the attribute using the Attrib command, and then I could save it using the save dialog from the web page I built.
Best of luck to you and thanks for your help in this.
Too Late, but I figured it out!
by NoellyB - 12/23/08 3:22 PM In reply to: Wow - sorry to hear that, kinda by NoellyBOk, so for anyone that has this problem, or any like it, I've found the solution. Implementing it myself worked, and I was able to fix other nuisances during the same type of operations.
The problem lied within the "Shell Extension Handlers." Basically, within the HKCR section of the registry, the extensions for certain file types are registered with certain types of context menus. In my case, right-clicking on a .exe file would give me a context menu that was "buggy." I downloaded a tool called "ShellExView Shell Handler Viewer" that allowed me to see all of these handlers. Sorting them by "Company Name" allowed me to find all "Non-Microsoft" inserted handlers within this registry hive. I then began disabling those that were affecting .exe files AND had something to do with context menus. The good thing about this tool is that it lets you disable these registry entries without deleting them entirely. Doing so allowed me to fix my problem, and I am now once again a happy Vista user.
Good luck to all who have encountered this problem!
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