Seph Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 Well I'm too lazy to type everything out so I'm just going to c&p from the post I made in the win seven forums Hey guys, gonna need some real help with this one. Usually OS bugs are pretty easy to swat but this one is a new breed :\ Might as well ask the other problem while I'm here too lol The one that's been really annoying me is a windows manager bug. (at leased I think it is, correct me if im wrong) Annoyingly and uncontrollably any window that im working with - usually ones that have some sort of strong visuals like 3d will blink black. Its reeeeaaally playing havoc with my eyes. Initially I thought it was my ATI drivers playing up again (more on that later) but even with the standard vga driver adapter I will still get these flashes of black. Its only in the window content itself too. Honestly I have no idea where to start looking to repair this - less reinstall is my only option So yeah thats the big one I have to fix soon, so any help will be very thankful! The other problem I have while I'm here. Is that my ATI drivers will break on restart, then I have to keep reinstalling them. Only thing windows will tell me is Error code 37. More research doesnt say much else - Just reinstall drivers to fix problem. Its not very convenient to reinstall drivers every damn time you shutdown. Usually I just have the computer on standby anyway so shutdown doesnt happen that much and I can make do with this if you guys cant help. Thanks for your time. Take it easy - Seph Absolutely no replies to my thread on that forum o.O Is this like....a really impossible to solve bug? I duuuuunnnnnn waaaaanaaaaaaa reinstallllll!!! *3 year old tantrum* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 It would be best to just do a reinstall. Something is definitely all fuckered up on yer system. Other then that, run antivirus/spyware. There is no reason the ATI drivers should reset after a restart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seph Posted February 28, 2010 Author Share Posted February 28, 2010 (edited) *3 year old tantrum escalates* Huray....200gig of crap to backup *stats singing* I've got a lovely bunch of backups to do. diddlee dee dee There they are a choking up my drive Big ones, small ones, some as big as Zip disk Sigh I wanted to join todays lan party too. Yay for critical moment failures. Edited February 28, 2010 by Seph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 Have you tried disabling the visual effects to see if that makes a difference? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 (edited) Good idea. Maybe Aero is not playing nice with yer video card. I am so happy I have a server to store my crap on. EDIT: No, I'm not rubbing that in yer face. :P Edited February 28, 2010 by Charles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seph Posted February 28, 2010 Author Share Posted February 28, 2010 (edited) Have you tried disabling the visual effects to see if that makes a difference? Well like I said before even with just the vga drivers it does the same thing. You can't use visual effects with just the vga driver because they require hardware acceleration. Too make things even more "wtf?!" the flashes only happen inside the window. So window border remains unaffected. With or without visual effects Weird huh? Good idea. Maybe Aero is not playing nice with yer video card. I am so happy I have a server to store my crap on. EDIT: No, I'm not rubbing that in yer face. lol it's all good. I probably should have an auto backup system cos I have a server with a 1TB drive plugged in, but I'm too lazy to even make it automated XD Edited February 28, 2010 by Seph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 Lol, you have no excuse cuz Win7 can do automatic backups to a network share. O_o I am not sure what is causing the problem, could the card have become loose in its slot by chance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seph Posted February 28, 2010 Author Share Posted February 28, 2010 Oh boo, truth be told its only the steam content that I'm backing up. Important documents are always saved in multiple places, like the good little sys admin I am. Now as for the card....Bit hard to see if its in properly, this is a laptop ( *gasp* important point) Though through my research I have seen this mentioned before. Surely its not possible for a laptop's device to come loose?....right?...RIGHT? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 I suppose it could, if it's not an integrated card, but I don't know tbh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digip Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 - Check the refresh rates - Check for correct drivers - Check the HCL to see if your machines hardware has even been tested or supported - Check for malware - reinstall - check the HDD isnt failing - Check the bios You could be here forever checking things. Was this bought with 7 on it? Is this a legit copy? Maybe your laptop is damaged internally, like ESD damage, or the LCD screen power inverter . Chances are software isnt going to fix it if its pure hardware failures. What happens if you install another OS, or try a Live disc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seph Posted February 28, 2010 Author Share Posted February 28, 2010 lol too late. Already reinstalled. Took over 4 hours to repartition my drives =O If you read the entirety of this thread you might of seen that its unlikely to be a hardware problem anyway. Linux distro on other partition has no problems so - Hardware issues ruled out. Yeah its a legit copy (for once...<.<..you didnt hear that) So seeing as I'm using it right now and everything is back to normal. One would assume its windows core faults. Well anyway I hate reinstalling to fix problems, but I guess with good old windows its pretty much impossible to avoid. Was a little surprised I had to do it so soon with windows Seven.....the plot thickens dun dun duuuuuun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 Heh. Be sure to image the drive if you want to save yourself time if/when there are major problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seph Posted March 13, 2010 Author Share Posted March 13, 2010 So guess what..... About 10 days later after I did a fresh install, it started happening again. Can you sense the RAGE in the air? So far the steps I've taking to find what's causing this: event viewer sfc chkdsk clean boot safe mode restore point to time before this started happening Fresh install Nothing stops it or detects what's happening. Also the wonderful people at answers.microsoft.com have....said nothing. Wont help or can't help. Yay go microsoft. blarg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 may be it's hardware related some how. Have you tried a different graphics card? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seph Posted March 13, 2010 Author Share Posted March 13, 2010 It's a laptop dude. Mobility Radeon 2600HD, and I dont have any visual problems in games or on linux. Actually thinking about this, I've neglected to mention that games and full blown 3d apps (minus blender3d that still flickers on me) never flash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digip Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 Try adjusting the refresh rate under the graphics settings. Also, some ati cards have options to edit the alpha settings and acceleration, like 4x, 8x, etc for 3d rendering. Possibly raising or loweing this could help. Run the Direct-x diagnostics and see if you get any errors or same black window issues during the tests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seph Posted March 13, 2010 Author Share Posted March 13, 2010 Can't change my refresh to anything other then 60Hz, also Seven found the ATI driver and installed it for me (its always been that way) and it didnt get any control center. So I dont have access to any driver options. Besides, if this were a driver/hardware issue; wouldnt a similar problem be happening on the linux side? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 Have you installed CCC already? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 Nah, windows and linux drivers are different. In this case, I would try a different driver as the one your using from WU is most likely broken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digip Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 Can't change my refresh to anything other then 60Hz, also Seven found the ATI driver and installed it for me (its always been that way) and it didnt get any control center. So I dont have access to any driver options. Besides, if this were a driver/hardware issue; wouldnt a similar problem be happening on the linux side? You should never let windows be the sole stand alone for driver installations. Always check the manufaturers site for updates and fixes, as Windows may have a digitally signed one that shipped with it when the install disc was created, the manufaturer could still have a newer one with fixes. Even if Windows Update has a driver, I always go to the manufaturers site to be safe in case Microsoft has outdated or buggy drivers. You might get a popup about not being a signed driver from their site, you can override this, just make sure its the correct one for your device. There is a chance that even with an updated driver, there could still be a bug within that driver/device/OS combination, so you should report this to AMD/ATI as well just to see if they are aware of this or have a patch. If the problem still persists, then might be some other setting, installed program, service or even faulty hardware. Like Vako said, Linux is a whole other ball game, and just because it works there doesnt mean it works in the latest Windows OS, and vice versa. There area LOT of things that work perfectly in windows, but wont work at all in Linux, such as certain sound devices, pci cards, pointing devices, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seph Posted March 13, 2010 Author Share Posted March 13, 2010 I fully understand that linux drivers are completely different, on reflection I probably shouldnt of said that it could of been a driver issue for linux. Though! I do believe that if in the case that it is a hardware problem something noticeable would of happened in linux as well. Which we have pretty much ruled out. Finally got a reply on the microsoft website too, and their suggestion is the same: try not rely on MS WU. If this is the case then this would be the only place WU has failed me, but concidering that this is video adapter driver, you can't expect WU to be fully ontop of their game here. However, going back to previously mentioned point. Windows VGA driver has the same problem. I will however humor you guys and try the official vista driver for this machine anyway cos it's the one solution I've neglected to try. Will let you know how that goes shortly Thanks for your input too guys. Much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digip Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 I will however humor you guys and try the official vista driver for this machine anyway cos it's the one solution I've neglected to try. Well don't do us any favors, we're just trying to help you :) Its fairly common knowledge, never use the default display driver shipped with Windows and always update your GPU, Monitor, NIC, Printer and Motherboard drivers from the manufacturer. Nearly every device that is found with a windows install will have fixes not found on Microsofts site. Hell, sometimes a fix will break your stuff, so you have to decide, if its not broken, should I bother, and most of the time, no, you should leave them alone unless its a critical security feature. In your case, you still haven't narrowed down the culprit, so this is still a troubleshooting exercise and one more thing to rule out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seph Posted March 13, 2010 Author Share Posted March 13, 2010 Yeah I get why and im not against it or anything. Though I am skeptical that this will work. If non ati driver (the MS VGA driver ive mentioned like 3 times now :P) yields the same problem, then I doubt that it's a video card issue at all, hardware or driver. But to continue ruling out more and more stuff will eventually narrow down choices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 If it happens with the standard driver, it might be due to heat, but that's just a shot in the dark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seph Posted March 13, 2010 Author Share Posted March 13, 2010 Heat damage.....Could be possible. This machine has a history of overheating quiet easily. Which reminds me, I need to give it another air blast. About...uh..year and a half ago? I had this laptop sent back to the manufacture because it was having serious overheating issues. They replaced the mobo, vid card and cleaned it out. So its possible that it's happened again.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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