OS Re-install?
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Hmmm... a friend of mine has a display-wide flicker - the problem turned out to be a bad wire connecting the backlight to the motherboard. But if the flicker is confined to s small part of the display - ie. one control or something - it is probably a software problem. Does it look like a control repainting?
Right, if it was panel wide, then I would conclude a wire or subsystem failure, but in this case, it *does* look like a control is redrawing. The only problem is that the flicker is in the desktop background - not in any application. It is very bizarre. I just posted to another reply that I changed my background from a tiled bitmap to a solid color.... so far (couple of hours) I've not seen the flicker....
Charlie Gilley Will program for food... Whoever said children were cheaper by the dozen... lied. My son's PDA is an M249 SAW. My other son commutes in an M1A2 Abrams
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Right, if it was panel wide, then I would conclude a wire or subsystem failure, but in this case, it *does* look like a control is redrawing. The only problem is that the flicker is in the desktop background - not in any application. It is very bizarre. I just posted to another reply that I changed my background from a tiled bitmap to a solid color.... so far (couple of hours) I've not seen the flicker....
Charlie Gilley Will program for food... Whoever said children were cheaper by the dozen... lied. My son's PDA is an M249 SAW. My other son commutes in an M1A2 Abrams
Have you seen Raymond Chen's[^] explanation of a similar problem? Sounds like you might have a program doing something similar. And since invalidating and repainting a solid color doesn't involve painting a different color first, maybe you just haven't noticed it with the solid color. Do just the icons on your desktop flicker even with the solid color? Or does that solve the flicker entirely? Mike
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Have you seen Raymond Chen's[^] explanation of a similar problem? Sounds like you might have a program doing something similar. And since invalidating and repainting a solid color doesn't involve painting a different color first, maybe you just haven't noticed it with the solid color. Do just the icons on your desktop flicker even with the solid color? Or does that solve the flicker entirely? Mike
Mike, Fascinating. This is *exactly* what I was thinking (that it was some kind of refresh). The part that has me a little puzzled is just why one little section and only in the background? I'm trying to narrow it down now... almost smells like my icon manager is doing it (Enterra Icon Keeper). Thanks for the pointer, learned something new. chg
Charlie Gilley Will program for food... Whoever said children were cheaper by the dozen... lied. My son's PDA is an M249 SAW. My other son commutes in an M1A2 Abrams
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I've had my Dell laptop now for almost 3 years (about 100 days left in warranty), and I have this 'issue' with a graphics flicker. We've updated drivers, swapped graphics boards, still have the flicker. I know what is coming next - either a motherboard swap (shudder) or an OS re-install (shudder - shudder). These solutions seem to be pretty big hammers. So, you developers out there that maintain your own systems, you know who you are, especially the independents. We just don't have time to "scrub the hard drive" on a whim. Further, we usually have to have a really good reason to scrub the drive and reinstall the dozens of programs that we have installed. How many of you have had issues with your system (beta s/w excluded) such that an os re-install corrected the problem? Curious. Thanks.
Charlie Gilley Will program for food... Whoever said children were cheaper by the dozen... lied. My son's PDA is an M249 SAW. My other son commutes in an M1A2 Abrams
Burn & boot up one of those "Run from the CD" linux versions. If you see screen flicker, it's your hardware. If you don't, it's somehow Windows' fault.
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JimmyRopes wrote:
What imaging software do you recommend?
I use Acronis TrueImage. It's been pretty reliable and works well. I think it's only failed on me once, not being able to restore from an image because it thought it was corrupt (even though I had previously verified it). But I was still able to open the image and manually extract files from it. I reckon someone from Acronis must hang out here because every time I recommend it, I get voted a 5 :-) :rolleyes:
0 bottles of beer on the wall, 0 bottles of beer, you take 1 down, pass it around, 4294967295 bottles of beer on the wall. Awasu 2.2.4 [^]: A free RSS/Atom feed reader with support for Code Project.
I agree, TrueImage is excellent. Be sure to make a TrueImage restore disk.
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Burn & boot up one of those "Run from the CD" linux versions. If you see screen flicker, it's your hardware. If you don't, it's somehow Windows' fault.
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JimmyRopes wrote:
What imaging software do you recommend?
I use Acronis TrueImage. It's been pretty reliable and works well. I think it's only failed on me once, not being able to restore from an image because it thought it was corrupt (even though I had previously verified it). But I was still able to open the image and manually extract files from it. I reckon someone from Acronis must hang out here because every time I recommend it, I get voted a 5 :-) :rolleyes:
0 bottles of beer on the wall, 0 bottles of beer, you take 1 down, pass it around, 4294967295 bottles of beer on the wall. Awasu 2.2.4 [^]: A free RSS/Atom feed reader with support for Code Project.
Thanks Taka - Looks like what I need.
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
What enterprisey software do you use that takes two days to install?
regards, Paul Watson Ireland & South Africa
Shog9 wrote:
I don't see it happening, at least not until it becomes pointless.
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I've had my Dell laptop now for almost 3 years (about 100 days left in warranty), and I have this 'issue' with a graphics flicker. We've updated drivers, swapped graphics boards, still have the flicker. I know what is coming next - either a motherboard swap (shudder) or an OS re-install (shudder - shudder). These solutions seem to be pretty big hammers. So, you developers out there that maintain your own systems, you know who you are, especially the independents. We just don't have time to "scrub the hard drive" on a whim. Further, we usually have to have a really good reason to scrub the drive and reinstall the dozens of programs that we have installed. How many of you have had issues with your system (beta s/w excluded) such that an os re-install corrected the problem? Curious. Thanks.
Charlie Gilley Will program for food... Whoever said children were cheaper by the dozen... lied. My son's PDA is an M249 SAW. My other son commutes in an M1A2 Abrams
I would advise you to get a new machine, in my experience both as a programmer and a system administrator it's not worth the time to do a clean install on such an old machine to try to correct a problem which I think sounds like a hardware problem anyway. Unless of course you don't have the money to buy a new machine.
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I've had my Dell laptop now for almost 3 years (about 100 days left in warranty), and I have this 'issue' with a graphics flicker. We've updated drivers, swapped graphics boards, still have the flicker. I know what is coming next - either a motherboard swap (shudder) or an OS re-install (shudder - shudder). These solutions seem to be pretty big hammers. So, you developers out there that maintain your own systems, you know who you are, especially the independents. We just don't have time to "scrub the hard drive" on a whim. Further, we usually have to have a really good reason to scrub the drive and reinstall the dozens of programs that we have installed. How many of you have had issues with your system (beta s/w excluded) such that an os re-install corrected the problem? Curious. Thanks.
Charlie Gilley Will program for food... Whoever said children were cheaper by the dozen... lied. My son's PDA is an M249 SAW. My other son commutes in an M1A2 Abrams
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I've had my Dell laptop now for almost 3 years (about 100 days left in warranty), and I have this 'issue' with a graphics flicker. We've updated drivers, swapped graphics boards, still have the flicker. I know what is coming next - either a motherboard swap (shudder) or an OS re-install (shudder - shudder). These solutions seem to be pretty big hammers. So, you developers out there that maintain your own systems, you know who you are, especially the independents. We just don't have time to "scrub the hard drive" on a whim. Further, we usually have to have a really good reason to scrub the drive and reinstall the dozens of programs that we have installed. How many of you have had issues with your system (beta s/w excluded) such that an os re-install corrected the problem? Curious. Thanks.
Charlie Gilley Will program for food... Whoever said children were cheaper by the dozen... lied. My son's PDA is an M249 SAW. My other son commutes in an M1A2 Abrams
charlieg wrote:
I've had my Dell laptop now for almost 3 years (about 100 days left in warranty), and I have this 'issue' with a graphics flicker. We've updated drivers, swapped graphics boards, still have the flicker. I know what is coming next - either a motherboard swap (shudder) or an OS re-install (shudder - shudder). These solutions seem to be pretty big hammers. So, you developers out there that maintain your own systems, you know who you are, especially the independents. We just don't have time to "scrub the hard drive" on a whim. Further, we usually have to have a really good reason to scrub the drive and reinstall the dozens of programs that we have installed. How many of you have had issues with your system (beta s/w excluded) such that an os re-install corrected the problem?
I found the problem right from the start. It's a Dell, nough said.
Life is nothing but an individuals perception of an immortals dream. - ME
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I've had my Dell laptop now for almost 3 years (about 100 days left in warranty), and I have this 'issue' with a graphics flicker. We've updated drivers, swapped graphics boards, still have the flicker. I know what is coming next - either a motherboard swap (shudder) or an OS re-install (shudder - shudder). These solutions seem to be pretty big hammers. So, you developers out there that maintain your own systems, you know who you are, especially the independents. We just don't have time to "scrub the hard drive" on a whim. Further, we usually have to have a really good reason to scrub the drive and reinstall the dozens of programs that we have installed. How many of you have had issues with your system (beta s/w excluded) such that an os re-install corrected the problem? Curious. Thanks.
Charlie Gilley Will program for food... Whoever said children were cheaper by the dozen... lied. My son's PDA is an M249 SAW. My other son commutes in an M1A2 Abrams
I had a Dell Inspiron (I forget which model number). It did the same thing -screen flicker-. Turns out, the graphics card fried. If you still have warrenty I'd do a mainboard replacement. It is only going to get worse with the flickering. Otherwise your going to pay enough money, down the line, to replace damaged components to buy a new computer all together. Samurai Sam-
OMG, what have I done now?
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Excellent ideas - but do you really experience significant XP degradation? I don't install programs that often, but I imagine its more than 20 over 3 years (not counting the base application installs).
Charlie Gilley Will program for food... Whoever said children were cheaper by the dozen... lied. My son's PDA is an M249 SAW. My other son commutes in an M1A2 Abrams
Zapping a machine once a year is basically the norm. When you eventually do it, you will be amazed how fast your machine will run. Every time that I start thinking I need a new machine, I reformat/reinstall and it's like having a new machine. For some reason, XP's performance degrades over time. I've learned not to question it, just zap the machine when it becomes a problem. All issues mysteriously get resolved.....including ones diagnosed as hardware issues.
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I've had my Dell laptop now for almost 3 years (about 100 days left in warranty), and I have this 'issue' with a graphics flicker. We've updated drivers, swapped graphics boards, still have the flicker. I know what is coming next - either a motherboard swap (shudder) or an OS re-install (shudder - shudder). These solutions seem to be pretty big hammers. So, you developers out there that maintain your own systems, you know who you are, especially the independents. We just don't have time to "scrub the hard drive" on a whim. Further, we usually have to have a really good reason to scrub the drive and reinstall the dozens of programs that we have installed. How many of you have had issues with your system (beta s/w excluded) such that an os re-install corrected the problem? Curious. Thanks.
Charlie Gilley Will program for food... Whoever said children were cheaper by the dozen... lied. My son's PDA is an M249 SAW. My other son commutes in an M1A2 Abrams
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I've had my Dell laptop now for almost 3 years (about 100 days left in warranty), and I have this 'issue' with a graphics flicker. We've updated drivers, swapped graphics boards, still have the flicker. I know what is coming next - either a motherboard swap (shudder) or an OS re-install (shudder - shudder). These solutions seem to be pretty big hammers. So, you developers out there that maintain your own systems, you know who you are, especially the independents. We just don't have time to "scrub the hard drive" on a whim. Further, we usually have to have a really good reason to scrub the drive and reinstall the dozens of programs that we have installed. How many of you have had issues with your system (beta s/w excluded) such that an os re-install corrected the problem? Curious. Thanks.
Charlie Gilley Will program for food... Whoever said children were cheaper by the dozen... lied. My son's PDA is an M249 SAW. My other son commutes in an M1A2 Abrams
I do a lot of testing, as well as a lot of research for new products we could use, so on average I have to format/re-install my OS 2-3 times a year. On rare occasion, 4 times. I usually don't bother with images because there's software that I just don't use anymore, or software that I've replaced with better software. So I find if I need it, I install it. Saves for removing software later.
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I've had my Dell laptop now for almost 3 years (about 100 days left in warranty), and I have this 'issue' with a graphics flicker. We've updated drivers, swapped graphics boards, still have the flicker. I know what is coming next - either a motherboard swap (shudder) or an OS re-install (shudder - shudder). These solutions seem to be pretty big hammers. So, you developers out there that maintain your own systems, you know who you are, especially the independents. We just don't have time to "scrub the hard drive" on a whim. Further, we usually have to have a really good reason to scrub the drive and reinstall the dozens of programs that we have installed. How many of you have had issues with your system (beta s/w excluded) such that an os re-install corrected the problem? Curious. Thanks.
Charlie Gilley Will program for food... Whoever said children were cheaper by the dozen... lied. My son's PDA is an M249 SAW. My other son commutes in an M1A2 Abrams
%99 chance reinstalling fixing any software problem. Of cause if right drivers installed. Why would you need to keep MS operating system for long at all? It collects nothing but trash. I keep all valuable data on separate drive and reinstall XP every 30 days! It saves a LOT of time on service. Once you I have customized boot XP with drivers – it installs in 20-30 minutes hands off. Use portable applications (like browser and e-mail) – they not using registry. You do not even have to register Xp. Just make sue you have good firewall and have no automatic updates installed at all except antivirus. Most updates is a marketing scam anyway. Then you can use any 30 days trial programs forever legally! Apart of saving money and time you organizing yourself by going trough over your data regularly. It brings up ideas you may have forgotten. http://manlyelectronics.com.au
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I've had my Dell laptop now for almost 3 years (about 100 days left in warranty), and I have this 'issue' with a graphics flicker. We've updated drivers, swapped graphics boards, still have the flicker. I know what is coming next - either a motherboard swap (shudder) or an OS re-install (shudder - shudder). These solutions seem to be pretty big hammers. So, you developers out there that maintain your own systems, you know who you are, especially the independents. We just don't have time to "scrub the hard drive" on a whim. Further, we usually have to have a really good reason to scrub the drive and reinstall the dozens of programs that we have installed. How many of you have had issues with your system (beta s/w excluded) such that an os re-install corrected the problem? Curious. Thanks.
Charlie Gilley Will program for food... Whoever said children were cheaper by the dozen... lied. My son's PDA is an M249 SAW. My other son commutes in an M1A2 Abrams
Oh yes! :( Really aggravating when that happens, but sometimes nothing else (at all), works. :sigh: It is definitely a long day when it happens, but the key is to be prepared with full backups on external storage. :-D
DB_Cooper1950 "Life is like a box of..."