Start menu/taskbar freezes (3)

[Armin Zingler]

[This is a repost because a 1 day old message is too old for this
group. Or is this the wrong group?]


Hi,

the following problem is driving me nuts for 1.5 years now (***argh***), so
I'd really appreciate any help. Before bothering everyone with a very long
description, here's the short one.

Facts first
-----------
- WinXP Prof./SP1, all necessary security updates installed
- Some applications show icons in the taskbar, left to the system clock (AKA
"system tray")
- Links in the start menu or on the desktop may contain shortcuts (like
Ctrl+Shift+N to start Notepad).

Problem
-------
Sometimes, when pressing the shortcut, the application is not started.
Instead, the start menu and taskbar freezes. After waiting 10-30 seconds
(AKA "freeze time"), it unfreezes and the application to be started
is started. This behavior depends on the icons visible in the system tray.

Details
-------
"Freeze" means: The taskbar does not respond. One symptom is that, during
the freeze time, when pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del and Esc afterwards, all
applications repaint themselves, but not the taskbar (the desktop color
stays at the place of the taskbar). After the freeze time, the taskbar
repaints itself.

- It does not freeze always, only about every 10-50th time when a shortcut
is pressed. The freeze probability depends on the visible icon(s) in
the system tray.
- It is independent from the used shortcut and the started application. It
happens with any shortcut and any application.
- When killing the "problematic" app (see below) in the task manager, the
taskbar unfreezes.
- During the freeze time, the cpu occupation stays ~0%. This includes
explorer.exe (responsible for the taskbar). HD is also not occupied.
- *No* other application, including the desktop, freezes.


The following apps/icons are problematic (examples):
- MBM (motherboard monitor)
- CoolerXP (tool to "power off" the CPU when system is idle (necessary for
AMD CPUs))
- Icon showing the established internet connection

Following apps/icons are not problematic (examples):
- Hamster (mail/news client)
- Intellipoint (mouse software)
- own application


"Problematic" means that the described problem occurs when the corresponding
icon is visible. The test scenario was:
- Msconfig has been used to turn off all autostart apps and all none-MSFT
services.
- Each app/icon has been tested individually, i.e. no other app ran
meanwhile.
- Any combination of multiple "not problematic" icons was also not
problematic.

Well, I don't want to do without the "problematic" apps. At least the
internet connection icon shouldn't cause a problem. The established
connection itself is not the problem, only it's icon. If I turn the icon off
in the connection properties, the problem disappears.


More facts
----------
- one graphics card, one screen, one desktop, one taskbar
- taskbar: at the bottom (2 rows), fixed, always on top, not hide
automatically
- visual styles disabled
- nvidia nview not active
- no desktop background image set
- "classical" start menu used
- no virus found but currently no virus scanner active
- newest graphics drivers
- the problem occurs on different machines (with different hardware)
- the machine has been reinstalled meanwhile (so don't dare to suggest it
;-) (I'd like to find the real cause anyway)


I'll provide any further information I can if required. Thanks in advance
for any help!

 

[Mike Brearley]

7 hours this time... That's not even 1/2 a day.

It's possible that the computer is working hard on another process. I've
seen this behavior as well, it's just one of those things.

--
Posted 'as is'. If there are any spelling and/or grammar mistakes, they
were a direct result of my fingers and brain not being synchronized or my
lack of caffeine.

Mike Brearley (mike_brearley at hotmail dot com)

[This is a repost because a 1 day old message is too old for this
group. Or is this the wrong group?]


Hi,

the following problem is driving me nuts for 1.5 years now (***argh***), so
I'd really appreciate any help. Before bothering everyone with a very long
description, here's the short one.

Facts first
-----------
- WinXP Prof./SP1, all necessary security updates installed
- Some applications show icons in the taskbar, left to the system clock (AKA
"system tray")
- Links in the start menu or on the desktop may contain shortcuts (like
Ctrl+Shift+N to start Notepad).

Problem
-------
Sometimes, when pressing the shortcut, the application is not started.
Instead, the start menu and taskbar freezes. After waiting 10-30 seconds
(AKA "freeze time"), it unfreezes and the application to be started
is started. This behavior depends on the icons visible in the system tray.

Details
-------
"Freeze" means: The taskbar does not respond. One symptom is that, during
the freeze time, when pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del and Esc afterwards, all
applications repaint themselves, but not the taskbar (the desktop color
stays at the place of the taskbar). After the freeze time, the taskbar
repaints itself.

- It does not freeze always, only about every 10-50th time when a shortcut
is pressed. The freeze probability depends on the visible icon(s) in
the system tray.
- It is independent from the used shortcut and the started application. It
happens with any shortcut and any application.
- When killing the "problematic" app (see below) in the task manager, the
taskbar unfreezes.
- During the freeze time, the cpu occupation stays ~0%. This includes
explorer.exe (responsible for the taskbar). HD is also not occupied.
- *No* other application, including the desktop, freezes.


The following apps/icons are problematic (examples):
- MBM (motherboard monitor)
- CoolerXP (tool to "power off" the CPU when system is idle (necessary for
AMD CPUs))
- Icon showing the established internet connection

Following apps/icons are not problematic (examples):
- Hamster (mail/news client)
- Intellipoint (mouse software)
- own application


"Problematic" means that the described problem occurs when the corresponding
icon is visible. The test scenario was:
- Msconfig has been used to turn off all autostart apps and all none-MSFT
services.
- Each app/icon has been tested individually, i.e. no other app ran
meanwhile.
- Any combination of multiple "not problematic" icons was also not
problematic.

Well, I don't want to do without the "problematic" apps. At least the
internet connection icon shouldn't cause a problem. The established
connection itself is not the problem, only it's icon. If I turn the icon off
in the connection properties, the problem disappears.


More facts
----------
- one graphics card, one screen, one desktop, one taskbar
- taskbar: at the bottom (2 rows), fixed, always on top, not hide
automatically
- visual styles disabled
- nvidia nview not active
- no desktop background image set
- "classical" start menu used
- no virus found but currently no virus scanner active
- newest graphics drivers
- the problem occurs on different machines (with different hardware)
- the machine has been reinstalled meanwhile (so don't dare to suggest it
;-) (I'd like to find the real cause anyway)


I'll provide any further information I can if required. Thanks in advance
for any help!

 

[Armin Zingler]

7 hours this time... That's not even 1/2 a day.

In OE, the second post is sorted below the first post from 2 days
ago even if it is a new thread, because of the same subject. That's why most
people might ignore the second attempt also. So I posted it again with a
slightly changed subject. Sorry, I didn't think of this OE behavior with my
2nd attempt.

It's possible that the computer is working hard on another process.
I've seen this behavior as well, it's just one of those things.

No, it isn't:

 

[Alex Nichol]

[This is a repost because a 1 day old message is too old for this
group. Or is this the wrong group?]

You need to use the setting in Outlook Express that turns off the
'download only 300 headers. People responding here are all around the
world - and it may be up to 24 hours before your post gets even noticed.
Allow 36 before assuming it hasn't been

One thing I suggest trying with freeze trouble, easy and quite often the
cause. It may be a result of the mouse driver and the video driver
arguing over which controls the pointer. It is easy to check on -
Control Panel - Display - Settings, Click Advanced, and on the
Troubleshoot page reduce the acceleration slider one notch or two. If
one does it, there is negligible loss of performance: if two are needed
look for updated video drivers from the maker's site.

 

[Armin Zingler]

[This is a repost because a 1 day old message is too old for this
group. Or is this the wrong group?]

You need to use the setting in Outlook Express that turns off the
'download only 300 headers.

The problem is not that I don't see my message, it's just that I have to
scroll a lot to even find it... so other readers would have to. OE is set to
download 1000 headers (the maximum) and I download this group many times a
day because it is very busy.

People responding here are all around
the world - and it may be up to 24 hours before your post gets even
noticed. Allow 36 before assuming it hasn't been

Within 36 hours, there are hundreds of new threads, so (almost) nobody will
ever notice mine. The more I appreciate your reply! (one problem is that
people don't care that there are specialized groups they should better post
to (like for IE questions)). I've already asked in the much less busy German
group but wasn't successful (I say this because I know that the traffic
should be also split on the national groups).

One thing I suggest trying with freeze trouble, easy and quite often
the cause. It may be a result of the mouse driver and the video
driver arguing over which controls the pointer. It is easy to check
on - Control Panel - Display - Settings, Click Advanced, and on
the Troubleshoot page reduce the acceleration slider one notch or
two. If one does it, there is negligible loss of performance: if two
are needed look for updated video drivers from the maker's site.

I've already tried this without success. Also down to the lowest level. As I
wrote, my video driver is up-to-date. I also wrote that it also happens on
two machines, both with different hardware and different drivers. BTW, on
this machine it's a MSI GF4 TI4200, MSI driver version 52.14, the most
recent one from MSI.