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Problem description: I seem to have a dead area on my desktop. I can't click on any of the icons in the circled area of my desktop. I can use the keyboard to access them, and launch, but can't left or right click in that area. And it seems to be only on the desktop, other windows and games that cover that area work fine. I added a bunch of icons before taking the screenshot to show that it seems to go vertically down. Any idea what this could be? EDIT-I forgot to add that I use Rainmeter for the widgets and Fences to corral my icons. Attempted fixes: Virus scan and restarts Recent changes: This started yesterday, but I changed my PSU and case about a month ago. -- Operating system: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit System specs: Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium Home Edition Media Center 6.01.7601 Service Pack 1 Report Date: Wednesday 30 July 2014 at 16:49 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <<< System Summary >>> > Mainboard : Gigabyte 970A-D3P > Chipset : ATI RD9x0 > Processor : AMD FX 8150 @ 3918 MHz > Physical Memory : 16384 MB > Video Card : AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series > Hard Disk : Crucial_CT256MX100SSD1 ATA Device (256GB) > Hard Disk : Seagate ST3000DM001-1CH166 ATA Device (3001GB) > Hard Disk : Seagate ST31500341AS ATA Device (1500GB) > DVD-Rom Drive : Optiarc DVD RW AD-7240S > Monitor Type : Acer S271HL - 27 inches > Monitor Type : AOC International 2036 - 20 inches > Network Card : Realtek Semiconductor RTL8168/8111 PCIe Gigabit Ethernet Adapter > Operating System : Windows 7 Home Premium Home Edition Media Center 6.01.7601 Service Pack 1 (64-bit) > DirectX : Version 11.00 > Windows Performance Index : 7.3 on 7.9 Location: USA I have Googled and read the FAQ: Yes Screenshot- 
Narzack fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Jul 30, 2014 |
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Jul 30, 2014 21:54
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| # ? May 16, 2024 21:59 |
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Shut down Rainmeter and see if that fixes the dead spot. If it does, fix the Rainmeter layout. If it doesn't, report back.
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Jul 30, 2014 23:51
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I disabled Rainmeter, but the dead zone persists.
Narzack fucked around with this message at 00:30 on Jul 31, 2014 |
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Jul 31, 2014 00:27
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Easiest thing to do would be to run DDU and then install the latest AMD beta drivers for the card and see if that fixes anything. http://www.wagnardmobile.com/DDU/
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Jul 31, 2014 01:15
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That dead zone doesn't correspond to the location of your Skype window, does it?
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Jul 31, 2014 01:20
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Doesn't look like it. Though, funnily enough,as soon as I opened it to check, Skype crashed.
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Jul 31, 2014 01:40
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I restarted this morning, and it seems like the deadzone is no longer there. No idea what caused or fixed it. Even still, I went ahead and reinstalled the video drivers as well as flash. Weird. Thanks for helping, guys. I hope that it doesn't return.
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Aug 1, 2014 01:02
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And, it's back. Left my computer on last night, and when I came back, the dead spot had returned.
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Aug 1, 2014 15:49
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Is that after DDU has been run?
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Aug 1, 2014 23:53
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Yeah, I actually ran DDU twice, once because I got an error while installing the new drivers- something about an install source not found. I had to download a different installer from AMD.
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Aug 2, 2014 00:50
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I'm curious if a scan using http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/combofix/ would come up with anything.
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Aug 3, 2014 22:26
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Combofix returned this:code:
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Aug 5, 2014 16:30
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It's probably unrelated to your issue but I recommend uninstalling Java unless you absolutely need it for something. You could try creating another user account and see if the issue persists there as well.
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Aug 6, 2014 00:06
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My other idea is to uninstall your video drivers, run DDU, reboot, and when you reinstall of the latest Beta drivers do a Custom installation and do not install Hydravision or any of the other optional components, just the drivers and Catalyst Control Center.
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Aug 6, 2014 01:20
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I'm concerned that this might be related to a larger problem. Around the time that I noticed the deadzone on my desktop, my monitor started going blank for a second or two at a time. The light stays on the monitor, so it's not losing power, it just goes completely black. Web-browsing, playing Minecraft, playing Wolf Among Us, watching a video, whatever. There doesn't seem to be a single triggering element. At first, it seemed like anytime the information on the screen changed, like a game loaded the next level, I clicked a link to new page, or opened a menu in a game. But, today, it just happened four times in a row playing Minecraft, while I was standing still? Any ideas? I'm about to power down and open up my case to make sure my card is firmly seated. EDIT: I had my computer plugged into my TV yesterday, and it happened again, so it can't be the monitor, right? Is there a video card diagnostic program one can run?
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Aug 11, 2014 23:29
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Assuming you tried creating a new user account and the problem occurred there, as well, I would look at the possibility of reinstalling Windows at this point. This problem seems very strange, and trying to pick out what is wrong might be more work than just starting over. And if the problem recurs, that would point unambiguously to a hardware problem. You could back up your current install to restore later, or install new and unactivated to a spare drive if you are unsure about starting over.
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Aug 11, 2014 23:37
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I opened up my case, and it seems like the power connector to the video card was a bit loose. I reseated it and powered back up. I guess it's just a waiting game to see if the problem occurs. Truly, I'm at a loss, so my next step is to do a full format. Got a bunch of stuff to back up, then going to reinstall Windows. The only thing that has held me back is the thought of reconfiguring Rainmeter the way I like it. So it goes. I'll update the thread after a few days of watching my computer to see if the problem reoccurs.
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Aug 12, 2014 00:53
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You can back up the Rainmeter config, right?
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Aug 12, 2014 01:09
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Last time I tried, nothing carried over. I dunno, I'm most likely doing it wrong. Looks like a reformat is in order- my monitor just blanked out. Is this a hardware problem, though? Would a format help that at all?
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Aug 13, 2014 17:05
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Narzack posted:Last time I tried, nothing carried over. I dunno, I'm most likely doing it wrong. A complete format would rule out it being some kind of defect in this OS install. I doubt it's the monitor as you mentioned the TV had the same issue. You could try a different cable (or different kind of connector) to rule out that if you wanted.
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Aug 13, 2014 23:05
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To me, it seems like more of a hardware problem. I haven't had dead spots in the past, but I have had the blackouts on a prior comp and it was a video card issue. Try a different video card if you can if the problem happens again. I'd also be curious to know what kind of temps the cpu/video card are running. Normally Radeons don't have heat issues though.
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Aug 14, 2014 02:40
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Alereon posted:That dead zone doesn't correspond to the location of your Skype window, does it? I'm also thinking there's another window in the way that's not taking focus properly. Fire up Process Explorer, and drag the target reticle icon into this dead area. Procexp will steal focus and tell you which program owns that part of your window.
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Aug 14, 2014 15:39
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Since formatting and reinstalling windows, I haven't seen the dead zone return. My monitor, however, does keep blanking out. No error messages on the toolbar, no 'video card has recovered error' or anything like that. I took a look through Event Viewer, but I wasn't able to see anything relevant- though with the caveat that I'm not a programmer. I have two monitors active, one HDMI, one DVI. When the main monitor(HDMI) blanks out, the secondary monitor stays fine. Main is 1920 x 1080, the other is 1600 x 900. What the heck is going on here?
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Aug 15, 2014 06:20
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Does the monitor have a power lamp that tells you what state it's in (on, off, power save/sleep)? If it's going black but staying powered on it's your video card or a software issue, if it's shutting off it's the monitor, if it's going to sleep it could be either.
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Aug 15, 2014 13:52
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Yeah, the light on my monitor indicates that it still has power. And it's occurring while I'm still providing input.
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Aug 15, 2014 16:43
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Narzack posted:Yeah, the light on my monitor indicates that it still has power. And it's occurring while I'm still providing input. Do you have a different monitor cable you can try? I've had cables go bad (especially if you kick it by accident while it's screwed in...) A lose connection in the cable can be a real pain.
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Aug 16, 2014 21:36
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When plugged my TV into my computer, I used a different HDMI. It's the one I use for my Blu-ray player and Wii U, and I haven't had any problems with it.
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Aug 17, 2014 18:51
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Just now, in the space of about a minute and a half, my monitor went black about ten times. The longest lasted around 10 seconds. Gotta be a hardware, problem, right? EDIT- My secondary monitor still seems to be unaffected. Narzack fucked around with this message at 20:45 on Aug 20, 2014 |
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Aug 20, 2014 20:32
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Narzack posted:Just now, in the space of about a minute and a half, my monitor went black about ten times. The longest lasted around 10 seconds. Gotta be a hardware, problem, right? With the 2nd monitor unaffected, I would begin to suspect the monitor. I've never had an LCD go bad like that, but way back in the CRT days, had a couple monitors go out
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Aug 20, 2014 22:14
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That's what I thought, too. But when I plugged my computer into a my TV with a completely different HDMI cable, it happened again. Is it possible that just the HDMI port is damaged?
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Aug 20, 2014 22:43
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Narzack posted:That's what I thought, too. But when I plugged my computer into a my TV with a completely different HDMI cable, it happened again. Is it possible that just the HDMI port is damaged? Oh, hmmm. Probably not the monitor then. Do you have a DVI cable you can use with card/monitor?
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Aug 21, 2014 02:44
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Narzack posted:That's what I thought, too. But when I plugged my computer into a my TV with a completely different HDMI cable, it happened again. Is it possible that just the HDMI port is damaged? I'd try another video card at this point if you haven't already.
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Aug 21, 2014 03:37
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Unfortunately, it's the only video card I have. My current plan is to buy a new card, upgrade from my 7850. One of the problems is that it's not an easily replicable problem. The monitor goes black whenever it wants to. In fact, I used it all day yesterday with only one instance. It could be a RAM problem on the HDMI side of the card, but I don't know how to test that.
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Aug 25, 2014 17:56
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Today, my monitor went black for over a minute. After about 30 seconds, the screen popped the 'No Signal' message. I turned it off and on once, and when it came back, it was a solid green screen. Turnec it off and on again, and it came back. The entire time, the secondary monitor was fine.
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Aug 31, 2014 22:59
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Narzack posted:Today, my monitor went black for over a minute. After about 30 seconds, the screen popped the 'No Signal' message. I turned it off and on once, and when it came back, it was a solid green screen. Turnec it off and on again, and it came back. The entire time, the secondary monitor was fine. Likely a lose/bad connection between card/monitor or bad card. Had a chance to try a DVI instead of hdmi cable?
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Sep 1, 2014 00:31
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My secondary monitor is connected via DVI. The problem doesn't seem to affect it.
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Sep 1, 2014 16:46
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Narzack posted:My secondary monitor is connected via DVI. The problem doesn't seem to affect it. Just to make sure, connect the primary monitor via the DVI. It does seems like a bad/dirty HDMI connector on the graphics card though. HDMI doesn't exactly lend itself to being cleaned, but worth a shot to see it looks like anything is mucking up the connector. An HDMI picture is usually all or nothing so could explain the going black, coming back.
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Sep 2, 2014 03:39
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Alright, I'll try that today and report back. I've been gone for the past two weeks, but when I got home yesterday and used my computer, the problem returned after about an hour.
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Sep 25, 2014 15:04
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| # ? May 16, 2024 21:59 |
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So it's as if there's an invisible wall in that area preventing you from clicking with the mouse? You have tried disabling Fences, right? If not, I'm going to mock you. Disable ALL custom applications you have set to start with Windows, and shut down all programs that aren't part of basic Windows.
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Sep 30, 2014 08:46
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