There IS no desktop wallpaper...

So, here's the problem (similar, but slightly different from previous problems i've just been reading through):

from the beginning...few weeks ago (maybe 3 or 4), my machine was running low on virtual memory, so our in-office amateur it-guy brought me some and we stuck it in there (sounds a lil' vulgar, doesn't it? ). a couple of weeks after that, i had a veritable system crash (at work, i'm connected to a network). i was running 2000 pro, but when it crashed, my entire hard drive was wiped clean. fortunately enough, 2, count 'em TWO days prior, i had decided to leave a copy of My Documents on our server, so i was able to retrieve that much. but since the rest of my hard drive was pretty much (not entirely, mind you) gone, my admin. decided we could install XP.

everything seemed to be fine for about a week. then i come in yesterday (monday, the 23rd) and i have no wallpaper. everything else seems to be operating alright, i just have no wallpaper. i can get into my Properties and click various images, they display on the preview, and when i hit Apply or Ok, the screen flickers like it's gonna do something...and then it doesn't. it's just a solid color (i can change the color, btw).

so here's what i've tried so far...i have no viruses. i have no spyware. the images are bitmaps, not jpgs. and i've done a system restore to last thursday (the 19th), which was the last day it was working properly. however, when i came in today (the 24th), the wallpaper was gone again. i restored back to thursday again, and it seemed fine. then i stuck a shortcut on my desktop, moved it where i wanted it, hit refresh, and the freakin' wallpaper disappeared!

now, it doesn't seem like that big of an issue, but in light of all the "minor" issues my machine has been having lately, it's got me worried, know what i mean? i'm just WAITING for the thing to blow up or something.

any advice or suggestions would be much appreciated...or if any of you can convince my boss that my machine is just old & needs to be replaced...hahahaha

seriously, thanks to anyone who may be able to help me out

 

Hello Abi and welcome to the Board

Have you gone thru the exercise of setting the background via the Control Panel > Appearance & Themes? If you have, does the change take a very long time? If it does, I think your video card is either under powered or on the way out.

Another possible cause: I've seen this happen after defrags where the background turns blank or the color changed - FYI, XP does a sort of light defragging on a set schedule.

Regards - Charles

 

hm...

hi charles, thanks for the warm welcome!

i had not tried going through the control panel, so i did so just now. i received the same results, a flicker as if the change was going to take effect, but no actual change. if it makes any difference, the flicker to which i'm referring happens quickly, just as if it was operating normally. i still wonder if my video card may be going on me...are there any other signs/symptoms of that? also, what will happen when/if the video card DOES go out?

moving on...ironically enough, if i remember correctly, i ran defrag thursday afternoon (recall that my last functional operation was thursday)

if that's a problem with XP, is there a way i can fix it? should i/could i change the defrag schedule? isn't defrag supposed to be a GOOD thing?

 

Hi Abi,

To test the video, try XP's built in diagnostic: from the start menu > run > type dxdiag > ok.

In the DirectX Diagnostic dialog page, at the bottom of the main page, what version of DirectX do you have?

Then click on Display and go thru the tests.

In the device section, how much is "Approx total memory" - that's video card's RAM.

If your card is the problem, under DirectX Features, you can disable the acceleration, that would put less strain on the card.


If the video card does go out, you woud get flickering and/or blank screen.

Regards - Charles

 

charles (gosh, you're helpful! ),

so, i have DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904), and i have 32.0 MB of Approx. Total Memory. i ran all the tests, and they were all "successful ", no problems found. so do you think i still need to disable the Accelerations?

does this new information indicate it may be something other than the video card? could defrag be messing me up?

thank you,
abi

 

Hi Abi,

The version of DirectX you have is fine and the memory should be enough - but that really depends on how much of a load you're putting on it. Nowadays, 128 is considered normal.

Go to the video cards MFG site to see if there are updated drivers for the card - the brand, model, and driver version is on DirectX's general page. Should also create a system restore point before the install.

I don't know whether defraging is causing this or not, but you can look out for this now. The way to shut off the scheduled defrag that XP does is to go into XP's Services and shutting off Task Schedular, but that also disables automatic creation of System Restore points and any other scheduled tasks, so hold off on that. If it is defrag, then its likely the one your doing manually.

This may also be because of combination of display settings - do you have Active Desktop enabled? Another source of possible problems is in the Desktop tab > Customize bar at the bottom > Web tab and under Web pages, "My Current Home Page" - if checked, uncheck the box.

Regards - Charles

 

um...

call me ignorant, but i'm having a problem identifying my video card. i can't find anything that says "Video Card" specifically...what other language might i be looking for? could i find it in System Information? (now stop laughing at me )

please be VERY specific about what it should be called and stuff, as i really perform best when given explicit instructions.

i did check the other display settings you mentioned, but i think that's all good.

thanks...still,
abi

 

Use Device Manager to identify the card:

Start, Run, devmgmt.msc
Look under "Display Adapters "

Two other possibilities come to mind:

. There is a Group Policy in effect at work that does not permit wallpaper changes;

. There are some failed registry entries for the wallpaper settings. This can be corrrected with the Wallpaper Hijacker utility:

 

Hi Abi,

Bring up dxdiag again and on the Display tab:

In the left section under Devices should be the brand/model - Name/MFG name

In the right section under Drivers will be the driver version and the date of that driver.

Regards - Charles

 

next...

ok guys, so, i've updated my driver, and that didn't help anything.

there's no group policy in effect because, for one, i've always had various images on my desktop, and for two...trust me, it's just not that formal an environment.

i ran the Wallpaper Hijacker utility and, sadly, it did nothing for me, either.

Charles, you've been so helpful to me, and Bill, those were great suggestions...but none of it has changed anything.

this is so strange...it's the ONLY sypmtom of any ill-goings-ons (er something)...i think, perhaps, my computer hates me...and i may be starting to dislike it, too...any more suggestions? think i'm gonna have to just survive on a solid color alone? gettin' sick of me, yet?

thanks,
abi

 

Start, Run,
REGSVR32 /i SHIMGVW.DLL
REGSVR32 /i MSHTML.DLL
REGSVR32 /i SHELL32.DLL

Reboot and test.

Active Desktop is disabled, correct? If so you cannot use .jpg only .bmp (Workaround: Open the .jpg in Picture and Fax Viewer. Right-click and set as background).

Themes Service is enabled and running, correct?

Note this issue if your user profile was created from a customized default profile: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/defaultwp.htm

Use regedit:
Start/Run/Regedit
Navigate to both keys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop
NoChangingWallPaper
DWord value: 1 prevents changing wallpaper, 0 allows changes.

The same value can be created in the following Registry branch, to make the restriction machine wide.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop

-------------
Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
\Software
\Microsoft
\Windows
\CurrentVersion
\Policies
\Explorer


Delete the two values NoActiveDesktopChanges & NoActiveDesktop in the
right-pane

reboot.

 

Omg

bill...you're my hero!

i started at the top of your instructions...no luck. moved on to the middle (the part about the user profiles)...still no luck. as a matter of fact, i was a little scared for a second there because when i got through HKEY_CURRENT_USER to Policies, there was no Active Desktop! there wasn't an Active Desktop under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE either.

but before freakin' out, i went ahead and continued to the last part...the deletion of those two values, NoActiveDesktopChanges & NoActiveDesktop...rebooted, and LO AND BEHOLD...i HAVE wallpaper again!!

WOO-freakin'-HOO!

so, thank you SO very much. hopefully this will be the end of my computer gliches, at least...i dunno...maybe for this week??? (kinda prone to these kind of things when your machine's a hundred years old, i suppose...ok, maybe not 100, but at least 5!)

again...my sincere appreciation,
abi

 

The only thing I like less than wallpaper questions are Windows Update questions......

I am glad you got the issue sorted.

And welcome to windowsBBS.com