Windows Vista problem with thumbnails and wallpapers

something happened yesterday, when i was playing a game it minimized to the desktop. My wallpaper seemed to disappeared. When i go to set another wallpaper the screen remains unchanged. I see that all the thumbnails of the files and folders are blank. Nothing was showing except for their names. I opened the image files and they appear to be working correctly except the thumbnails. I changed the view settings to detail but the wallpaper still did not show on the desktop. What happened to the computer and how can i fix it?

 

i tried a few times and it does not seem to work. could it have been a glitch in the game i was playing during the time had caused this?

 

i recently found out that the thumbnails will show in 16 bit resolution, but not in 32 bit. in either setting the wallpapers still do not show.

 

How do you achieve that?

What I am trying to source is whether the problem is isolated to just the thumbnails or it may be a graphics problem.

That sounds like a graphics/driver problem to me.
Some checks:
Your system easily covers the games minimum System Requirements? If there are any "maybes" you should look at reducing the corresponding settings in the game's options.

Have you checked for driver updates, motherboard/chipset and graphics drivers would be my starting point.

Do you mean 16/32 bit colour? 16/32 does not relate to resolution AFAIK.
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You will need to give us more information.

Matt

 

I tried that and that did not work.

Sorry, I meant 16 bit color.
I recently updated my video card a few days before this occurred. The computer exceeded the system requirements for the game. The only thumbnail that shows is located in the windows photo gallery folder. That thumbnail shows the default image icon but is very blurry. The only time the wallpaper works on my desktop is if i select a image straight from the internet and set that to the background without downloading it.


here are other things i have tried:
I tried deleting the iconcache.db file but that did not work.
I created a new profile but that did not work.

 

That would be my main suspect.

Before you install a new graphics card, you should uninstall any software (which may include the drivers) for the old card. If you look in Control Panel -> Programs and Features, there should be a listing for the software related to the old graphics. You will need to uninstall that, but then reinstall the new graphics software (and drivers) to "reset" them.

On the assumption you have not uninstalled the old software, it may just be a matter of doing that. You made need to reinstall the new software. You may need to uninstall and reinstall the new software. If there are any problems at startup, go into Safe Mode and uninstall there. You can also choose the selection VGA Mode when you get to the startup options menu (F8).

I think your problems are a reflection of corrupted graphics software.

Matt

 

i tried and it did not work.

 

for some reason in the picture folder properties it is set as read only. everytime i unchecked it always checked itself back in again. could this be what is affecting the files & folders or is it just the normal setting for the folders?

 

I do not know if this will help towards a solution but when I try to delete a file or folder and in the confirmation box shows the name on the right and a black square on the left of the name.

 

Hi, This is my first reply to a Thread.

Did You have onboard Video before installing the new card? If so you must dissable it in the Bios, then you can install the drivers and software. I hope this helps you.

 

When i got this computer it came with two nvidia cards already installed. The video cards i have are 8600 gts. Does this model have any issues with vista that could be causing my situation?

 

2 matching Nvidia cards means you have an SLI system.

In order to use SLI you must have two matching Brand name and model number cards,I'm pretty sure you cannot use two different cards,Did you remove both of the old cards and just install one new one? If not I could see a potential for a conflict.
Also I installed Service Pack1 for Vista and have two Nvidia 7950GT cards it caused a major problem and kept rejecting the drivers , I called Microsoft and there was no solution,so I used system restore and then then hide the SP1 update, in the Windows update list.

 

The 2 8600gts cards were already installed in the computer when i bought it and never replaced them with anything else. Your suggestion on hiding the update will not work, because this problem occurred before i installed SP1.