Windows Vista Minimize animations stopped working in Aero (a tough one!)

Hello, folks! This one is a real challenge for me and will probably be a bitch to track down and fix, even though it seems easy.

The problem: window animations (minimize / maximize) stopped working in Aero and I can't turn them back on by normal means.

Explanation: Aero is enabled and working, the setting in Performance / Effects is on (as well as in Registry), but there are no animations when I minimize, restore or maximize windows. They just appear/disappear. I tried setting it on and off, rebooting, etc., but it just won't turn back on. It used to work before.

Setup: ASUS laptop with Vista Home Premium.

What I did:
1. I tried to install Windows Vista Ultimate on another partition, had some issues, then removed it and fixed the BCD.
2. I downloaded a patched themes control panel to enable DreamScapes in Vista Home Premium and installed it (example link: http://www.forumplaystation.com/viewtopic.php?p=63385 ).

I don't remember exactly when the problem occured.

How I tried to fix it.

1. Restored original themecpl
2. Checked that registry settings are ok:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects\AnimateMinMax]
"DefaultApplied "=dword:00000001
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM]
"Animations "=dword:00000001
3. Tried restarting the computer.
4. Tried setting all effects to off and back on.
5. Tried different combinations. I managed to get 95/XP-like "animations" to work when I disable Aero.



Any ideas? What should I try?

 

Done that. It's in Performance / Visual Effects. All appearance settings are enabled. Disabling/enabling doesn't help. Options other than animation work (e.g. I can disable the shadow under mouse pointer and then reenable it), but window animation checkbox doesn't have any effect.