Windows 7 -- flashing windows, closing menus

bj00uk

Posts: 79   +0
Hi Guys, How are you all?

I need some help please. My PC is acting a bit weird since Yesterday.

Basically these are the problems;
  • The Windows keep flashing/flickering
  • If I try to to do something like rename a file it will just escape
  • I can't move Windows around the screen it just goes back to where it was
  • If I use start menu and click on any other menu it just closes
  • Folders keep scrolling to the top
Its like a button is stuck or something (I have checked my keyboard and also unplugged my keyboard and it made no difference)

This problem once occured to me in the past around 12 months back but I never managed to sort it out back then either. Although I did a complete fresh install a few weeks after the problem.

At first I thought it was a PSU fault but then remembered I just bought and fitted a new OCZ PSU around 3 weeks ago. (Higher Watts then I originally had so not a problem of not enough power)

I have just done a fresh Install a few days ago (Monday) and do not want to do it all again. I do not think its a Windows Issues.

I have been tried a few things and nothing worked
  • I thought maybe a system restore would work which it did until I shutdown the computer and when I came back and switched it on the problem was back.
  • I changed my Power Plan to High Performance use advanced setting disabled USB auto suspend
  • I thought it maybe due to some new Program installed but nothing apart from the essentials have been installed at this point (Avast, Comodo, Adobe Reader, Revo Uninstaller, CCleaner, Malaware Bytes, iTunes + QuickTime, Windows Updated, Photoshop)
  • Done a quick scan on Malaware Bytes and Avast nothing found.
  • I have tried unplugging the keyboard and mouse and plugging in the the touch function of my monitor and it made no difference.
Could it be a hardware issue? (As its happening after 12 months+ Im unsure if that could be the case). Although a USB drive which was lost for sometime has been found and plugged in to check contents Yesterday. Could the USB drive be the issue?

Can someone please please help me. The problem is really annoying can't rename files or use start menu etc.
 
I managed to sort it out, it seems it was my Graphics Card drivers, Windows Update option updates had newer drivers.
 
Hi, the problem is back again. Last time a few restarts and windows update for graphics drivers sorted it. This time nothing seems to work. I used Driver Sweeper to uninstall drivers, downloaded and install drivers again. No luck.

I know it's not a virus, (Avast, Malwarebytes and Ad-Aware say clean). I don't know if its the graphics drivers anymore, maybe its something else. Please can anyone help??

Thanks
 
I do not think its a Windows Issues.
Probably shouldn't have posted the problem in the Windows forum then. :) When you did a fresh install of Windows, did you install all drivers, chipset, LAN, sound, etc., besides the graphics driver you already mentioned?
 
You are right I shouldn't have posted in Windows forum :( but back last month when the issue started I thought it was a Windows Issue until someone at uni suggested Graphics card drivers. Yes I have installed all the drivers for my motherboard. Chipset, LAN, Sound, WiFi. Any ideas what it could be?
 
What version of Windows is installed? Be sure all the service packs are installed. Malwarebytes and Avast could be conflicting. Try uninstalling one of them.
 
Hi, Windows 7 Professional, all up to date. Already removed Malwarebytes (even though I installed Malwarebytes after the problem).

Its just really annoying because menus do not stay open, rename file keeps closing, windows can not be move as mouse keeps dropping.
 
Hi, thanks for your reply gbhall. I have tried that and also tried using a different keyboard, I have also removed any drivers for keyboard and mouse just to make sure. No luck.
 
The 'lost' USB drive - tested for infections? In my time I have seen some weird and wonderful symptoms eventually traced to faulty hardware - and that is hardware that is not actually in use......could be for example, a failing CD or DVD drive, USB device, wireless device etc etc.
You need to be systematic about finding faulty hardware. Try to remove everything possible (CD/DVD,USB,Wireless,printers) on a temporary basic and test bootup. A quick thing to do is burn a simple portable Linux, boot off it, and see if the PC still has flaky behaviour. If it does, then it's hardware, if it doesn't it narrows things down to Windows drivers and devices started in Windows, but not in Linux.

One other thing already mentioned, but worth repeating - only one malware detection application running at a time, one firewall etc. Good luck.
 
bj and all...

Have had the same problem on several accounts, especially AFTER performing a maintenance on the computers. I created a 2nd user account and copied everything to that account (C;/user/) and noticed that the new account did not flash. So I built several accounts, and copied the affected account into all of them...

As I use 3 programs for the maintenance, I used one of each application on each account. Each of the tasks that needed to be performed was completed individually - no automation. In all three accounts, the problem started with the cleaning of the registry. As this did not happen before the Microsoft weekly updates from 2 weeks ago, I am backtracking with Microsoft to find the problem....

However...

That is not why I am posting here. I tried 3 solutions, of which only one did work.

A system restore did not work.

Creating a new user account each time is ridiculous as Outlook needs to have all the email accounts rebuilt.

Performing a Windows reinstall was the ONLY thing that worked that did not involve a lot of time as well as effort. A full set of instructions on what to watch out for as well as what you need to have ready once the reinstall is completed can be found here...
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

I hope this helps everyone, I know I was just as frustrated as bj on this as I work 12-18 hours a day on the computer.

Now, to find out what is CAUSING all this.... will return with a post if I find anything. You can find me @thehrisworld with any questions...
 
Interesting - so a diagnostic is to create a new account, and find it behaves correctly ?
I suggest you also edit your post to be slightly more specific - you speak of a Windows reinstall, but it is clear you really should be talking of a Windows repair installation. Really very, very different things.
 
I stand corrected, I did perform a Windows Repair Installation -- and that's what I get for trying to squeeze a post in as dinner is being served! :)

I was surprised by setting up a new user account being a solution -- I found this tactic in another site (long forgotten where), so I tried it -- and it worked until I performed another maintenance run on the computer. What will happen next time? Stay tuned! Something in the registry at the user account level is being affected and not the entire system -- I just wish I had more time to devote to this but it has already placed me 2 weeks behind the eight-ball.
 
Thanks for your response guys :).
I will try out what has been suggested within the next couple of days, hopefully I can resolve the issue. Also I did use CCleaner for Registry Cleaning couple of days prior (its never caused this issue before) but maybe it is the problem. Thanks guys, I will report back as soon as I have tried it all out.
 
@Doctor John: Lol, sounds like a great blockbuster idea. Can I play the frustrated individual who learns martial arts and finally get away from the computer screen :)

@thehrisworld, @gbhall: I have tried System Restore, Setting up another User Acc and Repair Install they did not work :( I also used the registry backup and tried restoring to it and still no change.

@gbhall: Yes the 'lost' usb has been scanned its not the problem works perfectly (no problems caused) on other computers, I haven't yet managed to find the time to try hardware removal yet, planning to get it done this weekend hopefully.
 
I'm having the same problem. I have a Dell which came with an install partition so I cant do a window repair install. I'm waiting on a new external HDD to do a file backup as the old one died so this is very bad timing (full reinstall is out at the moment id lose too much). I cant see that its a hardware fault on my laptop as my Ubuntu partition works fine. Same thing, no detectable virus or spyware. One thing I thought it could be was the installation of webwatcher and online monitoring software, but there are loads of references to this problem online so I doubt that. I uninstalled it for good measure. Anyone got an actual answer to this? So far all ive seen is diagnaustics and speculation, what the heck is causing this problem? It started suddenly as if it was a virus. Sorry about spelling errors, I cant use spell check because the context menu wont stay on screen long enough!
 
Hi all. Today im fight with windows 7 64bit. Blinking Mozilla top bar in facebook and IE. Self closed Start menu.
Im try to make new account - it worked befor you open Mozilla. It is no mallware... Windows havent boot log with timestamp and dosnt help to know how many billions of drivers loaded in startup. So... Im lost one day and go to reinstall windows
Still dont know where is problem
Sorry for my english - im fro europe 8)
 
Hi, the problem is back again. Last time a few restarts and windows update for graphics drivers sorted it. This time nothing seems to work. I used Driver Sweeper to uninstall drivers, downloaded and install drivers again. No luck.

I know it's not a virus, (Avast, Malwarebytes and Ad-Aware say clean). I don't know if its the graphics drivers anymore, maybe its something else. Please can anyone help??

Thanks
if you suspect it's a graphics driver issue, then uninstall your current graphics driver pack and reboot.
after reboot, install graphics driver pack from the installer cd that came with your computer.
then install latest graphics driver pack.

also, check device manager for any yellow exclamation point.
it may signify a missing device driver, or not properly installed ,or not loaded.
 
Hi Guys, How are you all?



I need some help please. My PC is acting a bit weird since Yesterday.



Basically these are the problems;

  • The Windows keep flashing/flickering
  • If I try to to do something like rename a file it will just escape
  • I can't move Windows around the screen it just goes back to where it was
  • If I use start menu and click on any other menu it just closes
  • Folders keep scrolling to the top
Its like a button is stuck or something (I have checked my keyboard and also unplugged my keyboard and it made no difference)


This problem once occured to me in the past around 12 months back but I never managed to sort it out back then either. Although I did a complete fresh install a few weeks after the problem.



At first I thought it was a PSU fault but then remembered I just bought and fitted a new OCZ PSU around 3 weeks ago. (Higher Watts then I originally had so not a problem of not enough power)



I have just done a fresh Install a few days ago (Monday) and do not want to do it all again. I do not think its a Windows Issues.



I have been tried a few things and nothing worked

  • I thought maybe a system restore would work which it did until I shutdown the computer and when I came back and switched it on the problem was back.
  • I changed my Power Plan to High Performance use advanced setting disabled USB auto suspend
  • I thought it maybe due to some new Program installed but nothing apart from the essentials have been installed at this point (Avast, Comodo, Adobe Reader, Revo Uninstaller, CCleaner, Malaware Bytes, iTunes + QuickTime, Windows Updated, Photoshop)
  • Done a quick scan on Malaware Bytes and Avast nothing found.
  • I have tried unplugging the keyboard and mouse and plugging in the the touch function of my monitor and it made no difference.
Could it be a hardware issue? (As its happening after 12 months+ Im unsure if that could be the case). Although a USB drive which was lost for sometime has been found and plugged in to check contents Yesterday. Could the USB drive be the issue?


Can someone please please help me. The problem is really annoying can't rename files or use start menu etc.


I just found this topic since I had the same problem just 10 minutes ago. Luckily, I detected the problem quickly.
I disconnected wireless Logitech receiver (for mouse), and everything went back to normal. I don't know if that is gonna help (actually, the receiver was working quite fine for 5-6 days until it went crazy), but I just wanted to share.
 
I am having these same problems on my windows 7. I have a Snow leopard Macbook with bootcamp which let me have Windows 7 on it.
I've tried system restore, I've scanned for viruses and malware with Malawarebytes. I even bought the pro version just to be sure but it still doesn't do anything. I updated all my drivers and still no solution.

Creating a new user account is a temporary fix for me, as the new account becomes a problem a few days.

I can't do an install repair because it always comes back as an error "[FONT=Segoe UI]To upgrade, you need to be running Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 installed. Close the installation, open Windows Update, and then check updates for Service Pack 1." [/FONT]
 
Addressing the point of the message, is the version of Win 7 you are using actually SP1 or not?

I am not sure whether you are running Win 7 as a virtual drive within your Macbook OS, or are dual booting on the hardware, or have actually replaced the Apple OS with Win 7 ? It might help me understand your problem to know which.

Looking back through the posts, it is odd that so many different symptoms and solutions exist. The only common factor seems to be that some driver seems to be the root cause, but one that is local to a particular user. Then that driver is maybe updated for that user, and immediately shows the same symptom again.

If I was really pushed hard for a recommendation, I would say - never accept any drivers from MS updates.
 
I used bootcamp to partition my hard drive so I can have both the Mac OS and Windows 7. I looked at my system properties, and it says that I have Service Pack 1 installed. But when I try and do a repair install, it says that some messages. I thought maybe it's because I was using my same disc, so I copied the iso and burned another one but the message still came up. I have too many things to just do a clean install and wipe my hard drive.
 
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