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Topic: «Background Slideshow Causing Issues » on forum: Technical Support   Views: 3304
 
Chris Cobbold
Registered user
 
 Posts: 3
Joined: 12/30/2015
Posted: 12/30/2015 15:01:50
 
 
 I'm not really sure the proper terminology to use to articulate the issue, so I apologize in advanced if I don't properly explain this. I'll do my best. But first, some context.

A year or so ago, I was running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit on three 24" Acer G246HLAbd LED monitors via a Gigabyte Radeon R9 295X2 video card. The left and right monitors were DVI to mDP via an active adapter, while the central was just DVI. A friend suggested I use Actual Multiple Monitors to make setting up a background slideshow simpler an easier. I gave the trial a try, and while it was easier than doing it myself (that is, building the slideshow as single images to span the three monitors manually), I decided it wasn't worth paying for, given that all I was going to use it for was something I was capable of doing myself. I will note, however, that the program functioned just fine at that time. The version of Actual Multiple Monitors I was using at that time was 8.2.2.0, per the installer.

About a month ago, I purchased a 27" BenQ XL2730Z LED monitor, primarily for the free-sync compatibility. At the same time, but for unrelated reasons, I upgraded to Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. These are still hooked up to a Gigabyte Radeon R9 295X2 video card. I replaced the middle of the three Acer monitors with this new monitor. So now, the central (BenQ) monitor is mDP, the left (Acer) monitor is DVI to mDP via an active adapter, and the right (Acer) monitor is just DVI. As the BenQ monitor's native resolution is 2560x1440, my previously built background slideshow no longer displays correctly. As I mentioned before, it is a series of images which are 5760x1080 and set to stretch across the whole screen. Rather than trying to figure out how to do single images with different screen resolutions, I decided that it would be worthwhile to pay for Actual Multiple Monitors. The version I am currently using is v8.6.2.0, per the installer.

So, with that out of the way, let's talk about the issues. The first issue I noticed was that, periodically, instances of Notepad would go blank. What I mean is that, I would have a Notepad window open, and it could be the active window or it could just be visible, I could even be actively typing in it, and every once in a while, it would go blank, as if it were an empty document, except that the flashing cursor was also gone. The timing between this happening was inconsistent, and if the Notepad window was the active window and I was typing in it, sometimes only parts of the document would blank out in this manner. I could highlight the document to have the text reappear, minimize the document to have the text reappear, and I eventually discovered that if I just clicked into the window (if not active) or clicked out of the window (if active) the text would generally reappear. More importantly, I noticed that on a much more consistent basis, the Notepad windows would flicker, briefly going blank. Sometimes, they would stay blank, and sometimes they would return to normal. I then realized that this behavior always occurred about a second before the background slideshow changed slides. While incredibly annoying, as I'm in the habit of using Notepad for a lot of things, typically having three or four windows open at a time, the fact that I could just click into or out of the Notepad window to reset it meant that it wasn't that big a deal. Something I'd look into later.

The second issue I noticed was that, when waking up fr om sleep, my desktop would take an inordinately long time to properly load and be usable, and would frequently "forget" on which monitor various Windows were supposed to be. Generally, it would work like this: I would log in, and the desktops would load. Only the central taskbar would be present. The background of the central monitor (which is the 2560x1440 one) would be off-center, looking very similar to how the background slideshow I was using prior appeared when I first installed the new monitor. Mousing over the taskbar would reveal that Windows Explorer was not responding. After about fifteen seconds, the taskbars for the side monitors would load. Currently, they just mirror the center taskbar, but originally, I had them set to be individual taskbars (I changed that in the hopes of fixing this problem, then gave up). After another thirty seconds, the taskbars would become usable. However, any window that was left open on either the left or right monitor would now be on the opposite monitor and off-center (as if dragged so the top-left corner was in the center of the screen while otherwise maximized), while any window that was minimized would, when maximized, appear on the center monitor, regardless of its original position. This was particularly annoying, but also relatively easy to put up with. I was already in the habit of never leaving windows open when locking the computer, so it was just a matter of having to put up with a one-minute load time after logging back in.

The third issue I noticed was a similar behavior in Calculator. In this case, the display field would periodically go blank. This was particularly strange, because I don't think you can normally get the display field to go blank; if you clear, it just returns it to 0. This too always occurred about a second before the background slideshow would change slides, and sometimes would just flicker rather than remaining blank. The reason I noticed this third is because I don't typically have Calculator open for long enough for this to be an issue, so once again, I wrote it off as a minor nuisance and put it out of my mind.

Today, I discovered a fourth issue. I work in accounting, and as you are all well aware, the year is almost over, which means that in addition to my normal 50-hour work week, I'm working 30-hours a week fr om home trying to get everything closed out for the year. Today, I was working on an important Excel document. I am using Office 2010 Home and Student, for reference. Part of what I am doing in this document involves a lot of cut and pasting. I began to notice that, periodically, I would cut a section and then, when I went to paste it elsewh ere, my clipboard would be empty. These documents have other issues that I was aware of, so I just chalked it up to another bug in the source document. However, each time it happened, I would use Undo to restore the text I had cut, and I began to notice that I always had to hit undo twice, even though there should only be one action that had occurred (my cutting the text in the first place). I had the nagging feeling that there was something to it, so I did a little test, and discovered that, surprise surprise, this always happened about a second before the background slideshow changed slides. Each time the background changed slides, it counted as an action inside of Excel, which disrupted my clipboard. But, like everything else, I was willing to put up with this. It was annoying, but not game breaking.

That's when I discovered the fifth issue. The background changed slides, my instances of Notepad flickered as normal, some remaining white, but this time, Excel flickered too. And unlike Notepad, it then proceeded to stop responding and ultimately crash. Thankfully, I have autosave set pretty frequently, but this is not something I can just put up with. Not during year end.

So I decided to figure out what exactly was causing it. As you'll notice from the context, a lot of things changed all at once prior to these issues manifesting. First, I decided to play with the settings in Actual Multiple Monitor. Maybe the issue was that my center monitor was set to refresh at 144Hz while my side monitors were only refreshing at 60Hz, I thought to myself, setting my center monitor to 60Hz. The issues persisted. Maybe the issue was that my center monitor was a higher resolution than my side monitors, I considered, setting my center monitor to 1920x1080. The issues persisted. Maybe it has something to do with the mirrored taskbars, I hoped, disabling it. The issues persisted. Maybe...just maybe...it's because I have the center background slideshow to stretch, while the others are set to centered, I prayed, setting the center background slideshow to centered. The issues persisted. Maybe it's Actual Multiple Monitors, I dreaded, closing it and manually switching back to my old background slideshow in the Windows settings. All of the issues stopped.

I haven't found any particular setting in Actual Multiple Monitors that triggers the issue, other than the background slideshow function altogether. I can have Actual Multiple Monitors running, and tell it to use the Windows default background, and the slideshow causes no issues, or I can have Actual Multiple Monitors running, and tell it to use static background images, and there are no issues, but the moment I turn on the background slideshow, all of the issues return.

So there you have it, my explanation of the issue I'm encountering. It's reached a point wh ere I'm going to leave Actual Multiple Monitors disabled until either I figure out a solution or someone here figures out a solution. Needless to say, I'm pretty dissatisfied. I can provide screenshots of the issues next week, but in the meantime, I need to get back to work.
 
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Bogdan Polishchuk
Administrator
 
 Posts: 4010
Joined: 04/04/2012
Posted: 02/04/2016 19:25:04
 
 
 Hello, Chris

Sorry for the delay.

Do you have the latest version of video driver installed? What is the version?

Are you running any third party OS enhancement software? Could you send us a screenshot of the processes list from the Task Manager?

Best regards.
 
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Chris Cobbold
Registered user
 
 Posts: 3
Joined: 12/30/2015
Posted: 02/04/2016 23:21:02
 
 
 The driver version displayed in Device Manager and that on the AMD site don't exactly match up, but when I let Windows search for a driver update, it reports that I have the current. For the record:

Current Driver (per Device Manager): v15.300.1025.0
Latest Driver (per AMD Site): v15.30.1025.1001

I don't know why my system reports that second value as 300, while the AMD site seems to think it is 30, but given that the first and third position match, I'm going to assume that these are the same driver family.

I don't believe I'm running any third party operating system enhancement software.

Processes I'm Running: https://i.imgur.com/IFEzbZl.png
Background Processes: http://i.imgur.com/PZxDbOv.png

I'll note that, having had Actual Multiple Monitors disabled for an extended period of time, part of one of the issues I previously mentioned has persisted. Specifically, part of the second issue I described, wherein the system would "forget" the positions of certain windows, especially those originally on the right monitor, and move them to the central monitor. This may have contributed to the rest of the second issue. All other issues I mentioned have ceased with the disabling of Actual Multiple Monitors.

Edit: Added some formatting to make it easier to read.
 
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Bogdan Polishchuk
Administrator
 
 Posts: 4010
Joined: 04/04/2012
Posted: 02/10/2016 14:22:44
 
 
 Chris,

Could you check please, whether the flickering in notepad, excel or calculator happens in the moment when you change the background to the static picture?
Disable Actual Multiple Monitors (tray icon context menu > Exit) and open Configuration module without launching AMM. Then open notepad, excel and calculator windows, go to the Background settings in the Configuration module, select static mode and set pictures to every monitor. Then press Apply and check, if there is any flickering in the mentioned windows. Then change one picture and press Apply again, do this several times. Let us know the results.
 
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Chris Cobbold
Registered user
 
 Posts: 3
Joined: 12/30/2015
Posted: 02/12/2016 07:23:41
 
 
 I can confirm that flickering does occur when I change the background using Windows Personalize, with the degree of flickering varying from test to test without any clear pattern, though across about a score or so tests, I never had any of three Notepad windows I opened (one per monitor) remain blank after the transition was complete. I will also note that this only occurs when manually changing the background; when using a slideshow, no flickering is present.
 
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Bogdan Polishchuk
Administrator
 
 Posts: 4010
Joined: 04/04/2012
Posted: 02/13/2016 18:49:07
 
 
 Chris,

You've tested this with Windows Personalize, but did you tested with AMM configuration module, as i described in my previous message?

Quote
when using a slideshow, no flickering is present
Are you talking about one of those Aero themes where the background image automatically changes?
 
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