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My Power-User Windows ID is Damaged... Need Help!


D. V. Devnull

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Hello, everyone... I've got a real pickle of a problem, and can't solve it. :(

 

Two nights ago, my dad and I installed a new monitor (which didn't even need drivers), and I was sitting with RuneScape running in DirectX Mode and chose to go to OpenGL rendering instead. About the same moment, I was having issues with FireFox's Full-Screen Mode. The display glitched during that change while at the native maximum resolution of 1920x1080, and now I've got these annoying black borders that pop up virtually any time I launch a full-screen game, especially OpenGL-based games such as Quake 3 Arena. It effectively leaves me panning my desktop area of 1920x1080 within a framed limit of around 1776x1000. And yet, when I toggle "Enable GPU Scaling", it temporarily fixes things at the desktop so I'm not panning and there aren't any black borders, but that results in a constant 1920x1080 signal being sent through instead of the monitor getting to handle the scaling. If I don't run any OpenGL-based games and just stick to DirectX-based games, the issue with the black borders only happens occasionally. What's worse, now even Quake 3 Arena has decided to just start crashing at startup so I can't play. The toggle of that checkbox doesn't fix this bit, though. Decking it all off, I've also discovered all of these issues appear to affect only my own Power User Windows ID. The admin account strangely isn't affected, and I haven't been able to test other accounts to see if the issue hit them because of other issues. (Darn jerk Limited Account users... <_< ...)

 

Now, I've got 2 major issues with finding a fix. One, I absolutely must not drop to a lower resolution, or it WILL damage my dad's desktop icon layout. (You can imagine the hell that would bring down on me.) Two, I would like to avoid destroying my Windows ID if I possibly can, because I otherwise have a lot of data to spend time copying out and saving for use on the new one. (I don't think anyone likes losing their data... Am I right?) Other than that, please feel free to ask what questions you need/want to ask (but try not to get personal) and fire workable recovery solutions my way. I already know I'm pretty much in over my head on this one. :wall:

 

One other thing before I post this up... I just remembered we upgraded our display driver a few hours ago in an attempt to fix this, but the problem still persists with my Windows ID. Danged bad luck... :mellow:

 

~D. V. "Somebody... Anybody... Please... HELP!?!?!" Devnull

 

 

 

(p.s.: Yes, I am feeling like a bit of a mental wreck right now... I've already spent most of my time since this glitch began in trying to find an answer...)

tifuserbar-dsavi_x4.jpg and normally with a cool mind.

(Warning: This user can be VERY confusing to some people... And talks in 3rd person for the timebeing due to how insane they are... Sometimes even to themself.)

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One more thing that I almost forgot... I've already run an Antivirus Scan with NOD32 v5.2 (Good program, except for it interfering with multiplayer flash games that need low latency, Speed/Ping Tests, and SSL connections.) and haven't found anything of the awful sort. So at least I don't have to worry that this system was hit in that manner, and I can definitely chock this up to my bad timing plus Jagex's RuneScape applet code. :huh:

 

~D. V. "Forgotten things... Bah!" Devnull

tifuserbar-dsavi_x4.jpg and normally with a cool mind.

(Warning: This user can be VERY confusing to some people... And talks in 3rd person for the timebeing due to how insane they are... Sometimes even to themself.)

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Shame on me... I forgot to post computer specs...

 

 

2.4 GHz Intel Pentium 4

ATI Radeon HD 4650 AGP /w Catalyst 12.4

(was 10.12, already upgraded to no avail)

2 GB RAM

Windows XP SP2 32-bit

(No, don't go telling me to upgrade the above item... Would be bad to anyway.)

Mozilla FireFox 13.0.1

Java 6u29

(I know it's overdue for upgrading, already setting to do this after this issue is fixed)

DirectX 9.0c

(Can this go any higher on Windows XP?)

Asus VS247H-P Monitor @ 1920x1080, 60 Hz

LG Flatron L1720P @ 1024x768, 75 Hz

 

 

Please, everyone, ask if you need anything else. ;) ... Personally, I hope you can help me fix this, because having a broken Windows ID is a bad thing. :(

 

 

~D. V. "I gotta remember to post specs right off the bat!" Devnull

tifuserbar-dsavi_x4.jpg and normally with a cool mind.

(Warning: This user can be VERY confusing to some people... And talks in 3rd person for the timebeing due to how insane they are... Sometimes even to themself.)

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Okay... some more hours passed, and some more updates to my situation...

 

Quake 3 Arena started working again on its' own, but still having the glitch with the display trying to go panned on me after exiting. Also, Limited Users are unaffected (like the Admin) by whatever is happening to my account.

 

RuneScape's touching the hardware renderer also seems to set off this glitch.

 

...and other than that, I'm waiting to hear from the rest of you. Still not having much luck here, and I'm beginning to think I'm suffering a near-impossible anomaly. Also, everyone, I'm sorry as I forgot to mention that the Asus @ 1920x1080 is the primary screen. :(

 

~D. V. "I've got better chances with you folks than I do with Jagex... I think?" Devnull

tifuserbar-dsavi_x4.jpg and normally with a cool mind.

(Warning: This user can be VERY confusing to some people... And talks in 3rd person for the timebeing due to how insane they are... Sometimes even to themself.)

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Decking it all off, I've also discovered all of these issues appear to affect only my own Power User Windows ID. The admin account strangely isn't affected, and I haven't been able to test other accounts to see if the issue hit them because of other issues.

 

Judging from this quote it seems that a certain setting was "flipped" on or off and is causing this problem. First I would say to completely uninstall your video driver and install the latest (I read that you updated them but try to uninstall them if you haven't already). Seems like there a problem where you're computer is reading your games in 4:3 aspect ratio instead of 16:9. Sounds annoying but hopefully uninstalling the drivers will forget your old settings and you can hopefully have your problem resolved when everything is back to default.

 

Are you using a DVI -> HDMI cable or any adapters? or any desktop sharing software like TeamViewer?

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Decking it all off, I've also discovered all of these issues appear to affect only my own Power User Windows ID. The admin account strangely isn't affected, and I haven't been able to test other accounts to see if the issue hit them because of other issues.

Judging from this quote it seems that a certain setting was "flipped" on or off and is causing this problem. First I would say to completely uninstall your video driver and install the latest (I read that you updated them but try to uninstall them if you haven't already). Seems like there a problem where you're computer is reading your games in 4:3 aspect ratio instead of 16:9. Sounds annoying but hopefully uninstalling the drivers will forget your old settings and you can hopefully have your problem resolved when everything is back to default.

Already did that when we did the upgrade... Full uninstall and reinstall. Unluckily, ATI's uninstaller didn't clean up everyone's registry and folders. So that one pretty much a total no-go, seeing as it was tried and failed. And I even tried renaming my ati-related disk folders, but to no avail. I'm beginning to think I'm going to have to find and kill something in my personal registry. Problem is, I don't know entirely what I'm looking for, and AMD/ATI were sucky with their documentation. :mellow:

 

 

Are you using a DVI -> HDMI cable or any adapters? or any desktop sharing software like TeamViewer?

Nope, I don't use anything like that. Connection to both monitors is straight DVI plugs from the card to the monitor. :huh:

 

 

Get your account to be an Admin and then flick the resolution down and up again. This shouldn't affect any of the other users' desktops.

Already tried flicking the resolution around, and it appears to only occur when the primary is set to 1920x1080, the monitor's native resolution. Pretty much anything that messes with resolution changes and/or hardware acceleration causes the onset of the black framing and panning at this resolution. As for making my account an Admin temporarily, I'm pretty sure my dad (the Admin on this PC) won't let me do that. Plus, that unluckily does run the risk of having weirdness occur, and he won't want to risk that happening. We've had weird bleed-over of other things before, but not in such a nasty manner as this situation that's isolated to my account only. :(

 

 

~D. V. "Definitely in need of better solutions..." Devnull

tifuserbar-dsavi_x4.jpg and normally with a cool mind.

(Warning: This user can be VERY confusing to some people... And talks in 3rd person for the timebeing due to how insane they are... Sometimes even to themself.)

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More Updates...

 

Stopped the panning and black frame, but had to lock the refresh for Full Screen at 60 Hz, instead of "Same as Desktop"... This, however, had side effects. "Need For Speed 6: Hot Pursuit 2" now causes the 2nd Monitor to move positions to overhead of the Main. I really wish it was staying put, but that's apparently not happening, even though I tried tweaking that while that game was up.

 

It also appears the entire Power User group has been damaged. Switching other accounts to that group gives them basically the same issues. I hope there's some way to undo the damage in this area, preferably without having to get ham-handed.

 

Kelly Software's Matrix-KS Screen Saver (Click here for her web page @ http://www.kellysoftware.com/ssaver/Matrix_ks.asp) has been rendered partially unable to read and store its' settings. This forced me to destroy my settings for the screen saver in my personal registry at least 3 times trying to figure out what parts of the settings that I flat couldn't touch. I also had to edit one setting directly with the Registry Editor before it would let me move the mouse to exit the screen saver, as trying to set that one from its' dialog wasn't taking properly.

 

Direct3D also appears partially borked on my account, as when I run the tests from DXDiag on my ID, it is having the same problems as NFS6:HP2. I had to go through all the tests before it would kick the 2nd Monitor's desktop location back into the right place, unlike how NFS6:HP2 would just send it right back on exit. Which reminds me, these issues also result in a small desktop clock and likely any other windows over there to land up lost offscreen while this is happening.

 

About the only bright side is that scaling can now be left to the monitors themselves for the moment. And at least Quake 3 Arena and RuneScape aren't suddenly causing onset of the initial issues at the moment.

 

On another note, I've asked my dad to downgrade my account to a normal Users account. Unluckily, this didn't stop the problems either, so that's why I now know that both my account and the whole Power Users group are both damaged. Peter, I'll show my dad your suggestion and check what he thinks about that.

 

And as for me for now, I've got to go again... so... <*whacks the post button*>

 

~D. V. "Definitely feeling six feet under..." Devnull

tifuserbar-dsavi_x4.jpg and normally with a cool mind.

(Warning: This user can be VERY confusing to some people... And talks in 3rd person for the timebeing due to how insane they are... Sometimes even to themself.)

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Why don't you get your own computer, you'll have all the rights on it because you paid for it, so whatever is done by other guys isn't bothered by what you do.

 

Also, game has different screen resolution, which is why it pushes the stuff on the other screen.

 

Why don't you just restore it to before the issue started happening?

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Questions answered and some updates... :geek:

 

Why don't you get your own computer, you'll have all the rights on it because you paid for it, so whatever is done by other guys isn't bothered by what you do.

Bad economy and such... I don't have the $$$ to buy my own PC... Please don't poke further about this, because I simply won't talk about it. Anyway, this line of discussion is totally off-topic. :notalk:

 

 

Also, game has different screen resolution, which is why it pushes the stuff on the other screen.

I don't think you quite got what I'm talking about there. We've got two monitors, one at 1920x1080, and the other (pinned on the side in terms of desktop position, off the top-right corner, sitting bumped against the side of the first desktop section) at 1024x768. With the current glitched situation, launching pretty much any D3D application results in that second desktop section physically moving to overhead on top while the application (especially NFS6:HP2) is running, instead of just sliding sideways like it used to do. This specific behavior is never supposed to be happening at all. :-|

 

 

Why don't you just restore it to before the issue started happening?

I've been trying to ask my dad to do exactly that, first backing up our current data so we don't lose anything which has no effect on the current situation (like browser/email/document data) that we want/need to keep. We can obviously then copy the data back in afterward. On the bad side however, we've also had a Firewall switch from ZA Pro 7-series Firewall to Comodo 5.10-series Firewall, a whole ton of new firewall rules generated, a physical monitor change (due to an old, dying CRT monitor) of the primary monitor, and an upgrade of the ATI Catalyst from 10.12 to 12.4 (this last one done in an attempt to stop the glitch), all since the last backup. (As a reminder, this glitch stemmed from running RuneScape and having a bad laggy moment while changing RS Rendering Modes from DirectX 3D to OpenGL right after the physical monitor change.) I think he's being dead resistant to doing the revert (which would put us back on ZA Pro 7-series Firewall, at least temporarily...) probably because it would pull out the Comodo 5.10-series Firewall changeover, and the Rules that we've already had to tweak several times to prevent startup/shutdown crashes (Although, I've popped the fact that it would give us a second chance to possibly do that better from the ground up.), as well as pull the Catalyst 12.4 Upgrade (same to be said regarding handling this issue)... :huh:

 

On other notes, I've already found out that the glitch (since we stop-gapped the OpenGL issue) with D3D apparently is already affecting his Admin account (and therefore likely everyone else) as well. (Just my bad luck, I've found out I'm also the person with a better memory of this computer's behavior, so getting the point across is a mountain of trouble for me.) So I can pretty much assume that DirectX's core is also damaged, as this was showing itself during the D3D v8/v9 part of the tests, but not during the D3D v7 test part. Which reminds me, we don't have a system restore point from before the issue happened. So that chance to jump backwards is gone... That, and the Catalyst 12.4 Upgrade probably blocked that anyway, as the old 10.12 files aren't in an installed state on the PC anymore. :wall:

 

 

 

At this point, I'm pretty much being forced (yes, thanks to my dad) to look only at ways of fixing the system while continuing to go forward. So, if anyone here has any way to do that and end this issue with DirectX/OpenGL/this PC, please feel free to share it. Right now, I'm near a point of total mental overload. :(

 

 

~D. V. "Caught between a mountain and an extremely hard place..." Devnull

tifuserbar-dsavi_x4.jpg and normally with a cool mind.

(Warning: This user can be VERY confusing to some people... And talks in 3rd person for the timebeing due to how insane they are... Sometimes even to themself.)

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  • 2 weeks later...

If you can't restore to when it was working and can't get admin access then you're pretty much stuck.

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Mercifull <3 Suzi

"We don't want players to be able to buy their way to success in RuneScape. If we let players start doing this, it devalues RuneScape for others. We feel your status in real-life shouldn't affect your ability to be successful in RuneScape" Jagex 01/04/01 - 02/03/12

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