Black area behind taskbar in WinXP

from Stardock Forums
Well, I got a really cool dual boot setup with Vista and XP going, where the two OSs are invisible to each other, and their partitions are both C: drives.

So I got the drivers all set up on the XP partition, and installed WB6, then Sexy XP. I'm having this weird problem where the taskbar has nothing but black behind it, and I mean the entire taskbar area. So there's black on the sides of the taskbar, and it's influencing the translucency of the taskbar itself.

What can I do to fix this?

Here's my system info:


WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6.0 (build 32 x86)

WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC
WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC
Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.

(Default Monitor) 1 is attached to ATI Radeon Xpress Series

Wblind.dll 2007/09/27 12:40:20
Wbsrv.dll 2007/09/23 10:10:43
Wbconfig.exe 2007/10/01 18:09:33
Wbload.exe 2007/09/27 16:42:44
Wbhelp.dll 2007/07/11 15:06:07
Wbui.dll 2007/09/22 13:13:06
Tray.dll 2007/09/12 18:52:21
Screen.exe 2007/09/30 15:18:24
windowblinds
7,098 views 17 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

What is the date of your video driver? Do you have the taskbar locked or unlocked?

Could you post a screenshot here of how that looks?

-Mike
[Stardock Support]

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
My video driver is completely up to date. Locked, unlocked, hidden, not hidden; it makes no difference.

Here's what it looks like:



Also, now that I think about it, I have a similar problem in Vista... It occasionally starts up with a grey area instead, and the windows in ugly UIS2 mode. Unloading and reloading WindowBlinds fixes it there, but no luck in XP.
Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
First thing I thought about was that it was your black wallpaper, but then I saw the grey area instead comment. :P
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Mine goes black every 4-5th apply while making a skin.. have u tired unlocking it... stretching it to double height.. and back?

Always fixes it here. :) 


Sidenote... this should never really happen to anyone.. and does.. a LOT. :NOTSURE: 
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
No effect, vStyler.

See that explorer window, Kilokrash? It's behind the taskbar. I put it there to demonstrate that effect, because I am indeed using a black wallpaper. I normally have the taskbar on autohide, so when it pops up in front of Firefox with that awful effect... Blegh.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I had this issue in older builds as yours is, fire up Stardock Central and update WB, current is "WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6.01 (build 40 x86)"
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Its odd,some skins do it but can be reloaded or pulled up and everything is fine...some go black and never go back. ;p 
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
It is the ATI drivers. I never did like that graphics card I got from them. So I sold it and got an Nvidia card from Evga. Actually 2 cards now [sli] But I always had problems with ATI.

SGT :HOT: 
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Unfortunately, that's not an option for me. I have a laptop; it's integrated graphics.
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I just found out something interesting... I resized my XP taskbar to a ridiculous size... and found out that it had the wallpaper behind it, but any windows behind the taskbar couldn't be seen. Like it just went straight through to the wallpaper. I then went back to normal size, but I still couldn't see any windows behind it.

Is this normal behavior?
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
but I still couldn't see any windows behind it.

Is this normal behavior?
End of quote


Yes, this is normal.
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Aw, man. If I knew that from the beginning.... :/

I'll just have to not use Auto-hide, or use skins with opaque taskbars. :/
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Wait, this can't be normal. The taskbar blur isn't working, but the feature appears in the config.

I'm also experiencing, in some skins, menus passing under windowframes, but over window contents.
Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
some go black and never go back.
End of quote


 :SURPRISED:  :LOL: 
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The taskbar blur isn't working
End of quote


It comes and goes. :NOTSURE: 
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Man... I never realized how many problems this software has! I'm not dissing it, it's great software. Amazing software. But it's held back by these niggling issues... :/
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The taskbar blur isn't working
End of quote


Depends on skin and "apply" rotation?  X-(