window blinds rendering problems

from Stardock Forums

Windows blinds seems to be rendering incorrectly quite often on my pc.  Often times after startup or after coming out of sleep mode there will be a problem...most notably with the taskbar, rightclick menus, and drop down menus in programs.  Often, the entire task bar is black or the menu's are black...but sometimes the taskbar transulancy is not working correctly.  This is a pain and can take who knows how many manual "apply my changes" until everything is working correctly.  I just want to be able to turn my pc on...and not have to worry anout fixing this before I can use my computer.

I'm running a purchased version of windowblinds 6.3...both the updated version and the older version incurred these problems...on windows XP sp3, amd 64 fx-53 processor.

The skin I am currently using is aero metal but this problem occurs with any skin just in different rendering problems/colors.

These pics should help.

 

This is how it should look...

Render problem 1:  Completely black task bar

Render problem 2: Black menu...and you can see some transulency issues with the quick launch toolbar

 

I really enjoy using window blinds to get ride or the tired old look of windows xp...thank you for any help you guys can provide.

System Info:

WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6.3 (build 67 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.

(Plug and Play Monitor) 1 is attached to RADEON X800 XT Platinum Edition

Wblind.dll         2008/09/22 17:59:20
Wbsrv.dll         2008/09/22 17:59:42
Wbconfig.exe         2008/09/22 17:59:32
Wbload.exe         2008/04/28 12:35:14
Wbhelp.dll         2007/07/11 15:06:07
Wbui.dll         2008/04/28 12:35:05
Tray.dll              2007/09/12 18:52:21
Screen.exe         2008/07/22 11:10:09

windowblinds
11,185 views 19 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

post the WB system info

did it do this with WB6.2?

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

System info has been added to the end of my post, yes I had the same problems with 6.2.

CursorFX - Customize your Windows cursor
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top

your dates are different than mine

SDC and Impulse come up different, but some of your dates are 3 months older than mine...

to me it indicates straight updating rather than uninstalling old, downloading/installing full new - have you tried that?

graphics drivers up to date?

 

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Originally I had just updated WB though impulse, I tried a straight install using impulse to 6.3.  The first time I stuck a skin on...it had black right click menus so it seems as though the problem is still there.  Aslo, I have updated my ati drivers probably 3 times since having window blinds and that has never fixed the problem.

 

This was interesting though.  Upon installation using impulse this message popped up in notepad as some kind of log:

-----

Application start: 2008-10-19 13.13.48

Silent mode

Mode 1, short info

Submitting activation request...

Download: failed HttpSendRequest

Result parsing error (1)

Error activating the product

Please check the serial number that you have entered and ensure that it is associated with the email you used. Try to activate the product again. If you are using Stardock Central you can right-click on the product and attempt to activate without reinstalling. Please include this log file when contacting support@stardock.com.

Using silent activation with null serial mode.


Application start: 2008-10-19 13.14.14

Silent mode

Mode 2

Submitting activation request...

Download: failed HttpSendRequest

Result parsing error (1)

Error activating the product

Please check the serial number that you have entered and ensure that it is associated with the email you used. Try to activate the product again. If you are using Stardock Central you can right-click on the product and attempt to activate without reinstalling. Please include this log file when contacting support@stardock.com.

-----

I did what it says...my serial number matches the one given to me on my receipt and so does my email.  Window blinds is running...so I really don't know why that came up during installation.

 

Also...this may be completely irrelevant but when everything seems to be running correctly, I just noticed within impulse only...my right click brings up a completely black menu...having black on black makes it almost impssible to know it is there unless you mouse down highlighting the choices.  Thought that was odd being the same problem I experience with windowblinds.

Also here is the new system info after impulse install if needed:

WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6.3 (build 67 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.

(Plug and Play Monitor) 1 is attached to RADEON X800 XT Platinum Edition

Wblind.dll         2008/09/22 17:59:20
Wbsrv.dll         2008/09/22 17:59:42
Wbconfig.exe         2008/09/22 17:59:32
Wbload.exe         2008/04/28 12:35:14
Wbhelp.dll         2008/04/28 12:35:07
Wbui.dll         2008/04/28 12:35:05
Tray.dll              2008/04/28 12:35:21
Screen.exe         2008/07/22 11:10:09

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Make sure there are no spaces at the end or beginning of your serial number. It happened to me and drove me crazy until I noticed it while highlighting.

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

nope, no spaces...tried del/backspace and then updated registration just to be sure

to me...it seems like when there is a problem windowblinds is flip flopping what should be transulcent and what should be black...its probably hard to see from the pics but with the black right click menu the ">>" things are actual transulcent showing my desktop instead of being black...and the majority of the menu is black instead of being translucent

Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Um, isn't the last version of Windowblinds for XP 64 bit v6.2?  6.3 isn't for XP, I believe.  While you have a 64 bit processor, you don't say if you are running the 64 or 32 bit version of XP.  I hope this helps.

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

I have this same problem and it's driving me nuts.  kinda thinking its not worth the price if the dang thing isn't going to work right every time I use it.

this problem was here back in 2008, and still there is no answer? a lot of good this forum is doing.

 

ok I've ranted enough, if anyone has a cure or a fix please post so that others can fix thier stuff too..  Thanks

Shaggy

Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
and here is my system info: Windows XP SP3 WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6.4 (build 73 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. (SyncMaster 226BW(Digital)) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT Wblind.dll 2009/03/24 17:04:20 Wbsrv.dll 2009/03/24 17:04:58 Wbconfig.exe 2009/03/24 17:04:20 Wbload.exe 2009/03/24 17:04:14 Wbhelp.dll 2007/07/11 15:06:07 Wbui.dll 2007/11/05 21:20:05 Tray.dll 2007/09/12 18:58:21 Screen.exe 2009/03/24 17:04:09
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top

actually there have been solutions, but not always found on the post you read...

 

 

open wb config, click system info, click copy text - paste it here

Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6.4 (build 73 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. (SyncMaster 226BW(Digital)) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT Wblind.dll 2009/03/24 17:04:20 Wbsrv.dll 2009/03/24 17:04:58 Wbconfig.exe 2009/03/24 17:04:20 Wbload.exe 2009/03/24 17:04:14 Wbhelp.dll 2007/07/11 15:06:07 Wbui.dll 2007/11/05 21:20:05 Tray.dll 2007/09/12 18:58:21 Screen.exe 2009/03/24 17:04:09
Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
odd, that the formating is messed up after I submit this. when I past it, it looks just fine, when I submit, it ends up being one paragraph and all jumbled together???
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6.4 (build 73 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. (SyncMaster 226BW(Digital)) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT Wblind.dll 2009/03/24 17:04:20 Wbsrv.dll 2009/03/24 17:04:58 Wbconfig.exe 2009/03/24 17:04:20 Wbload.exe 2009/03/24 17:04:14 Wbhelp.dll 2007/07/11 15:06:07 Wbui.dll 2007/11/05 21:20:05 Tray.dll 2007/09/12 18:58:21 Screen.exe 2009/03/24 17:04:09
End of quote
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top

these 3 are really old

 

Wbhelp.dll 2007/07/11 15:06:07

Wbui.dll 2007/11/05 21:20:05

Tray.dll 2007/09/12 18:58:21

 

 

if you use Impulse, try setting back to Windows default skin of choice

unload WB, use impulse to uninstall

reboot

use impulse to install new one

reboot

all dates should then be 03/24/2009

Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
ah... now I feel like an idiot, thanks for the heads up on the old files, will do the reinstall and let you know how it works out. again.. thanks for the input Shaggy
Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
well I don't think it worked.. but did like you said here are the new system stats: WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 6.4 (build 73 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. (SyncMaster 226BW(Digital)) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT Wblind.dll 2009/03/24 17:04:20 Wbsrv.dll 2009/03/24 17:04:58 Wbconfig.exe 2009/03/24 17:04:20 Wbload.exe 2009/03/24 17:04:14 Wbhelp.dll 2009/03/24 17:04:07 Wbui.dll 2009/03/24 17:04:05 Tray.dll 2009/03/24 17:04:21 Screen.exe 2009/03/24 17:04:09
Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top

do you have the nview desktop manager on?, if so turn it off

 

updated video drivers?