Fences causes shut down and/or difficulty coming back from sleep/hibernation

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Not sure if its Fences that causing the issue. Just to be sure, please try purge and reinstall steps as mention here : [Link]. Just make sure to redownload the latest version from your account page. Reboot after the purge. Reinstall and reboot again after the installation. Retest and report back here.

Thank you,
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

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Support: please read!
background: Sr Software Engineer, windows certified

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Not exactly the same, but could be related.

With fences running

- 4 Monitors set to sleep after 5 minutes ...  works perfectly during the day., of course I am using the computer every couple of hours
---- System NEVER sleeps, only monitors!

- Overnight is different, now monitors are going to sleep for several hours.

When I check the system in the morning, 
- all backgrounds and icons, including fences, are gone
- puts it in the default color of grey
- no left or right mouse operation
- luckily keyboard still works
--- press ctrl+alt+del which semi-resets the desktop, but not enough to bring back mouse events
---  while in that screen, I select the task manager, then search for "explorer.exe"
--- restart the process

Now everything is back to normal for the day.  

- Of course tried rebooting previously, then that night the same thing happens again
===================================================================

After checking my system end-to-end it appears Fences is being suspended when monitors are sleeping for extended period of time
- Win11 ... since Fences is too quiet, I am assuming that it is being suspended
-- not easy to check

- I increased the process priority on "Explorer.exe" to HIGH
--- now desktop in the morning is ok
----BUT -> within seconds, goes back to original problem.

Ahh ha moment..  is Fences trying to recover from being suspended?
I am suspecting "Fences" is the issue, along with difficult to change, Win11-24H2, background app settings, how to stop an app from being suspended!

Next steps tracked it down to a possible Fences issue.
-- to night I am going to quit the fences app before turning in for the night. 
-- check to see if my desktop is stable in the morning

This will determine if it is indeed Fences or something else on my system.

I will update this thread with my discoveries.

It does sound similar to what I've been experiencing (although lately it doesn't seem to be happening). Please let us know. 👍

Hello each CleverFox, jeygez,

A few diagnostics steps please if we could

1. Enable Advanced Debug Logging. You can find this option under the Troubleshooting link menu on the About tab. Reboot. (Or just log off and on)

2. Reproduce issue.

3. Right after reproducing issue, head back to Troubleshooting link and choose “Create Error Package”. It’ll walk you through uploading it to us.

Thank you!

Support,

Thanks for the information.  

Status: 
- by uninstalling 'Fences 5' from 'Win11-24H2' the issue went away.
- I have now re-installed will follow your instructions " Advanced Debug Logging"

FYI:  may I suggest you provide steps to get to the "TroubleShooting" link

I checked everything and found it in the "About" box.  Actually, I missed it the first time.

Since I just re-installed and applied my saved backup.  I figured I would let it run all day and night, since as stated the issue only shows up overnight.

Tom

Hi Tom sorry for the lack of clarity there.

Sounds good and looking forward to seeing the log!

Issue happened on schedule, over night.

Uploaded 'Fences Issue Report'

Tom

Hey Tom. Interesting things I am seeing in your report – thank you for sharing. Specifically: I'm seeing a WM_DISPLAYCHANGE message be sent repetitively (as in sometimes multiple times per second), and reporting back different results each time. It seems like one of the displays is coming in and out in and out, which would present a big problem for the system.

I made a patch to help take a next step – it has some additional debug output, and a couple experiments to see if it helps. Once again, run the patch, then run until issue is reproduced then upload another log package please & thank you. The patch will apply immediately – no need to reboot. Though you may need to shift+rclick desktop or open Fences settings to get it to start back up. Be sure to click yes to "Restart explorer?" You'll be able to verify you're on the right version from the about box – the patch will bring you to "5.88 (Revision 2)"

This may take several cycles to figure out, and it almost seems system related more than Fences – but I'd like to get to the bottom of this.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/nrnroy36fmp33nvwsihga/UpdatePatcher_Debug_2025_01_19__10_06_54_pm.exe?rlkey=fild2nxcentrys0cdz4uf1n2c&dl=0

Thank you!

Dr W,

Thanks, I need to chase down which monitor is changing resolution. 

At this point I apologize for the time you spent putting together the "diag util" patch.  

The monitors do randomly reset during the day, but always come back, I just let it go, as I did not want to spend money, so this needs to be investigated first.

I need to write a small util to see which monitor is unhappy, to be honest, the monitors are quite old, with 2 being over 8 years, which makes the drivers suspect.  

I may not be able to resolve the monitor randomly dropping since there are no recent driver updates

It will be some days as I will be writing a "util" to see if I can figure out which monitor is losing resolution!

Tom

System
=====
Dell 3910 Ram: 64 gig
Storage: 2T across two M.2's
GPU1: Intel UHD 730 (Onboard)
GPU2: Nvidia GeForce GT 1030
Four monitors 
    1 - 27" AOC 1080p (8+ years old)
    1 - 27" Acer 1080p (8+ years old) 
    1 - 27" Philips 1080p (6+ years old) - Touch Screen
    1 - 30" Fiodio AF11F (4+ Years old) Gaming Monitor
                 Width: 2560, Height:1080 

I wrote a C# console app to monitor resolution change event, sure enough the AOC2752, is disconnecting then reconnecting, so the resolution change event maybe the result of windows seeing 3 instead of 4 monitors, then 4 again.  If this makes sense.

The did test the app I wrote by changing resolution in the 'Display settings".

Right now, I am updating my system drivers, for MB & GPUs and BIOS firmware.  

The monitor is connected to the Intel 730 GPU onboard MB etc.

I will keep you posted.

Tom

This will make you chuckle. 

BIOS - needs updating, security exploits
Both GPU need updating
Intel MB needs to be updated.

Hopefully I will not lose my system.  Well meaning have to reinstall the OS and all apps, ugh!

I am on my notebook, right now, while the updates are being applied.

I am really really cautious putting the GPU driver updates on first before I mess with the MB. 

Hopefully the drivers have been Win11-24H2 vetted

Oh wow! Ha. Ok. One drive update at a time! Ha.

Noted – so you too are seeing (independent from Fences) that that AOC monitor is coming and going. So, that confirms that.

What is surprising is this is the second report I've gotten of this this week, but have otherwise never heard of this before. This makes me wonder if a Windows update made this occur. Because that type of disconnect/reconnect would absolutely trash the operating system, so, should be handled at the OS layer. Faulty hardware should not cause a system to lock up and die. The monitor should just not work. Etc etc.

So yeah curious to see what you find.

What specific winver build are you running btw?

All updates went on fine, well so far no issues.

Will be running the Resolution Monitor App I wrote and see if the updates resolved the issue.  

Even though I bought the AOC2752 in 2016, the last driver is 2011.  

I let you know.

Question- when this is happening, do you see the AOC monitor turning on and off etc on repeat while the other monitors stay on, or kinda what's going on with that monitor?

Sounds like the system itself is unresponsive, but yeah, what's happening with that monitor? Does it just stay on and keep the same imagery or does it still have an image even when your Resolution Monitor App was saying "monitor is gone". (Or does it never turn on at all.)

Such a strange situation.

This is a classic Windows 'rabbit hole'!

It is what 'Dr W' mentioned above, " I'm seeing a WM_DISPLAYCHANGE message be sent repetitively (as in sometimes multiple times per second), and reporting back different results each time."

The key is "per second".  After writing both C# then C++ a "WMI Event Watch" logger and using the WMI DisplayChangeEvent, the event bus is very unstable.  No difference in C++ quick test, few lines of code, to see if the properties would show up.  Stayed with the detailed C#-Logger I wrote.

Missing Property
===========
What was strange was the " (ManagementBaseObject)e.NewEvent["TargetInstance"];" "e" being "EventArrivedEventArgs e" is missing the "TargetInstance" property detail.   Almost like a phantom event is firing which impacts 

The internals of MS and the Windows 10 base core, sitting under the Windows 11 patches, seems like a mess.  Sure would not want to be on that C++ team maintaining those DLLs  !

What a Mess -> WMI DisplayChangeEvent  (my speculation)
========================================
The first the two event types are firing almost constantly after the monitors goes to sleep.  "The key is the "Monitor Sleep" impact." Its like the "monitor sleep" forgot to tell the parent that it was taking a nap, so the parent gets in a frenzy trying to communicate to the monitor that is sleeping, thus not responding.

Event Type 1 - WM_DISPLAYCHANGE (Resolution or Color Depth Change): This event occurs when the screen resolution or color depth is changed. It may happen when the display settings are modified, such as through the display control panel or by a program requesting changes to the display settings.

Event Type 2 - WM_DISPLAYCHANGE (Display Mode Change): This event type refers to when the display mode is changed, such as switching between fullscreen and windowed modes in applications (e.g., games or video players). The resolution or color depth might stay the same, but the display mode itself changes.

Eventually the parent thinks the monitor has died, but it takes hours of monitor sleep!  So the system, disconnects it, which in turn the monitor, revives in milli-seconds, starting the process again.   During this the monitor seems to stay asleep as it happens so fast.  This has happened during use "Question- when this is happening, do you see the AOC monitor turning on and off" all monitors would temp reset.

Event Type 3 - WM_DISPLAYCHANGE (Display Device Add/Remove): This event indicates that a display device (monitor) has been added or removed, which might occur when plugging in or unplugging a monitor or connecting to an external display. It can also include events like display device driver changes.

========================

Back to simple hardware swapping, I swapped both the cables and ports going to the one of the other monitors, the Acer, and see what happens.  Still seem a huge volume of events.   Powered off the AOC, nothing changed, except now showing only 3 displays.  OK.  Continued this by powering off the Acer, strange still showed 3 monitors.  I had to unplug the cable from the monitor for the system to stop detecting it.   Yea go figure.

Back to KISS, allowed Fences to run "enabled" overnight with the "AOC" connected using a different cable and port.

In the morning, Fences had no problem, even though the three monitors went to sleep.

Reconnected cable and powered "Acer" in the morning.  No issues.

3-year old "stack overflow" which shows an under lying problem with the events in Win10 ghosts or phantoms.  No answers, just interesting.
Can't figure out what program is triggering a Windows display change event

Could be bad cable or MB port .  Either way, "complex rabbit hole".

I am not confident that even re-installing windows using a different M.2, I do not have time to reinstall, will see the problem go away.

Oh, I also moved the 3 monitors to "Generic PNP" driver only leaving the Philips Touch screen on the mfg driver.  

============
Will leave this as is overnight with all 4 monitors connected, but AOC is using a diff cable and port and see if "Fences" is stable.   Getting out of the rabbit hole.

Finally, I do not believe that "Fences" has a problem and is only showing a symptom of Windows OS madness.  Let me know if you want me to continue giving you details or not, as I do not want to waste your time.  I can give you short yes no answers.

Tom

The details are good, keep em coming!

This is the second time I've heard of this problem, so this is something we have to deal with even if it's not Fences' fault. Learning more about the problem is useful.

This other user likewise solved by switching from their integrated to nvidia graphics card. https://forums.stardock.com/533077/get;3957644

Dr W,

Problem is solved; fences is working 24 hours without issues.   

Got lost in the noise, log files, and ran down the rabbit hole but had to climb out to solve the problem.

Series of Events
======================
- Since I was already experiencing random resets a couple of days, not consistent, then your report showed just how bad the
'OS->GPU->Monitors' communication was it made sense to pursue writing a utility, besides what you had offered, which I never used.

- After updating the system as I mentioned, I relied on the utility to check the system for events
   - It showed all of those constant firing events etc...
   - I assumed that the AOC monitor was still broken, since it was that one dropping in/out, but it was hard to catch it doing it, besides your report.  I did see it happen a couple of times in the log file.

- Then swapped the cable & port to see if the problem followed it.
- Still had excessive events with missing data
- Found that "stack overflow" article mentioning 
   -- phantom events causing VMWare to crash forcing a restart, similar to 'Fences' hooked into 'Explorer', needing to be restarted

NEVER CHECKED - to see if the issue had been resolved!  Assumed due to the log, as shown below, there was still an issue.

Nothing was broken
==============
- Just needed to update the GPU drivers
- AOC
  -- Problem with the monitor went away

- Acer
   -- no problems working with different cable and port, still using Intel onboard GPU

Red Hearing - Noise (made me run down the rabbit hole)
======================================
• Yes - the system is working at least for now, no issues running Fences, no resets
• Yes - the events are still firing behind the scenes
Check this out..

1/22/2025 13:17:22: Monitor (Change Event) Logger Started
DeviceName: #1: Fiodio AF11F , Width: 2560, Height: 1080, Primary: False
DeviceName: #2: Philips 242B9, Width: 1920, Height: 1080, Primary: True
DeviceName: #3: AOC 2752H    , Width: 1920, Height: 1080, Primary: False
DeviceName: #4: Acer G276HL  , Width: 1920, Height: 1080, Primary: False

Approximately 5 minutes after running the logger, events started to fire. 
The monitor-sleep actually did not have a chance to happen, which is set to 5 minutes

The OS->GPU->Monitor sleep is causing the events.  
- as I speculated, the OS has lost communication to the monitor or GPU port, can't tell as stated

[Event] Device change event at 1/22/2025 13:23:28, EventType: 1
[Event] Device change event at 1/22/2025 13:23:28, EventType: 3
A device has been removed. Checking for monitor disconnection... EventType: 3

Currently connected monitors:
Monitor DeviceID: DISPLAY\AOC2752\4&36BF8516&0&UID49
Monitor DeviceID: DISPLAY\PHL0931\5&23F867F3&0&UID4354
Monitor DeviceID: DISPLAY\LHC2900\5&23F867F3&0&UID4352
Monitor DeviceID: DISPLAY\ACR0300\4&36BF8516&0&UID4147

[Event] Device change event at 1/22/2025 13:23:28, EventType: 3

A device has been removed. Checking for monitor disconnection... EventType: 3

Currently connected monitors:
Monitor DeviceID: DISPLAY\AOC2752\4&36BF8516&0&UID49
Monitor DeviceID: DISPLAY\PHL0931\5&23F867F3&0&UID4354
Monitor DeviceID: DISPLAY\LHC2900\5&23F867F3&0&UID4352
Monitor DeviceID: DISPLAY\ACR0300\4&36BF8516&0&UID4147
... on & on

♦ As stated the TargetInstance source is missing... strange

Hope this helps.  

I'll let you know if the 'Fences - needing to be restarted' issues comes to back to life.

Tom

Good to know ty! Keep us updated should anything change.