Display problems w/ RetroExpress

[martyb]

I've run into a display problem with RetroExpress.exe which I've been unable to solve.

 

I've looked through the forums and found this:

http://forums.dantz.com/showpost.php?post/94784/

 

which is very similar to what I'm running into,

but it has no replies, so I'm trying to provide some additional info.

 

(I apologize for the formatting; I wrote this up

as plain text in EMACS but cut/paste into this

forum caused all indentations to be lost. :/ )

 

PROBLEM SUMMARY:

The "border" is black (instead of red and gray) and hides all buttons.

 

 

PROBLEM CONCERN:

Just because the backup *seems* to work, I am concerned that if the display

is corrupted, that it may be only a matter of time before my data is also

corrupted.

 

In other words, I CANNOT TRUST MY BACKUP.

 

 

PROBLEM DETAILS:

A.) The text within the border is okay. I.e., this text appears just fine:

 

Welcome to Retrospect Express HD for the Maxtor OneTouch

 

Retrospect Express HD will back up selected files on Local Disk (C:) to Maxtor

One-Touch 300GB 001 (D:) on demand. Click Setup to make changes.

 

__Back_up_now__

 

509 restore points available.

 

Automatic Backup is off.

 

 

 

 

B.) What I *cannot* see at first are the following:

a.) Buttons in upper right-hand corner:

[?] [_] [-] [x]

which would be for help, minimize, maximize,

and close, respectively

 

b.) Logo and buttons at the bottom:

 

[backup by Dantz logo] Retrospect Express HD

 

and then to the right of this there should be:

 

[setup] [Restore] Automatic [On][Off]

Backup

 

 

 

C.) If I wave my mouse over the *buttons*, then they do

repaint and become visible, but the border and

logo all remain completely black.

 

 

 

SOLUTION ATTEMPTS:

 

A.) I tried uninstalling and reinstalling RE HD; saw no improvement.

 

B.) I tried rebooting countless times. (Including power off, remove battery, and waiting an hour) No change.

 

C.) I removed all seemingly related items in the

c:\Windws\prefetch

directory by renaming to *.fp instead of *.pf and

saw no change.

 

D.) I searched through the registry to see if there were any

RE HD parameter(s) I could tweak to repair the display,

but I could find nothing.

 

E.) BUT... I did discover a utility called WindowHide which might provide

a clue to what is going on; it can be found at:

http://www.steve.org.uk/Software/windowhide/

 

1.) I configured WindowHide to show all columns.

 

2.) I then located RE HD in the list:

State: Visible

Title: Retrospect Express HD

Class Name: WindowsDorms10.Window.8.app5

X co-ord: 194

Y co-ord: 0

Width: 680

Height: 340

 

3.) I right-clicked on it and saw a menu display with these choices:

Show

Hide

Toggle

------

Customize

 

4.) I clicked on "Hide".

 

5.) The RetroExpress window disappears from view.

 

6.) I right-clicked on RE HD again.

 

7.) I clicked on "Show".

 

8.) I saw RE HD appear, briefly, with the black background.

 

9.) It then repainted its display and now it LOOKS okay,

but it is only effective for this windows session...

 

10.) When I reboot, it returns to the black background.

 

 

 

SYSTEM DETAILS:

 

1.) I'm running Win/XP SP2 Home Edition with all the latest patches applied.

2.) RetroExpress.exe version: 1.0.196.0 (came with a Maxtor OneTouch II 300GB HD)

3.) I've tried uninstall/reinstall w/ no luck.

4.) It had worked fine since I got it back in October of 2005 up until a couple

months ago.

5.) System:

HP Pavilion zv6130us

AMD Athlon64 @ 2GHz

Display:

Gateway FPD2485W monitor

Resolution:

1920x1200 @ 32bpp

Video:

ATI Radeon Xpress 200M

6.) Disk Space:

C: 80 GB (30 GB Free)

D: 300 GB (82 GB Free)

 

Can anyone shed some light on what is going on and what i can do to fix this?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mayoff]

You are running a very old version of Express HD. Have you tried updating to the 1.1 or 2.0 versions?

[IanHamilton]

 

 

You are running a very old version of Express HD. Have you tried updating to the 1.1 or 2.0 versions?

 

It is strange that many people in this forum have complained about the GUI refreshing (with the latest version) so to suggest that updating will fix the problem is perhaps a little misleading.

 

I have found that the problem can be reduced by using the troubleshooting tab of the display properties and reducing the video acceleration.

[martyb]

You are running a very old version of Express HD. Have you tried updating to the 1.1 or 2.0 versions?

 

Hi Robin and thanks for the prompt reply!

 

No, I have not tried an upgrade... I was hoping that rather than poke at it this way and that to see if *maybe* *THAT* fixed it, there was a more deterministic approach.

 

Also, in retrospect (no pun intended) I realize it was not RE HD that I had reinstalled but a different (and unrelated) product instead. So I'm still running with my original install of RE HD.

 

Questions:

• Where does RE HD get its screen config info? (File? Registry? Where???)
   
  
• Why would it work fine for so long, and then start acting up? (windows update?)
  

 

Further, in reading through some other postings in this forum, I recall seeing painting issues mentioned with later versions of the product.

 

I'd like to keep the number of debugging variables to a minimum, so could we please try and find out what's going on, first, before playing whack-a-mole debugging.

 

Or, can you ASSURE ME that these are ONLY COSMETIC issues in the display and that my backups and restores are at no risk at all as a result of it?

 

If so, I can live with the screen artifacts. But, if there's any doubt at all, then I do want to get to the bottom of this. I'd be happy to post log files, registry exports, whatever, to help in identifying and isolating this problem.

 

Thanks again for your prompt response to my initial query and follow-up on this one.

 

- martyb

[joe78]

I have the same problem. All files that I have restored have been fine.

 

Toshiba M70 laptop Win XP SP2, all critical updates, Retrospect Express HD 1.1.127, Maxtor 1 touch 200gb hd.

 

It only happens on my pc when I have an external monitor attached and have the pc configured for "Extended Desktop" as opposed to duplicate desktop. It happens every time I start Retrospect Express when the pc is configured that way. If I minimize the Retrospect window (after hunting for the 'minimize' button) and then restore the window, the graphics are fine.

 

When it first started happening (been going on for almost 2 years), tech support suggested new video driver or reinstalling video driver. That didn't change anything.

 

I live with it.