sophiesboy

Join Date 01/2005

Why do certain blinds freeze my system?

I was hoping someone might have an idea about this.

Like everyone else, I visit the site and eagerly download new blinds that I think look interesting. My most recent download was JJYing's Arzo blind, which was as stylish as I could hope.

However, I have had to delete the blind as it doesn't work well with my systems.

Specifically, while the blind loads nicely and looks great, I can not switch away from it. If I try to change from Arzo to something else, the system fades to the greyed-out transition screen and then just hangs there, without ever changing over.

After manually powering down and rebooting, the new blind takes over. When frozen in the transistion scren, nothing works, not the start panel, not even ctrl-alt-del.

Below is the system information from Windowblinds.
I am running XP Home 2002 SP2 with a Pentium 4 3.00GHz with 1.5 GB RAM

WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 5 (5.5 (build 92 x86)) (according to SDC this is 5.50.021)
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 RADEON X300 Series

Wblind.dll         2007/02/21 16:06:20
Wbsrv.dll         2007/02/07 18:31:19
Wbconfig.exe         2007/02/15 14:35:52
Wbload.exe         2006/03/13 18:54:14
Wbhelp.dll         2004/09/18 17:37:07
Wbui.dll         2005/12/06 22:29:06
Tray.dll              2006/04/28 19:26:49
Wbload.dll              2005/01/22 19:05:07

My video card only has 128 MB RAM.

This is not the only blind that I have seen this problem with, although I could not name them right now since I have taken to deleting them as soon as I realize there is a problem in an effort to avoid the temptation to apply a good-looking screen that will screw things up.

Doe sthis sound like a problem that would be fixed by upgrading the video card, or is some other fix called for?

windowblinds

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Update to the latest version of WindowBlinds 5.5 using Stardock Central. - https://www.stardock.com/products/sdcentral/

Paste your Sytem Information again after updating.

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Your card is more than ample to run any blind,before upgrading my useless 32mb intergrated graphics which could run them inc ODock tabbed,cursor xp and right click all at the same time then 128 is more than enough,the only time i found it would do as you describe is when other apps were running say like do a defrag,scan for obsolete registry entries and attempt a switch of blinds then seizure would occur strangely enough it will still happen on the odd occasion even with the new AGP 256mb,my belief is it's more to do with available resources at the time of the switch as i also try to make it crash on purpose sometimes it will sometimes it won't i figure a dual core would fix it

Presario S5020AN
2.0 GHz AMD Athlon xp
1gb ram
32mb intergrated upgraded to Asus N7600GS 256MB
HDD 7200rpm

EDIT: Above comment is for xp not vista,if yours is vista your on your own

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As requested - updated to 5.50.023

WindowBlinds version : WindowBlinds 5 (5.5 (build 92 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 RADEON X300 Series

Wblind.dll 2007/02/21 16:06:20
Wbsrv.dll 2007/02/07 18:31:19
Wbconfig.exe 2007/02/15 14:35:52
Wbload.exe 2006/03/13 18:54:14
Wbhelp.dll 2004/09/18 17:37:07
Wbui.dll 2005/12/06 22:29:06
Tray.dll 2006/04/28 19:26:49
Wbload.dll 2005/01/22 19:05:07

I don't see any difference

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I don't see any difference

cuz there isn't any. the files aren't 5.50.023

they should look more like:

Wblind.dll 2007/03/13
Wbsrv.dll 2007/03/13
Wbconfig.exe 2007/03/13
Wbload.exe 2006/03/13
Wbhelp.dll 2004/09/18
Wbui.dll 2005/12/06
Tray.dll 2006/04/28

did you uninstall the other / reboot /update=install / reboot?

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In my brain "Update" means "Update".

When I click the "Update" button in SDC, I assume that the purpose is to download all pertinent new files and delete out all old, out-of-date, no-longer-used files.

From your comment above, am I to infer that this is not in fact the case?

Is it the case, rather, that we have another example of the infamous Stardock alchemist's secret formula approach to working with their products?

In English then, I need to:
1) Uninstall Windowblinds
2) Shut down my computer
3) Reboot my computer
4) Download the latest Windowblinds
5) Install the latest Windowblinds
6) Shut down my computer again
7) Reboot my computer again
8) Pray that this has brought me up to date

Have I missed any of the required steps? If so, please insert them, numbered appropriately, 2b) 5c) or whatever.

And as an aside, what is the point of an update button if it does not in fact update the program? Why not simply call it "Download New Program", provide a new "install.exe" file and provide instructions on the correct procedure to get rid of the old program and install the new one?

Also, if I do not in fact have the correct program, why does SDC indicate that I do have the latest build?

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RomanDA

Join Date 12/2003

+147

Ahh the right steps..

1. Uninstall windows
2. shutdown pc

thats about it

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CerebroJD

Join Date 01/2003

Do you have the 'show beta and prerelease versions' box checked?

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Complete failure at this point after undertaking the uninstall/reinstall regime recommended above -

Uninstalled WB. Shut down. Rebooted.

Went to SDC to try to reinstall WBC.

Got "Downloading WB5.sdc for approximately 45 minutes, with the progress bar cycling endlessly from 0% downloaded to 100% and back again.

Finally canceled the (obviously) ineffective download.

Used System Restore to reset myself back to yesterday morning.

Will now ignore all further updates to the WB program until I buy my next machine and move on to Vista somewhere 12 to 18 months from now.

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vStyler

Join Date 11/2004

+919

Individual user experience may vary.

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I.R. Brainiac

Join Date 05/2003

+281

Didya uninstall WB while it was STILL active.

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What version of SDC are you running? There was a build that didn't work too well.

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After another hour or two of work today, I finally got WB updated to the point where my system information agrees with the listings above.

As near as I can tell, the SDC "Update" function was simply adding new copies of files to the WB folder and not removing old versions.
After unloading and uninstalling WB, I went into the folder under "Program Files" just to see what was still there, and saw things like "Wblind.dll(2), wblind.dll(3) etc., all with different dates associated with the files. I ended up manually deleting out about 15 repetitive files.

I assume that since the underlying program was not calling for files titled "xyz(2)" but rather simply "xyz" the new files were simply never being applied.

After that I went in to download the most recent WB (since SDC seems to be working again), and after download, found that my files and dates matched the listings above.

I cranked up WB and installed and loaded the blind that started me on this quest, JJYing's "Arzo", and proceeded to discover that absolutely nothing had changed. The blind loads as it always has, and then freezes my system if I try to unload it and switch to another blind.

Henceforth I will simply test every blind I download to see if it will unload properly; if not, it will head straight to the trash bin.

I see no other solution.

I also assume that, going forward, anytime SDC offers up a new build, I will have to completely uninstall the program, then manually go in to delete files that the "uninstall" leaves behind before updating the program.

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I.R. Brainiac

Join Date 05/2003

+281

I also assume that, going forward, anytime SDC offers up a new build, I will have to completely uninstall the program, then manually go in to delete files that the "uninstall" leaves behind before updating the program.

No,thats incorrect...that should only be needed when going from the trial version to paid...or if WB is having some kinda meltdown......not when merely updating.

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"Should" being the operative word.

I have been using the "paid" version for more than two years now.

It also seems clear to me that the "update" function does not do what I thought it does, and that the cumulative effect of the function's failure to truly "update" the programming will eventually result in the dreaded "meltdown".

All of that being said, I would still be interested in hearing from anyone who can give me a rationale as to why the blind(s) in question freeze up my system, which, after all, is what started us down this path.

Along those lines:
Re: xscorpx's comments - this freeze up happens with no other programs running (just background processes), CPU processor time at 0%, available RAM at 65% to 70%, etc.

I believe that my chip is a dual chip. At least Samurize indicates I have two processors.

As to scanning registries, not sure what that means, and wouldn't know how to do it.

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The reason for JJYing's Skins causing problems for some people is not known, but it is thought that it might have something to do that they were written on a Chinese system.

It is not the first time that one of his skins causes random errors for a small amount of people, I remember "Azenis" having a similar problem initially (I think it was triggering false-positives from Anti-Virus software).

However, for "Arzo" no simlar errors were reported, and I would suggest to delete the version you have and then redownload "Arzo" again. Maybe you just had a borked download?

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I.R. Brainiac

Join Date 05/2003

+281

I had random freezes but as a skinner we push WB pretty hard sometimes...I unloaded,uninstalled,rebooted,scrubbed the registry and reinstalled,rebooted...

Pain in the ass but no freezes(for now)

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Okay, I'll bite.

That's the second time someone has mentioned scanning/ cleaning/ scrubbing registries.

What's it mean, and how does one do it?

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This program will do the cleaning just be sure to backup the registry when prompted - http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/

A simple search of "registry cleaner" in google would have given several results.

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I.R. Brainiac

Join Date 05/2003

+281

scrubbing means doing a registry search for all keys with the word windowblinds in them and deleting them.

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