Aero... it has stopped working

[destrekor]

There have been a few problems recently, connected or not I will leave them out of this.
But recently I performed an in-place upgrade of Vista Ultimate x64, as a repair install.

Following that, I also just recently installed a new video card, the GTX 285. My system also consists of a C2D and 4gb of ram. Plenty enough to run Aero right? I would agree, as I had lesser specs than that and ran it flawlessly, and Windows recognized the system as capable.

Now, I don't know why, but Aero is gone. All of it. No transparency, no Aero Glass, no Flip3D, notta. I've ran the Performance tool to update the Windows Experience Index quite a few times, restarted, everything.
I've stopped and restarted the UXSMS service, as I've seen instructed on a few other forums.
I reinstalled DirectX 10, I've uninstalled Daemon Tools (was having problems in that, and at that time Aero was still functioning. The next day it was not, and I was hoping it was because there was a software conflict somewhere caused by Daemon Tools. Alas, it was not it.

Everything I currently have installed and running, used to cause no conflicts with Aero.
I cannot even enable the features in the "Advanced System Settings" area of the System Properties screen... but I have a slew of options definitely missing. Nothing Aero related, nothing even transparency related.

Any ideas?

 

[techmanc]

Do have the latest graphic drivers from NVIDIA installed?

 

[TheoPetro]

same thing happened to me about a month ago. It said that aero couldnt run anymore and it went to w/e the basic windows GUI looks like. I tried to turn it back on under preferences but the aero option isnt even there anymore.

 

[techmanc]

Maybe this will help.................


AERO SUDDENLY DISAPPEARED
http://forums.techarena.in/vista-help/892962.htm

 

[destrekor]

No go.

I've installed the latest nVidia drivers, as simply part of my upgrading to my new video card.
So then I upgraded to the latest Beta drivers to see if there is any change, and nothing... still in this ugly ass UI.

I've replaced DLLs, stopped and restarted a few services... nothing. All services that were supposed to be running were running before I made any changes. So nothing outwardly obvious and easy fix.

Other than seeing that "Aero" is listed as a file when I browse to Windows/Resources/Themes, there is not a single indication that Aero even exists if I look anywhere in the various control panels. This is pissing me off because I feel like its slowing down my UI as well. Strange that the UI that requires more system resources feels snappier.

 

[Hacp]

Stop pirating windows.

 

[sswingle]

Originally posted by: Hacp
Stop pirating windows.

Who says that he is?

 

[bruceb]

Edited to remove info about wrong drivers

Try this fix instead

Try replacing these 3 dll files

themeui.dll
uxtheme.dll
shsvcs.dll

with your originals from the OS cd

 

[techmanc]

bruceb How would using ATI graphic drivers help a NVIDIA GTX 285 or am I missing something?

 

[bruceb]

Oops .. Thought he had the ATI .. edited above.

Do you this program installed:

Symantec pcAnywhere V12.1, which is supposedly Vista Certified.
If so try uninstalling it. Some people have said it interferes with Aero

 

[destrekor]

No, I do not have any software installed that has been suggested to cause problems.

 

[techmanc]

You may need to try another repair install or a full reinstall to get it to work If you have a spare hard drive I would swap drives and test the full install on it.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: bruceb
Edited to remove info about wrong drivers

Try this fix instead

Try replacing these 3 dll files

themeui.dll
uxtheme.dll
shsvcs.dll

with your originals from the OS cd

Where would they be found on the OS dvd? I'm not finding them anywhere...

I've replaced them recently, but the replacements basically caused absolutely no UI to load, a bunch of errors when trying to access them. I found that strange as they matched the other dlls. So I took ones that had been renamed with a secondary extension from some program modding them most likely, but nothing changed either. At least the UI and everything loads without errors. Just no Aero.

 

[techmanc]

run cmd from the run dialog box. to check for system file errors
then type sfc /scannow to check for system file errors

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: techmanc
run cmd from the run dialog box. to check for system file errors
then type sfc /scannow to check for system file errors

Hmm. Said it found errors, and I searched the log it produced and it stated and found and restored the three DLLs in question. I rebooted, re-ran the system performance tool, and tried to get Aero back into play and still nothing. This is perplexing.

 

[techmanc]

You may need to do something to trigger Areo maybe uninstall/reinstall chipset and video drivers then try Performance tool to update the Windows Experience and see if it help restore function.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

It might have to do with your recent graphics card update. You may want to try downloading and installing this:

http://phyxion.net/Driver-Swee...er-200-Beta-2-released

Uninstall the nvidia graphics driver, boot into Safe Mode, run XDC Driver Sweeper in admin mode, let it clean out all the old driver cruft, then reboot and reinstall the nvidia driver of your choice (182.06 WHQL was recently released).

Might not fix your problem but won't hurt to try.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
It might have to do with your recent graphics card update. You may want to try downloading and installing this:

http://phyxion.net/Driver-Swee...er-200-Beta-2-released

Uninstall the nvidia graphics driver, boot into Safe Mode, run XDC Driver Sweeper in admin mode, let it clean out all the old driver cruft, then reboot and reinstall the nvidia driver of your choice (182.06 WHQL was recently released).

Might not fix your problem but won't hurt to try.

bummer. no go.

thanks for the suggestions so far everyone. sadly my system just seems to be playing tough to fix.

 

[techmanc]

Why I recommended uninstalling chipset drivers as well you get more initializing of the hardware. Of course it may not work either.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: techmanc
Why I recommended uninstalling chipset drivers as well you get more initializing of the hardware. Of course it may not work either.

Well I didn't "uninstall" the chipset driver, but I installed the latest release from Intel. I did that but hadn't updated here.... and then today I tried the driver sweeper.

 

[techmanc]

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: techmanc
Why I recommended uninstalling chipset drivers as well you get more initializing of the hardware. Of course it may not work either.

Well I didn't "uninstall" the chipset driver, but I installed the latest release from Intel. I did that but hadn't updated here.... and then today I tried the driver sweeper.

Well dealing with nvidia products I know the proper upgrade procedure is to uninstall the old drivers/reboot install new drivers/reboot. Do the Intel drivers require simular procedure or can you just install new drivers without the removal process?

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: techmanc

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: techmanc
Why I recommended uninstalling chipset drivers as well you get more initializing of the hardware. Of course it may not work either.

Well I didn't "uninstall" the chipset driver, but I installed the latest release from Intel. I did that but hadn't updated here.... and then today I tried the driver sweeper.

Well dealing with nvidia products I know the proper upgrade procedure is to uninstall the old drivers/reboot install new drivers/reboot. Do the Intel drivers require simular procedure or can you just install new drivers without the removal process?

Not sure, I rarely deal with chipset drivers.

I went to install, I don't remember it ever doing an "uninstall" process, and it never suggested a reboot. I rebooted regardless, then re-ran the performance test.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Have you tried revalidating the copy of Vista? It's possible that during the upgrade process a problem was caused where Vista no longer thinks it's validated. When that's the case it will no longer run Aero. MS put this in place to prevent piracy of Vista.

 

[destrekor]

hmmmm...