Desktop icons rearrange after screen saver with new GPU

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wpcoe

Senior member
Nov 13, 2007
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I've been using the iGPU in the i3-3225 CPU for the past couple years. However, to support a new 4K monitor I recently installed a Gigabyte Radeon R7 360 2GB GDDR5 video card.

It could be a coincidence, but since that time whenever the Win10 (Pro, Version 10.0.10586) screen saver kicks in, the desktop icons are rearranged to the left side of the screen.

I've tried various hacks found on other forums including unchecking "Allow themes to change desktop icons" and deleting Registry keys for GraphicsDrivers\Configuration and letting Windows rebuild the key on reboot. Still getting the icon rearrangement.

I'm not familiar with the settings/options in the AMD Radeon Settings app. Is there something there (or elsewhere) to tweak?

It's really annoying to have to re-create my desktop configuration several times a day.
 
f2bnp

f2bnp

Member
May 25, 2015
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Try the GPU Scaling option, I had a similar issue and I believe it went away when I fiddled with that.
 
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wpcoe

Senior member
Nov 13, 2007
586
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wege12 said:
This happens once in awhile to me as well. I haven't found anything to completely fix the issue. But I recommend you download the app "iconrestorer" in the following link:

http://www.freewarefiles.com/IconRestorer_program_35781.html

It allows you to restore your desktop with one click.
Click to expand...
I'll keep that in mind as a backup. Would rather fix the problem outright rather than band-aid it, but if I have to, I will.
3DVagabond said:
The screensaver might be running at a lower resolution than the desktop.
Click to expand...
Interesting idea, but I wonder why it didn't happen with the Intel iGPU (nor as I'll explain below with HDMI on the discrete GPU)?
_______________________________________

Investigating further, this re-defines the problem:

Firstly, it's not the screen saver, and secondly, it's only when using DisplayPort. (Although it also affects icons on the second non-DP monitor in my dual-monitor configuration.) Using DisplayPort:

If I <win-key+L> to lock the screen here's what happens:

0m:0sec - press <win-key+L> and password screen appears*
0m:55sec - password screen disappears, and blank screen appears (still backlit)
1m:04sec - monitor enters sleep mode

Up until 1m:19sec, I can revive the display (e.g. press <shift key>) and the icons don't rearrange.

On/after 1m:20sec (i.e. >15sec of monitor sleep mode) the icons will rearrange.

Using HDMI, the desktop icons are not rearranged. Only using DisplayPort and it seems to be related to "un-sleeping" the monitor.

So, now the question is: Why do the desktop icons rearrange on the Gigabyte Radeon R7 360 on DisplayPort when the monitor awakes from sleep mode? Is it an AMD issue and/or a Windows issue?
__________________________
* I have the lock screen disabled, so not sure where it might normally appear.
 
Mr Evil

Mr Evil

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Jul 24, 2015
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mrevil.asvachin.com
This is a "feature" of DisplayPort and modern operating systems. When the monitor turns off, the OS helpfully treats it as if it has been disconnected. Not a problem if you have only one monitor, but if you have two or more it's infuriating.
 
f2bnp

f2bnp

Member
May 25, 2015
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I don't think it's a sole issue with DisplayPort. I had a single monitor and DVI and I would get a similar problem with Windows 10. The OS treated the monitor as if it had been disconnected and all the icons got rearranged.
 
D

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
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3DVagabond said:
The screensaver might be running at a lower resolution than the desktop.
Click to expand...

Do check this. I use a KVM switch and sometimes one of the PCs will decide that the monitor has changed when it is powered on but is not the visible PC. It will then change the screen resolution and shuffle / pack the icons. Thankfully it's some specific ordering so after it happens once they stay in the same places.
 
Zstream

Zstream

Diamond Member
Oct 24, 2005
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Some peeps say eset, some say Intel device still in device manager, some say display port.

:/
 
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wpcoe

Senior member
Nov 13, 2007
586
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Interesting feedback. Thanks!

Is there any cure? It's a wee bit annoying to have to re-construct my Windows desktop several times daily.

FYI, I went to the Gigabyte product page for the GPU and downloaded what appeared to be a newer driver, and oy vey, the problems I had then! Had to use Windows System Restore to get rid of it.

One problem that remained after the System Restore is that desktop icons on my non-4k secondary screen are now gigantic whether I drag them from the 4k primary screen or create them on the secondary screen, even though scaling for the secondary screen is set to 100%. Previously, they would snap down to normal size, but now they don't. First World Problem, I know, but still annoying.

Mr Evil said:
This is a "feature" of DisplayPort and modern operating systems. When the monitor turns off, the OS helpfully treats it as if it has been disconnected.
Click to expand...

Can I live in hope that there is some obscure tweak to turn off this feature?

Just noticed this anomaly from the "AMD Radeon Settings" app:

Code: 
Graphics Card Manufacturer - Powered by AMD
Graphics Chipset - AMD Radeon (TM) R7 360 Series
Device ID - 665F
Vendor ID - 1002
SubSystem ID - 22B9
SubSystem Vendor ID - 1458
Revision ID - 81
[B]Bus Type - PCI Express 3.0
Current Bus Settings - PCI Express 2.0 x16[/B]
BIOS Version - 015.049.000.007
BIOS Part Number - xxx-xxx-xxx
BIOS Date - 2015/09/25 00:01
Memory Size - 2048 MB
Memory Type - GDDR5
Memory Clock - 1625 MHz
Core Clock - 1200 MHz
Total Memory Bandwidth - 104 GByte/s

The motherboard definitely has PCIe3.0. Why does it show "PCI Express 2.0 x16"?
 
M

Mercennarius

Senior member
Oct 28, 2015
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This happens to me often, especially when I run an app/game that is not in my native resolution (4K). Annoying...but you get used to it.
 
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wpcoe

Senior member
Nov 13, 2007
586
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While I have no idea what a "simulated" monitor is, I blindly trusted the recommendation and changed my settings to 3840x2160 in both the "00" keys and rebooted. Desktop still re-arranges the desktop icons. :(

[edited to add:]

Did lots of experiments with the settings in the Registry keys mentioned in that answers.microsoft.com link, including deleting all the entries subordinate to the GraphicsDrivers\Configuration key (except AdditionalModelLists which cannot be deleted.) The Simulated monitor configuration has not returned yet even after many reboots. So with only *one* entry under Configuration the desktop icons still rearrange after monitor returns from power-off state.
 
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ElFenix

ElFenix

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Mar 20, 2000
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wpcoe

Senior member
Nov 13, 2007
586
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@ElFenix: Are you using DisplayPort?

On my system the icon rearranging madness only happens on the DisplayPort. Not on HDMI or DVI.
 
Golgatha

Golgatha

Lifer
Jul 18, 2003
12,651
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I had this happen to me with nVidia cards. Disabling the Intel iGPU in UEFI solved it for me. I was using HDMI through a surround sound receiver.
 
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wpcoe

Senior member
Nov 13, 2007
586
2
81
Even though my system has an AMD video card, I thought I'd try: disabled the iGPU and rebooted. Same problem: desktop icons rearrange after monitor returns from power-off state.

Thanks for the idea, though. It was worth a shot.
 
ZGR

ZGR

Platinum Member
Oct 26, 2012
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Instead of going to Gigabyte for drivers, have you tried AMD's recent releases?

How many icons are we talking here? If your desktop is crammed with icons, try cleaning it up so only 1/4 of one screen has icons and see if the problem persists.
 
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wpcoe

Senior member
Nov 13, 2007
586
2
81
I've currently got seven icons on my primary screen and five on my second screen.

Even if I put a vertical row of four starting in the upper left corner, followed by a vertical row of three, they get rearranged to a single column on the left.

I did some more research and now understand the (Microsoft?) concept of a "simulated monitor" for use when a monitor is powered off, but after having deleted it and all the other monitor configurations from the Registry, Windows has yet to recreate a new Registry key for a simulated monitor.

The baffling thing (to me) is that this desktop rearranging only happens on my system on DisplayPort.
 
ElFenix

ElFenix

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Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
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wpcoe said:
@ElFenix: Are you using DisplayPort?

On my system the icon rearranging madness only happens on the DisplayPort. Not on HDMI or DVI.
Click to expand...
Yep, display port. Did not happen on a 2560x1440 screen using display port. I don't currently have anything that supports 4k over HDMI so I haven't tried that.

Iirc, It did it every time when I had a software dummy monitor for exposing the Intel GPU. At that time I assumed windows was changing to the software dummy as the primary display. Getting rid of it changed the behavior to only some of the time, and messing with the registry changed it to rarely. But it still happens. Running an r9 290 with recent drivers.


Edit: I haven't tried disabling the Intel GPU in eufi

Edit 2: also on 4k over dp it moves any partially off screen window to fully on screen. Also it never does the window resizing if I have video playing with the monitor off
 
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