Black desktop icons

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I have recently switched over to Win 7 64-bit but it seems this problem can affect Vista and XP users as well, in the last few days a large number of my dektop icons have turned black, I can get them back to normal (at least temporarily) by switching to high-colour (16 bit) [screenshot in link below]

http://vvcap.net/db/0ZsV3TSvF2LXSePscjcM.htp

however I hope a more satisfactory solution can be found, I did update the GeForce GT 230M driver but it has made no difference.

Thanks for any advice

Graham

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It sounds as if either your graphics card itself – or the drivers for your graphics card – are up to the demand of your system.

Have you tried visiting the site of your graphics card maker – or OEM or Windows Update depending on the circumstances – to see whether you’ve got the correct drivers onboard?

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As I said in my original post I have updated the driver, I did this by going to the manufacturer’s site and using automatic detection, the laptop (HP Pavilion dv7) is only a few weeks old and I would be surprised if it wasn’t up to the task, however here are the details:

Display adapter type NVIDIA GeForce GT 230M
Total available graphics memory 2811 MB
Dedicated graphics memory 1024 MB
Dedicated system memory 0 MB
Shared system memory 1787 MB
Display adapter driver version 8.17.11.9562
Primary monitor resolution 1600×900
Secondary monitor resolution 1680×1050
DirectX version DirectX 10

Thanks

Graham

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DirectX version DirectX 10

The only thing that jumped out at me, and I may be wrong on this, but the MS site says DirectX 11. Care to check and see if that might be the problem?

[indent]Microsoft DirectX[/indent]

Edited to add: Sheesh, forgetfullness! I forgot to say that mine is DirectX 11 and I installed Win 7 Pro a couple of months ago, BUT not 64-bit.

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DirectX 10 seems to be correct for the graphics card in question. Anyway I eventually found this:

http://exinor.wordpress.com/2007/07/07/black-desktop-icons-resolved/

The hard thing was booting in safe mode because F8 did nothing, in the end I pressed F5 and once inside I was invited to press F8 to enter safe mode, this worked. After shutting down again and rebooting normally the icons are back to normal (at least for now).

Graham

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DirectX 10 seems to be correct for the graphics card in question. Anyway I eventually found this:

http://exinor.wordpress.com/2007/07/07/black-desktop-icons-resolved/

The hard thing was booting in safe mode because F8 did nothing, in the end I pressed F5 and once inside I was invited to press F8 to enter safe mode, this worked. After shutting down again and rebooting normally the icons are back to normal (at least for now).

Graham

Still curous
How did you get Directx 10 installed? Win 7 comes with Direct11 by default.

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Still curous
How did you get Directx 10 installed? Win 7 comes with Direct11 by default.

As I understand it the OP posted the specifications for the GeForce GT 230M GPU and the laptop; that is, the hardware.

Yes, Windows 7 includes DirectX 11, but the basic system requirements for the GPU are: DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver; so, the GeForce GT 230M GPU should be fine with Win7.

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AFAIK DirectX 10 was installed by the laptop manufacturer and according to specs at the NVIDIA website the graphics card in question uses this version. I don’t ever remember seeing any message saying I could update to DirectX 11, however if it’s possible I’m willing to try as I spoke too soon, I’ve just booted again and guess what?, the black icons are back

Graham

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AFAIK DirectX 10 was installed by the laptop manufacturer and according to specs at the NVIDIA website the graphics card in question uses this version. I don’t ever remember seeing any message saying I could update to DirectX 11, however if it’s possible I’m willing to try as I spoke too soon, I’ve just booted again and guess what?, the black icons are back

Do you have a backup plan in place, such as a disk imaging program? I think if it were me, I WOULD download a copy of DX 11 but I wouldn’t want to try installing it without a good backup on an external drive prior to doing so…

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AFAIK DirectX 10 was installed by the laptop manufacturer and according to specs at the NVIDIA website the graphics card in question uses this version.

It can work with DirectX 9. 10 or 11, whatever, but it doesn’t support features more than ver. 10.

Have you checked what you have installed? Run “dxdiag”.

I don’t ever remember seeing any message saying I could update to DirectX 11, however if it’s possible I’m willing to try … [snip]

AFAIK DirectX 11 isn’t available as a standalone download for Windows 7; it’s included.

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Thanks Argus, I ran dxdiag and indeed it says that version 11 is installed.

Graham

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Thanks Argus, I ran dxdiag and indeed it says that version 11 is installed.

Graham

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Thanks Argus, I ran dxdiag and indeed it says that version 11 is installed.

Graham

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Thanks Argus, I ran dxdiag and indeed it says that version 11 is installed.

Graham

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Thanks Argus, I ran dxdiag and indeed it says that version 11 is installed.

Graham

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Thanks Argus, I ran dxdiag and indeed it says that version 11 is installed.

Graham

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Thanks Argus, I ran dxdiag and indeed it says that version 11 is installed.

Graham

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Thanks Argus, I ran dxdiag and indeed it says that version 11 is installed.

Graham

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Having read another thread recently it would appear my continuing problem is due to removing the arrows from the shortcut icons, trouble is I can’t remember what I did to remove them in the first place. I saw several different tips for a registry edit but after inspection they did not appear relevant and/or correct so, in a nutshell, what is the registry key that needs editing and how?

Thanks

Graham

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Hi Graham,

Check out this thread from Windows Seven Forums. This outlines two methods for removing and restoring the shortcut arrow on icons in Windows 7.

Hope this helps.

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Thanks very much Gerald, I installed Ultimate Windows Tweaker V2 and followed the advice in the thread, ticking the remove arrows box even though they were in theory already removed.

Anyway I’ve rebooted 3 times and so far no black icons so maybe the problem is properly fixed this time, I’ll let you know if they do come back.

regards

Graham

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My I suggest Windows Ultimate Tweaker? It gives you the option to remove the shortcut arrow without you having to go in and play with the registry. Plus it has lots of option that you can easily change back and and forth with.

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