Control Panel Not Responding

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jim Yount
  • Start date Start date
J

Jim Yount

I have had this issue on a Sony Vaio dual-core 3Ghz with 1GB RAM, 250GB
drive. Both Beta 2 public release and Build 5456. When I launch Control
Panel it is empty. If I click on the window, then it goes to not responding
forever. Also experiencing multiple issues of Windows Explorer not
responding. The only other software installed is Avast Antivirus software.
 
I used Avast on my laptop last week with build 5456 and it hogged almost
every resource that the system had.

I'd suspect driver issues and vid card issues. Check the manufacturer
(Sony) for Vista drivers - and ensure that your vid card is the equivalent of
an nVidia FX 5200 or higher. If not, you're gonna have problems. My laptop
has "nada" for graphics and it was slow as molassess (but it runs fine on my
home system) - primarily due to the graphics card.

- John
 
Thanks. I narrowed down to the Sigmatel audio driver. Unfortunately, I can'
t find a Vista supported driver for the built-in audio. Of course, Sony said
to contact MS..........
 
My laptop uses Sigmatel, also. When I first installed Vista,
I had no sound. Vista even told me there was an update
available- it did not work either. I went to Gateway's site
and downloaded the last audio installation update they had
for XP. I ran that installation program in Vista- it worked,
I had sound. Vista then let me know that update was available
again. Feeling brave, I tried it. I just knew that, "if it ain't broke
don't fix it", was gonna happen. But, my sound still worked
after the update and sounds great, too.

It is hit and miss on what works and what doesn't work and
the paths folks take to get things working. Some XP installation
routines and drivers work in Vista, some don't. Some of
the installs need to be ran in Compatibility mode, some don't.
For instance, I couldn't get Picassa2 beta to install until I ran
the install in Compatibility mode. Thinking I would also need to
run the actual program in Compatibility mode, I checked that in
the properties of the icon. Well, Vista spazed out a few times
when running it. So, I unchecked the Compatibility mode to see
what would happen- Picassa2 beta works great, now.

One last observation, sometimes when installing a hardware
device the setup.exe won't work. But, using update driver and
pointing it to the location of the files, that seems to work at times
when the installation program won't.

FYI, I didn't use Compatibility mode when I ran the installation program
for my Sigmatel sound. As always, YMMV.


-Michael
 
On my Viao, the original Sony sound card driver works fine. YMMV.

--

Yesterday is a canceled check; tomorrow is a
promissory note; today is the only cash you have.
Spend it wisely.
 
Usama--

To restore your control panel, try clicking this>yes to accept.

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/controlpanelrestrictionrestore.reg

Or if you feel more geeky happy editing the ole reg directly than bop on
down to:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]

"NoControlPanel"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]

"NoControlPanel"=dword:00000000

Also see:






Open your registry and find the key below.
Create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value called
'NoControlPanel' set the value to equal '1' to enable the restriction.

Exit your registry, you may need to restart for the changes to take
effect.





(Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
NoControlPanel REG_DWORD 0x00000001 (1)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\...



Registry Settings
User Key:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer]
System Key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer]
Value Name: NoControlPanel
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)


"One last observation, sometimes when installing a hardwaredevice the
setup.exe won't work. But, using update driver andpointing it to the
location of the files, that seems"


Excellent point by Michael. I've found that you increase chances of getting
a driver in,up and running in Vista builds if you do this vs. any other type
of driver install.

CH
 
I just wanted to state that I'm having the same problem. I install the
driver, either in compatibility mode or not and the driver goes in fine but
from then on the Control Panel hangs Windows Explorer every time. And Windows
Explorer crashing as always been a problem in Windows since 95. I have to go
back to a previous restore point to get my Control Panel working again. So
there seems to be a problem with either the app that the Sigmatel driver is
installing into the Control Panel or the icon is a problem. Is there a way to
edit the control panel without opening it so I can test this. Cause my laptop
without sound is not an option, and not being able to use the control panel
isn't an option either.

TheCool
 
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