Display Properties Malfunctioning

  • Thread starter Thread starter Barbara
  • Start date Start date
B

Barbara

I am running XP pro. When I try to open display properties, it flashes on
the screen for a split second and then disappears. However, it does open up
in safe mode. I am pretty sure that it works in safe mode because wallpaper
is disabled. I have found that in normal mode I can open display properties
if delete the Wallpaper value in Hkey_Current_User\Control Panel\Desktop
However, when I go to change anything in the display tab, the window
disappears the moment I click on anything. I am also unable to change the
background color. It stays on grey no matter what color I select. I have
found that if I right-click on an image in Internet explorer and set image as
background, I am able to change the backgroud. However, this recreates the
Wallpaper value and I am once again unable to open display properties. I have
also tried opening the desk.cpl from several different locations on my
computer, all with the same result. I even ran sfc /scannow, so I doubt this
is caused by damage to the applet. I've been working on this for two days
now and am at my wits end. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Barbara
 
I had already tried that using a slighly different method. For grins, I
tried it your way. Windows was unable to automatically reinstall the driver.
Even with the driver, uninstalled, display properties is still malfunction.
I had to re-download and reinstall the driver. No affect.
 
Well, I was scheptical of this idea, but I tried it anyhow because I was
desperate. Guess, what? It worked. Thank you so much to everyone with
your ideas. I was really stumped. I thought I was just going to have to
live with this irritating malfunction. I still don't know which add-on was
causing the problem, because I only re-enabled the ones that I wanted or that
were from Microsoft. This an amazing forum. I will definately come back
here next time I am stuck.
 
Well apparently disabling the internet explorer add-ons was just a
coincidence. I don't know why it started working. I think it had to do with
some windows updates. I did a repair install and some updates and it started
working. Coincidentally, I disabled add-ons. This evening I did some more
updates and it is no longer working. I think maybe one of the new updates
undid whatever was fixed. Either that or it something to do with resetting
the wallpaper using internet explorer. I'm going to try uninstalling recent
updates and see if that helps. Once again, I am frustrated. I already tried
using system restore with no luck. I will keep you posted if I find a
solution. Any other suggestions would be appreciated. --Barbara
 
As I mentioned in another branch of this thread, disabling internet explorer
add-ons didn't actually help. It was coincidence. I did, however finally
find a solution. I will post it as a final reply to "Display Properties
Malfuntioning"
 
PROBLEM SOLVED! After days of struggling with this issue I finally found a
solution. Apparently, when I installed my nVIDIA drivers for my new vidio
card, it added a tab to my display properties. The MSI tab was causing
display properties to malfunction and not open. I went int Windows\system32
and deleted the file name msicpl.dll This fixed it. It got rid of he extra
tab and now display properties works perfectly. If you are having this
problem and you have recently installed software or a utility that adds an
extra tab to display properties, try this solution. Uninstall any software
or utility that may have added the tab. In my case it just happened to be
the MSI tab.
 
Back
Top