Language bar/text services disappeared after 4/13 update

  • Thread starter Thread starter basscadet75
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basscadet75

This is a pretty serious bug, and it's definitely a bug.

My wife is bilingual English/Japanese and she uses the language bar
frequently to switch between the two to keep in touch with friends and
family in Japan. On 4/13, a Vista update was installed automatically
that somehow wiped out her language bar. The bar itself no longer
appeared and her keyboard shortcut to switch languages no longer
worked. She just couldn't type in Japanese anymore.

We checked the language settings and Japanese was still set, as were
all the language bar settings. However, changing any setting and then
clicking "apply" and/or "ok" did nothing. We would click into the
language settings again afterward and everything would be as it was
before we made the changes. The settings were "frozen".

I scouted around the net and found some references to the task
scheduler, so I checked that and sure enough, there were errors in the
text services task starting on 4/13 just after the update installed.
After that, there were errors every time anyone would attempt to log
on - it just couldn't run anymore. Task manager reported the task as
running, however, and it couldn't be stopped. I tried disabling it
and then rebooting to see if I could then re-enable it and run it, but
while I was able to disable and re-enable it, running it then
generated the same error.

One person I saw on the net said to then check the registry to look
for invalid keys for running tasks that weren't actually running and
delete them, and that that should solve the problem. Unfortunately, I
found no such invalid keys - all my running tasks matched up properly
to the tasks in task scheduler (or maybe vice versa; anyway, it was as
it was supposed to be).

I finally rolled back her computer to before that 4/13 update using
system restore. That has fixed the problem, again pointing to that
update being the culprit. That's as far as I feel comfortable in
going with it, and now she can use her computer again. But she can't
download any updates manually (since we don't really know which one it
was) and I've had to turn automatic updating off.

I doubt there's any more that I can really do, but I thought if MS
reads this board, someone should know about it. Also curious to see
if anyone else has run into this problem since 4/13. Seems like
there's a bad update out there that needs to be pulled down and fixed.

- Jeff
 
Sorry, but I meant to say also that I'm really not sure if there's an
"official" way to report bugs like this (other than the automatic bug
reporting tool in windows, which didn't run because nothing actually
crashed)... if there is, let me know and I'll report it that way.

- Jeff
 
Hi Jeff,

I am sure there is a way to report a problem.

It is better if you have a Windows Live Mail (web based email) account. It
is free. It is possible to contact them, and it is not that difficult. You
will have to navigate to "contact us" or similar. Obviously it is not the
right department but they will, I hope, resend your message to the right
people and give you feedback. The Windows Mail dept is in the UK. I once
emailed to them. This way you will have a paper trails with some email
addresses to count on.

Another option is to go to Welcome Center Page and click "Sign up for online
Technical support." I tried to do it on your behalf but it is a maze of many
options, I could not quickly find anything pertinent and gave up. Likewise
you may send your email to the wrong people asking them to redirect it. They
definitely have the MS departmental directory.

Once I did some Vista stuff and was offered a chance to do a survey, I did
and after that I was given a window to send them feedback. All I did was to
say that I liked the OS and wished them all well. I don't quite remember how
that window came up and even if it was related to the survey or not. When
you spend pretty much 10 hours a day on the computer such things do not
leave much trace.

In the end I want to paste a post here. It is not Japanese but Chinese
related. A fellow Chinese Vista user posted it in this NG and I copied it
into my DB. There was another occasion when a Japanese person asked some
similar questions and I pasted that message. All I know he said: thank you
but there was no feedback. So, it is a limited liability suggestion. I know
neither Japanese nor Chinese but I wish I knew both.

For everyone out there who wants to type Chinese in simplified and
traditional script.

If you downloaded the packs, you click Control Panel>Keyboards and
Languages>Change keyboards>Installed Services.

Click on the Add button:go find Language >Chinese PRC>keyboard>Show
More>Chinese (Simplified) Microsoft Pinyin IME>Chinese (Traditional) - US
keyboard>OK>Apply and finished.

And it works, if you click in the language toolbar Chinese PRC, the menu
will
show a button with Character set in which you can tick for Simplified,
Traditional and Extended Character Set.

????! <<== there were pretty Chinese characters in here that the plain
text cannot reproduce, of course.

????,????

Mandarina
 
Since this is fairly vital to you and others with that need, I suggest a bit
more detective work. Set autoupdate to download but Not install all critical
updates. After you have them all, note the item that lets you review
updates.
The thing you want to do is select one update, and test. After you go thru
the list, and have identified the update you don't want, there is an option
to not ask you again about installing that one.
If you prefer, of course, you could just leave on the manual install setting
for that moment when a new version was available. You get to free support
sessions with your new Vista install. You might consider this important
enough to ask MS for help. As important as this one is, I don't doubt they
would do a 'hotfix' for you and others .

Select the product that your question or problem relates to.
http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?gprid=11732

--
Was this helpful? Then click the Ratings button. Voting helps the web
interface.
http://www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales/help/help_en-us.htm#RateAPost

Mark L. Ferguson

..
 
Since this is fairly vital to you and others with that need, I suggest a bit
more detective work. Set autoupdate to download but Not install all critical
updates. After you have them all, note the item that lets you review
updates.
The thing you want to do is select one update, and test. After you go thru
the list, and have identified the update you don't want, there is an option
to not ask you again about installing that one.
If you prefer, of course, you could just leave on the manual install setting
for that moment when a new version was available. You get to free support
sessions with your newVistainstall. You might consider this important
enough to ask MS for help. As important as this one is, I don't doubt they
would do a 'hotfix' for you and others .
Click to expand...

How do I even access one of these support sessions? Sorry if I've
gone past the point of even trying to contact MS about anything - I've
been a Windows user for enough years now that I don't even think about
how to contact them through the OS anymore. Is there an actual option
to do this in Vista? (Like I said, it's my wife's machine so I'm not
too familiar with it - I still have XP on mine, and I'm actually on a
Mac right now. But she's one of those types that has to rely on me
for all tech support, so I need to fix this even though I don't really
know how either.)

I will try updating one at a time this weekend and see if I can find
the specific update that causes the problem. Seems like it's one of
those things that's going to take a while to figure out, so I don't
think I can do it until then. At that point, I guess I will try to
contact MS once I figure out which update is the culprit.

Thanks for the help.

- Jeff
 
i have the same problem.. occurring around the same time (mid-february)
i've spoken with HP support only to have them diagnose it as a configuration
problem. they were about to transfer my call to another help department for
$60 but i declined the invitation >_<

i'm not able to perform a system restore as i can only go as far back as
april 1.

does anyone know if there's been any new updates that might fix this bug?
 
I have exactly the same problem, except my language is chinese and not
japanese in your case. I'm not lucky enough as you do because I haven't had
time to create restore points before this problem occurred. I just got a new
machine and make the updates automatically, and I's not aware it is possible
to create restore points!

My machine is Vist Home Premium. I'm already crazy with this because I tried
hundred times without success! Maybe my solution is to install some special
chinese language input method - there are some out there really.

br: sun
 
You can remove many updates without using System Restore. In the Add or
Remove Programs screen in Control Panel there should be a check box to "Show
Updates". Not all updates can be removed though.

I have been using Language Bar without problems, but only with European
languages.

Good luck,

Earle
 
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