Playing cards flashing in Microsoft games

[Ed Cryer]

I'm not sure why it would only be the MS games. The only thing I can
come up with (and mind you, this is a pretty big stretch) is that there
was some relation between the KB API and the selection API in the games.
Maybe because they're both Microsoft games? Got me; I'm not that good of
a programmer (besides, I'm sure it wasn't written in Basic );
assembly language was never my forte'.

The solution 'resolved' my situation, and it may 'solve' someone else's
similar problem, or, it 'solved' my problem, and may 'resolve' someone
else's also?

To quote from
http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/3330-solve-vs-resolve.html

"Both words have meanings that overlap and those that don't. The word
"solve" is confined to "finding a solution". One can solve a problem,
but one can also solve a puzzle, solve a mathematics equation, etc. One
does not usually resolve puzzles or equations. One can also resolve a
problem. This can mean finding a solution, but it usually extends beyond
that -- to making the problem go away. "
"But to my best knowledge, to resolve also means to find a satisfactory
solution to a problem."

You've certainly earned that success. You tried everything going. The
effort you put into all that deserves full applause.
I was about to suggest restoring the image (after taking one of the
current position), and if it went away then we could rule out hardware
issues.

This one has an extremely high weirdo factor. But I wonder if it is
unique because I found this in a Google search;
http://tinyurl.com/dxjl48w
"rubeckf" seems to have the same phenomenon.

Ed

 

[SC Tom]

Just saw it, glad you got it!


I was grasping too... I didn't see it on your list so I figured it
couldn't hurt. ;-)

That was in one of the later replies. We were thinking along the same lines,
I think

 

[SC Tom]

You've certainly earned that success. You tried everything going. The
effort you put into all that deserves full applause.
I was about to suggest restoring the image (after taking one of the
current position), and if it went away then we could rule out hardware
issues.

This one has an extremely high weirdo factor. But I wonder if it is unique
because I found this in a Google search;
http://tinyurl.com/dxjl48w
"rubeckf" seems to have the same phenomenon.

Thanks! Unfortunately, I think an image restoration would have shortly
started doing the same thing. The one thing I still don't understand is why
I wasn't seeing this earlier; it's not like I installed the new UPS and
software and the problem started. It's been a good month since I did that.
Maybe it was in conjunction with a MS security update or something, I don't
know.

Google missed that one. I found all the Answers forums ones, along with
other Win7 user sites, but it didn't show that one from TechNet was near the
top, I guess. I also posted on Answers, but the only reply was one
suggesting I do a couple of items that I already had listed as tried. I got
much better suggestions from this newsgroup; I still wish (along with many
other users) that Microsoft hadn't abandoned the groups, and went to the
forum format.

I posted a reply to "rubeckf" with a link to the video so he can see if
that's the same as his, and to my post in the Answers forum, where I also
posted the solution.

Thanks for your support!

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I can open Options using F5, but I can't select anything since it won't
'settle' on any item. I tried tabbing between each and using the space bar
to try and select something randomly, but I'm obviously not quick enough to
do it. So, the answer is "I don't know."

Try using keyboard shortcuts (if available) instead of mouse clicks to
see if that helps you navigate.

It might be hard to see them with all that flashing, but it seems worth
trying.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I fired up my Windows 7 laptop, and ran the Solitaire on there,
and the card "highlighting" is what makes the outer edge of the
card flash. So the effect you see, is what happens when a card
is selected. The game thinks the mouse cursor is sliding over the
stacks of cards, at high speed. (Yet, in your video, it's pretty
obvious the mouse cursor *isn't* flying around. It's just the input
events the program is getting, that make it think so.)

That's what I think too.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

and plugged the KB into the hub. Worked great, no problems, no
more error messages from the UPS.

Thanks for telling us, and thanks for adding your post to the forum that
Ed Cryer mentioned. Let's hope that solves the problem for that person
(oops - I mean 'resolves').

I quoted just the one line above, because I also had troubles using a
mouse and a keyboard that were plugged into a hub together. I should
have thought of that, since the behavior was similar.

But in my case it only happened when I pressed F8 on windows boot to get
into the boot screen. The cursor flew through the menu at high speed,
and I would click a few times, hoping to get Safe Mode or whatever, but
usually failing.

I learned to plug the devices into real ports when I planned to press
F8, but I often forgot...

Anyway, I now have a matched KB and mouse connecting wirelessly to a
single USB dongle. Happier am I.

 

[...winston]

Great troubleshooting. Well done.
Thanks for the follow-up.

--
....winston
msft mvp mail


"SC Tom" wrote in message
Let me go back a few years. . .
A long time ago, I bought an Xbox360 controller for my PC (running XP at the
time). Every time I plugged it in, my sound would mess up; it would sound
like someone had slashed the speaker, like a Jimi Hendrix fuzzbox. At first,
I thought it might have been a driver conflict, but I figured out that the
controller was drawing almost 500mA of current from my USB bus, and that was
dragging the whole system down; hence the problem with my USB sound card
(device?). To solve that problem, I bought a powered hub to use for the
controller and any other USB devices, leaving the sound plugged directly
into the back of the MB. Worked like a champ throughout my XP years and
right into installing Win7 a couple of months ago on this machine.

About the same time that I installed Win7, my old UPS gave up the ghost
(battery died, and so did the charging circuit- I now have a spare battery
in the closet), so I bought a new one. It uses a USB port for the interface
with the computer for notifications, shutdown on power loss, etc. I plugged
it into the hub, and it would work fine for a while, then display "Lost
connection with UPS." I didn't have any spare ports on the MB, so I
unplugged my Sidewinder X4 keyboard from the MB, plugged the UPS USB cable
into there, and plugged the KB into the hub. Worked great, no problems, no
more error messages from the UPS.

Then this started with the MS games. After all the other things I had
already tried, I decided to uninstall both IntelliType and IntelliPoint and
see if either of them might be the culprit (after reading Paul's post).
Didn't make any difference (I had already tried rebooting without the KB
plugged in). Then I figured I'd plug in my PS/2 keyboard and mouse,
unplugging my USB KB and mouse dongle. Hallelujah, it worked! As I was
swapping all this around, I remembered the problem that I had with the UPS
program, and thought "Duh!" So I shut it down, plugged the mouse and KB into
MB ports (disabled the UPS notification program for now), booted up, and
everything worked as it should. I still hadn't re-installed the Intelli-
programs, so I installed them one at a time, rebooting and testing between
installations. It all is still working, except the UPS software since I
don't have a MB port for it. No biggie, though- I rarely leave my PC on when
I'm gone from the house, and I've got enough sense to turn it off if there's
no power.

I want to thank everyone for their suggestions and ideas, especially Ed from
talking me out of reimaging my drive, since I would have had the same
problem again eventually. I still don't know why the problem didn't manifest
itself immediately; maybe it was triggered by a new update or something (I
haven't installed any new hardware or software since the UPS program). But
at this point, don't know, don't care. I'm just happy that everything's as
it should be. It's not that being without Solitaire would be an
earth-sending event, but I'm sure some of you other OC geeks know where I'm
coming from

Thanks again to all!

 

[SC Tom]

Thanks for telling us, and thanks for adding your post to the forum that
Ed Cryer mentioned. Let's hope that solves the problem for that person
(oops - I mean 'resolves').

I quoted just the one line above, because I also had troubles using a
mouse and a keyboard that were plugged into a hub together. I should
have thought of that, since the behavior was similar.

But in my case it only happened when I pressed F8 on windows boot to get
into the boot screen. The cursor flew through the menu at high speed,
and I would click a few times, hoping to get Safe Mode or whatever, but
usually failing.

I learned to plug the devices into real ports when I planned to press
F8, but I often forgot...

Anyway, I now have a matched KB and mouse connecting wirelessly to a
single USB dongle. Happier am I.

The weird thing was (well, one weird thing) that only the KB was plugged
into the hub (not a wireless KB). The mouse dongle was plugged into the MB.

Do you like the wireless KB? Did you get one of the MS Desktop sets?

Solves, resolves, tom-a-to, tom-ah-to

 

[SC Tom]

Thanks! I'm just glad I got it fixed; I hate little nagging things like that
;-)

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

The weird thing was (well, one weird thing) that only the KB was plugged
into the hub (not a wireless KB). The mouse dongle was plugged into the MB.

Do you like the wireless KB? Did you get one of the MS Desktop sets?

Solves, resolves, tom-a-to, tom-ah-to

1. Hubs can be problematic in various situations, even powered ones, and
not just HID devices. Anyway, my problem KB/mouse were wired. Actually,
I tried a couple with the hub, including a KB with a built-in hub. Same
problem.

Maybe it was the computer, not the devices. I can't be sure, since I
don't have the computer anymore.

2. My current problem free wireless set are Logitech. The KB is K520 &
the mouse is M310. I got them on sale, but they weren't all that
expensive anyway, maybe $US40. They were packaged as a set.

I don't like MS mice. For me, they always seem to stick rather than
slide. Also, some of them lack detents on the scroll wheel, and others
have weak detents, which also bugs me.

 

[Kathy Z]

Thank you! I've been having this problem on and off for a long time. Reading this thread solved my problem. I keep an xbox controller connected to my PC for rare usage in some games. After using it, I would toss it on a shelf where sometimes a button would be continually pressed. I removed the controller and no more flashing.

 

[Michael Mullen]

I had exactly the same issue with solitaire in Win 7 64 bit. What worked for me was to open up the screen resolution from right clicking the desktop and downgrading the resolution from the default 1980 X 1080 to 1280 X 720 (I think it is 720). Apply the lower resolution and test solitaire for screen flashes upon mouse clicks. For me there were no screen flashes. Finally I reset the screen resolution to the 9180X1080 and solitaire was fine.
I hope this helps someone and yes I tried a multitude of "more drastic" steps prior to stumbling onto to this solution.

 

[robt1226]

Win7 HP SP1 32-bit, Asus M4N68T-M V2 MB, 4GB RAM, 465GB SATA-II HDD (415GB
free), Nvidia GT 240 video card w/ latest driver.

Recently (within the last 2 or 3 days; I'm not exactly sure), my cards in
Solitaire, Spider Solitaire, FreeCell, and the tiles in Mahjong Titans have
been flashing, like the cursor is rapidly passing over each card. The only
way to start a new game is to press F2 and then Enter; the mouse won't allow
me to pick anything from the menus since they just flash like the cards do.

Some of the things I've tried in order to resolve this issue are:
Scanned for malware (MalwareBytes, SuperAntiSpyware, and MSE) - each came
back clean
Ran SFC /SCANNOW - no problems found
Restored back to July 5th - no joy there either
Clean boot - no joy
Safe Mode (with and without Networking) - no joy
Uninstalled my video driver and tried the standard Microsoft VGA driver -
made no difference
Replaced my wireless mouse with a PS/2 one - no change
Rebooted without my Microsoft KB - no change
Turned off Windows Aero - no change
Removing and reinstalling the games through Windows Features - made no
difference I realize that doesn't truly uninstall it)
I even tried copying the folders from my other Win7 machine, and that didn't
work either.

I have other non-Microsoft card games that work just fine, and no other
non-Microsoft game is affected at all. I just tested Chess Titans to what it
does, and it's screwed up, too. I can't select any piece other than the
left-most pawn.

I have a system image from July 4th, which I think is going to be my only
resort to fixing this. If anyone has any suggestions other than that, I'm
open to suggestions.
TIA!!
--
SC Tom

 

[robt1226]

Thank you! I've been having this problem on and off for a long time. Reading this thread solved my problem. I keep an xbox controller connected to my PC for rare usage in some games. After using it, I would toss it on a shelf where sometimes a button would be continually pressed. I removed the controller and no more flashing.

Had the same problem,tried everything,nothing worked.I then put my old video card back in and guess what, the problem was fixed. My guess is your video card is going bad too.