nVidia Graphic Mode icon won't stay in Notification area

Hi all,

I'm obviously new here...i've been looking for an answer to a small issue that is kinda drivin me nuts. Let me say that i'm very competent with computers (I run a support/it department), so feel free to hit me back technically, and was just lookin to see if anyone else had seen this issue or had a pointer (can't find anything after a rather long web search).

My System is an Alienware M17x (got it in late Nov). It's running Win7 64 and has a 9400m as well as SLI 260Ms.

Description of Issue:
nVidia Graphics Mode button will not remain in the notification area after a reboot, log-off, or restart of explorer.exe despite my setting it to always show.

I've gone to customize and set the icon to "Show icon and notification" When I reboot, log-off or restart Explorer.exe it will always revert to the "only show notification" state.

Some troubleshooting.

*I've checked the policy editor trying the various states of the "Turn off Notification Clean up" setting.

*I've updated the nVidia Drivers thinking maybe it was a tweaky nvidia software issue (version 195.62), no help.

*Tried to find any registry value that may be related to the state of that icon (can't find one), can't seem to find one as a brute force search or web search.

*Searched the web for any mention of someone else with this problem. Nothing directly related.

*In the notification area control panel I've tested the following: Restoring Default Behaviors (nothing), Checking the "Always show icons and...". In this mode restarting will actually leave the icons properly showing (as well as all others).

*To follow the last I've tried making changes like setting the "Always show all..." saving, rebooting and setting the setting back (in case there is a bug that requires some figiting to get). Also no help.

*I've tried deleting cached settings at this reg location: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify] (I exported the key first so I could replace).

It's not a huge deal it's more of my white whale now. It doesn't cause any performance problem. It's just annoying. I seem to be the only person having this which tells me it should be fixable (or maybe nobody else actually wants the icon showing). I do actually travel for work with this thing (I know it's big) so I would like to be able readily see the mode the GFX cards are in as I do run without the brick somtimes.

My gut check...it just feels like a permission thing...or that the setting isn't getting saved. Because when i set the setting it will show in the tray, but when I logout, reboot, restart explorer is when it goes away. So...it just feels like whatever mechanism "saves" that state..is just not working.

Anyways..if anyone has any ideas or other questions...just let me know.

J

 

Is the description blank? I had this happen on a driver install; the icon description was blank and would never show on boot/reboot. How I resolved my problem was to uninstall the drivers completely even using CClean/Drivesweeper.
Rebooted and disabled the 9400 in bios, proceeded to install the drivers(195.62) once everything was installed and Sli enabled. Rebooted and then enabled the 9400.

It booted and installed the 9400, the icon showed up right away and I set it to display in the tray all the time no problem.

Hope this helps you.

 

GadgetBoi,

Thanks for the response. Yeah, the description is, in fact blank. Though I did create a new user account and tried the admin user account (both had an actual description, nVidia helper something). And it wouldn't stick there either.

But I see where you're going and I will give your suggestion a try. I am wondering what it is about the 9400 that would cause an issue?

Thanks so much for the help.

J

 

I followed all the steps, but unfortunately it didn't work. Everything reinstalled fine. Unfortunately when I set the nVidia icon to "always show icon and notifications" it will do so, but only until I reboot. I "rehides" itself after a reboot.

Actually...now I am looking closer the other icons seem to do the same thing. But thanks for the suggestion.

 

Sorry that didn't work for you, the NVIDIA icon is the only one I have ever had any issue with. Are other descriptions missing too or is just the icon staying in the taskbar?

 

Scimitar19, If you ever figure this out please post your solution. This bugs me too.

 

Just following up on this. I still can't get this to work right. I've tried everything short of a fresh install. I mean it definately seems like a software bug, but not everyone seems to have it. I keep hoping maybe a SP will come out and fix it.

Any other icon, other than the Default ones (volume, power, wifi) will not stay.

When I go to customize and change the drop down. Click okay. It will stay until I reboot or logout. Once I do that, the dropdowns change back and the icons are again hidden.

Bugs me greatly (mostly because I can't figure it out), but not the end of the world.