SOLUTION for Black Screen Flash After Windows Loads

Just a quick update, as mentioned the XP issue is not related to the Vista issue. For me, my fix for to go to msconfig and disable igfxtray and igfxpers from startup, the two intel graphics utility. My laptop is a Dell D630 with the onboard intel x3100. Drivers are the latest from Dell. I did wipe and reload my laptop. Prior to the wipe, I did not see the flash at startup. Not sure why it flash after the reload... but all good now

 

Thanks for the fix!

 

I have an X3100 too. Interesting...

 

Half way there - this resolved the annoying flash on startup, but I still get three rapid flashes on shutdown that is rather disconcerting and engenders looks of disapproval from people when they see this happen. I saw an earlier post with one other person here who had this problem - did I read correctly that it is normal and we should just live with this? Im guessing if you can get rid of it on startup there must be some other conflict that is working on shutdown and it is just a matter of figuring it out. I'd be SO happy if anyone tracked down a fix for this, because it is by far the most irritating thing in the world when you get a new $3g laptop and have to suffer the indignity of looking like it's going to crash at any moment.

Oh, and did I mention just how LAME vista is? ;-)

 

oh my gosh, thank you very much for this tip. this flashing problem has been driving me crazy and now all seems to be good!

 

Glad to know you solved the problem on XP systems. I'll add it to the OP.

 

I have HP DV2550SE. I followed your step but it didn't work for me. The black screen became brown screen and it still took me 2 minutes to start up.

 

This hasn't fixed the black screen for me, but it sure has lowered the amount of time it appears so i will give you props for that. Thanks man.

 

UPDATE: I have worked up a little script to complete this for you. Check the OP.

 

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

I just figured I had to live with this forever. I lock my PC a lot, so this is absolutely great.

 

I've tried doing this in Vista premium but no luck. Oddly enough this wasn't really a problem until the automatic updates installed a GMA driver update last week. It used to be just a quick flash immediately, but now a second or 2 into the login the screen goes black for a solid second and a half. I'm weary to rollback since last time I messed with the GMA drivers I had to exchange my laptop.

 

Thanks a great deal NinjaNoodles! I have finally managed to solve the irritating problem that have been bothering me. I spent so much time scanning my laptop etc and searching for help online until i found your post. I was so worried, thinking of what i had done to make my pc behave in that way... Now i can finally rest easy.. hehe..

 

Hi. I have the same problem and i have disabled "tmm" but is not working for me my screen still flashes 3x every single time i unlock my computer/startup. My laptop is brand new, under a week old and it's driving me crazy. So any ideas? I have vista premium

 

you are great! thank you for this post! it worked for me too! (HP Pavilion with Home Premium) repup2U

 

sometimes it is not enough to 'disable' TMM in the scheduler - it is still working in the background somewhere (??) - so first you have to stop it (turn off) and than disable. check again if the status of TMM in the scheduler is 'disabled' for good. for me it worked fine.

 

Ok It worked!!! I disabled tmm then rebooted now it's gone for good. What a relief. You would think microsoft would publicize this but then again it's microsoft you can't ask questions. Thanks ninjanoodles and mxw.

 

The reason they don't publish this, is that the thing you just disabled has a very good reason to exist. If you left it in place, it would help when you connect and disconnect an external display. One of the major annoyances in using an external display, is that if you drag an application to the second display and then latter restart your machine without that second display and open the app again, it will be invisible. The app tries to open on the second display and it can be rather tough to get it back on the primary screen. The thing you just disabled will watch for that to happen and it will automatically restore the app to the primary display if the external display is not present.

That's why some of us who periodically use secondary displays or projectors, leave this alone and put up with the really minor annoyance of the screen blink.

Gary

 

What I meant was that if you searched in the help files of microsoft for "screen flashes" etc.. they should tell you that this option is available. Right now if you looked for searched for "screen flashing" you won't find anything related to tmm (except for this hit that I finally found) So I'm saying that microsoft should publish a report detailing this info. and let you know what will be affected if you disable tmm. I don't deny that there is a good reason for tmm but it should be explained.

 

First of all, I'd click some kinda +rep icon if it exists, since it's definitely a great tip that does indeed solve the problem. By the way, selecting "disable" only solves the problem if you reboot. To solve it immediately, you'll need to click "end" just before you disable it (the option to end the task disappears if it has been disabled, even though the task is still running).

To those who argue that this task is not Microsoft's fault since the work it performs are appreciated by those with more than one monitor: you have a point, but what about those who have never plugged in a 2nd monitor? The trigger for this service should never have been enabled until the first time an external monitor is plugged into the laptop.

Hell, if they were smart, they'd make the service detect (a) whether the monitor states have changed since it last ran, and (b) whether any apps are off-screen. If not, exit silently. Why black-flash for no reason!? *smacks the MS coder*.

Anyways, kudos again Ninja. Appreciate your efforts (and even went through and changed a bunch of scheduled tasks from trigger-startup to trigger-idle 2hrs+ Yay for faster startup times!).

- g.

EDIT: ok, found the rep button. +1 for you.

 

Hi Everyone. I am a new member here. I found this site and thread through Google, and it worked perfect.

Finally, the blinking screen is fixed.

I can't thank you enough.

 

Cheers, had to do it manually as the file didn't work for me.

 

Thanks for posting this, I have this problem!! It doesn't bother me too much, as it's only for about half a second right after start up, but still.. If I use your fix, will I no longer be able to connect the laptop to my TV?

 

Nice one, it works

As for connecting it to tv, i have to press Fn+F7 to display the picture on my tv through hdmi instead of it recognizing it automatically, but its better than that flash everytime you start/login.
so thanks

 

Just remember that after you apply that tweak it is possible to "orphan" an application to your second monitor. If you drag an app to the second monitor and then close the app, the next time you open the app it will go to the second monitor, even if that monitor is not there or deactivated via the Fn+F7 key. You need to reactivate the second monitor and drag the app back to your primary monitor manually.

Without the tweak this all happens automatically, with the side effect of the momentary black screen flash.

Gary

 

I read through the entire thread and nothing worked. My user is using XP Pro and has a HP NC6400 laptop and a docking station. She uses a montor connected with a digital cable to the docking station. The monitor is used as a extended desktop. The laptop LCD is her main screen.When she logs into Windows both the laptop screen and monitor flash. When she gets back from more than a 15 minute break and her screen saver comes on and she has to log into Windows again both screens flash. She has a ATI Mobility Radeon X1300. Please, if anyone could help I would appreciate it. If you need more info let me. Thanks.

 

I've been having this same problem with my new Dell Inspiron 1720 from the Dell Outlet. I was like, "Oh, great, my new lappy is screwed up already! Should've bought it new after all, DARNIT!" I am SO GLAD that it's not just my computer. I've applied the fix but haven't tested it out yet. But thanks for this anyway!

For the record, I searched for "Dell Vista flashing".

 

Thank you! I too thought my brand new laptop was defective.


On Google, my search was "Vaio screen flashes black after start up"
This site came up first.

 

Make sure you understand the downside of making this change, if you decide to do so.

The reason it blinks is because of an app that runs to help you when enabling an external monitor or projector and then again when disconnecting it. The app will automatically reposition any open apps to the laptop after the external device is connected. There are more details about this in the thread.

Gary

 

I have a SZ780 and it flashes when shutting down on both the external monitor running from the dock and without. Would be nice to find a solution to make it stop. Perhaps need to update the video driver. Got my computer from P1 with clean install three weeks ago. Good thing is when computer is undocked and redocked, it remembers its external monitor settings and its back to normal. I use external monitor 90% of the time and only use laptop screen when traveling or at the book store or client's office. Performed all the Vista tweaks as noted by Les (Flameko) and it works fine. Also performed some tweaks on IE7 with no issues.

 

I both tried the manual and the download file method, but still it flashes well it is only a few seconds delay.

 

good tip..
tanx

 

Please Please Please Help me somone!!!!!!

Ive read this whole forum on the black screen flash .. but is confusing .. half of u seem to be talking about vista, the other half i dunno,... its confusing and i still cant see a "end soulution"

basicly i am running xp on a hp compaq dx2200 .. with an onboard ati raedon xpress 200



everytime i load windows the screen flickers black for a sec.. somtimes it flashes more than once... its driving me nuts, im almost at the point of selling the pc on its that annoying... im using this pc as a media box on a 50inch hd tv, so u can imagine how irrratating a black screen flashing is like on such a big screen..


Can somone please tell me how to stop this dam black screen flashing...
i need somone to give me a basic step by step guide on how to do this.. im am no pc expert, and dont understand things like ppl have already quoated as soulution on this forum... please i really need help on this asap

xp pro sp2 - hp compaq dx2200 - ati readon express 200

 

its for Vista, this method worked for me before. The latest vista updates fixes it now though

Have you tried this?

 

Actually some Laptops just can't stop windows Black screen Flash(mine does not)

I already tried the Task Scheduler Method and The download .zip file method.

If there is another method please tell me.

 

HI
I am using windows XP on my T61 laptop. Even after running this zip file, the problem is still there. Can some body suggest, what could be the problem. I see few members mentioning that, the problem is gone for them. Anybody tried on T61 with XP ?

 

i've just followed the instructions from the first post - i have no idea if it's worked cos of two things: firstly, i'm not even sure if i have this problem lol - i seem to recall some flashes but it's not annoying per se. secondly, i haven't rebooted! just thought i'd disable it anyway as i rarely use a second display.

oh, and to bump this!

ninjanoodles - in reply to one of your posts on the first page, you know there are ways to enable dreamscene even on home premium i'm sure you know this already being a notebook guru so-to-speak!

 

The solution of this problem for XP is simple on my T61, as commented by Ariakas in same line of this post. Use a startup manager to turn off igfxtray and igfxpers, and then restart your computer. Because igfxtray and igfxpers don't get loaded then, there is no interference and the black screen flash simply disappears.

 

OK, but at what cost? What do these to tasks enable on the machine that will now no longer work? For the Vista version of this "tweak" you loose the ability for Vista to automatically move open windows back to the main screen when you turn off an external screen or projector. A VERY hand feature for those of us who regularly use external screens and projectors.

Gary

 

I had the annoying black flash on Windows XP with ATI Catalyst drivers installed. I finally got rid of it when I changed the option in the Catalyst Control Center (CCC) under Display Options from the default "Detect whenever Catalyst Control Center is opened" to "Use manual detection only". This step could be sufficient to do the trick. If not, I also did a couple of things before that.

Prior to that, I stopped and disabled all CCC services (ATI HotKey poller and ATI Smart through msconfig), turned off Hotkeys (in CCC button Hotkeys, uncheck) and disabled System Tray Menu (in CCC, button Preferences, uncheck Enable System Tray Menu). They seem pretty useless to me.

Now the only time the screen flashes is when I open the CCC, but that's ok, because I don't have to do that often.

 

Thanks a lot for this I do have to say fantastic information!
(Sometimes my screen turned black, then it didn't..)

I found a way of keping the process.

If you tell it to load the task at startup, the screen will turn on/off during the startup mode, when you hardly notice it as its black anyway (unless you look at it)

It may slow down you start-up though..

 

i have vista premium on my inspiron 1520 with 8600m gt and latest 175.97 graphics drivers from dell and have this problem. i did exactly what your directions said and it didn't work. i then ran the exe you provided, and it still doesn't work. the screen still flashes black on boot. any help???

 

Thanks.it works perfectly for me.But i think this tip was mentioned by Les on the tweaks threat as point 1.

 

yeah it was... but didn't you notice he thanked and repped NinjaNoodles?

 

Thanks, this problem had me considering a new computer! You saved me some cash.

 

I have a sort of similar problem. I tried your suggestion above however, and it did not work, but this may be because my problem is different!

I bought my laptop no more than 3 days ago, and already it's playing up. It runs fine early on, I sign in etc and the welcome sign appears with the circle. The light in this circle is moving so indicates a loading phase is actually happening! However, after approx 30 secs the screen goes black, with a backlight, and the mouse arrow cursor is in the middle of the screen. This happens around 6 out of 7 times, and is very irratating as wastes much of my time turning on, off, logging in etc.

Thanks.

james.

 

A SOLUTION I FOUND:
If disabling Tmm did not work for You!

here is the solution:

I disabled the "igfxpers.exe" service using Msconfig
This is part of the graphics driver.

This solved the problem on a Lenovo laptop using Intel graphics.
I have no idea what this service does, but I do not believe it is essential,
nevertheless, do this at your own risk !!

 

Let's see, you have no idea what the service does, but you don't think it is essential? Don't you think it might be a good idea to investigate this BEFORE you post it as a solution?

Gary

 

And it's not JUST an Nvidia item. It appears for other video cards as well. It is essential to proper resolution detection and setting for external displays.

Gary

 

hi did not work checked it at logon still before 2 black flashes now only 1 flash and still opens computer by it's self any idea sorting this