Aero disappeared!

I have had a bunch of problems ever since SP1 appeared and have been in
constant contact with MS support. In fact, I just emailed him with my
latest unhappy discovery, but it will take him several days to reply, so I
thought I'd post the problem here and see if anyone else has an answer.

In trying to fix all the issues, I downloaded several new hardware devices
(all suggested by the MS guy) including a graphics card. Well, I just
discovered that the Aero function no longer works on my laptop. I have
Vista Home Premium, SP1; a 3.1 Windows Experience Index; and USED to have
all the Aero functions. Now I just get little icons when I click the Aero
icon on the taskbar. I also have Mobile Intel 945 as my display device, 2
GB RAM, 32-bit OS, and 1.66 GHz. I no longer even have the option of
Windows Aero in the Personalization menu.

Anybody have any ideas??

TIA,

Betty

Hi Rebecca,

Click start and type services.msc, then hit <enter>. Scroll down the list
and locate the Themes service. Select it and try restarting it (left
column).

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Rebecca" <> wrote in message
news:%23wnhQ$...
>I have had a bunch of problems ever since SP1 appeared and have been in
>constant contact with MS support. In fact, I just emailed him with my
>latest unhappy discovery, but it will take him several days to reply, so I
>thought I'd post the problem here and see if anyone else has an answer.
>
> In trying to fix all the issues, I downloaded several new hardware devices
> (all suggested by the MS guy) including a graphics card. Well, I just
> discovered that the Aero function no longer works on my laptop. I have
> Vista Home Premium, SP1; a 3.1 Windows Experience Index; and USED to have
> all the Aero functions. Now I just get little icons when I click the Aero
> icon on the taskbar. I also have Mobile Intel 945 as my display device, 2
> GB RAM, 32-bit OS, and 1.66 GHz. I no longer even have the option of
> Windows Aero in the Personalization menu.
>
> Anybody have any ideas??
>
> TIA,
>
> Betty

Thanks for your quick response. Unfortunately, it didn't work. I even
stopped the service and started it up again since the "restart" didn't do
the trick, but nada. Any other suggestions? Any thoughts as to what might
be causing this?

Rebecca


"Rick Rogers" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Hi Rebecca,
>
> Click start and type services.msc, then hit <enter>. Scroll down the list
> and locate the Themes service. Select it and try restarting it (left
> column).
>
> --
> Best of Luck,
>
> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
> My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>
> "Rebecca" <> wrote in message
> news:%23wnhQ$...
>>I have had a bunch of problems ever since SP1 appeared and have been in
>>constant contact with MS support. In fact, I just emailed him with my
>>latest unhappy discovery, but it will take him several days to reply, so I
>>thought I'd post the problem here and see if anyone else has an answer.
>>
>> In trying to fix all the issues, I downloaded several new hardware
>> devices (all suggested by the MS guy) including a graphics card. Well, I
>> just discovered that the Aero function no longer works on my laptop. I
>> have Vista Home Premium, SP1; a 3.1 Windows Experience Index; and USED to
>> have all the Aero functions. Now I just get little icons when I click
>> the Aero icon on the taskbar. I also have Mobile Intel 945 as my display
>> device, 2 GB RAM, 32-bit OS, and 1.66 GHz. I no longer even have the
>> option of Windows Aero in the Personalization menu.
>>
>> Anybody have any ideas??
>>
>> TIA,
>>
>> Betty
>

"Rebecca" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Thanks for your quick response. Unfortunately, it didn't work. I even
> stopped the service and started it up again since the "restart" didn't do
> the trick, but nada. Any other suggestions? Any thoughts as to what
> might be causing this?

The system might of fallen back to the generic VGA driver for your display.
Type 'device manager' into Start Search, hit enter, elevate when prompted
and check under Display adapters.

If it is showing as a 'Generic VGA device' instead of something like Intel
945GM or similar then trying right-clicking on it going properties and try
Update Driver (just try automatic) failing that try 'Roll back driver'.

--
Paul Smith,
Yeovil, UK.
Microsoft MVP Windows Desktop Experience.
http://www.dasmirnov.net/blog/
http://www.windowsresource.net/

*Remove nospam. to reply by e-mail*

Thanks for your input, but once again, no luck. My device driver shows a
Mobile Intel 945 Express Chipset Family and an HP RC Mirror Driver under
"Display adapters." I've been looking online and I even updated my score
since I hadn't done that after I downloaded all the drivers recently, but
that didn't help either (and my score remained the same). Very frustrating.

Anybody else have ideas??

Thanks,

Rebecca


"Paul Smith" <> wrote in message
news:...
> "Rebecca" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> Thanks for your quick response. Unfortunately, it didn't work. I even
>> stopped the service and started it up again since the "restart" didn't do
>> the trick, but nada. Any other suggestions? Any thoughts as to what
>> might be causing this?
>
> The system might of fallen back to the generic VGA driver for your
> display. Type 'device manager' into Start Search, hit enter, elevate when
> prompted and check under Display adapters.
>
> If it is showing as a 'Generic VGA device' instead of something like Intel
> 945GM or similar then trying right-clicking on it going properties and try
> Update Driver (just try automatic) failing that try 'Roll back driver'.
>
> --
> Paul Smith,
> Yeovil, UK.
> Microsoft MVP Windows Desktop Experience.
> http://www.dasmirnov.net/blog/
> http://www.windowsresource.net/
>
> *Remove nospam. to reply by e-mail*
>

Did you get your drivers here? Redownload and re-install the
latest versions.

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Prod...=2300&lang=eng

"Rebecca" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Thanks for your input, but once again, no luck. My device driver shows a
> Mobile Intel 945 Express Chipset Family and an HP RC Mirror Driver under
> "Display adapters." I've been looking online and I even updated my score
> since I hadn't done that after I downloaded all the drivers recently, but
> that didn't help either (and my score remained the same). Very
> frustrating.
>
> Anybody else have ideas??
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rebecca
>
>
> "Paul Smith" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> "Rebecca" <> wrote in message
>> news:...
>>> Thanks for your quick response. Unfortunately, it didn't work. I even
>>> stopped the service and started it up again since the "restart" didn't
>>> do the trick, but nada. Any other suggestions? Any thoughts as to what
>>> might be causing this?
>>
>> The system might of fallen back to the generic VGA driver for your
>> display. Type 'device manager' into Start Search, hit enter, elevate when
>> prompted and check under Display adapters.
>>
>> If it is showing as a 'Generic VGA device' instead of something like
>> Intel 945GM or similar then trying right-clicking on it going properties
>> and try Update Driver (just try automatic) failing that try 'Roll back
>> driver'.
>>
>> --
>> Paul Smith,
>> Yeovil, UK.
>> Microsoft MVP Windows Desktop Experience.
>> http://www.dasmirnov.net/blog/
>> http://www.windowsresource.net/
>>
>> *Remove nospam. to reply by e-mail*
>>
>

Actually, I got the links to the drivers from the MS Support fellow helping
me, but I don't remember where they were from. Anyway, I went to Intel and
downloaded the driver but my system crashed. I then went to Dell (I have an
E1405 Inspiron) and downloaded the latest video driver from there--more
system crashes. I saved all the info and copied them to a Dump file the
tech support guy had me create and I'll email them to him along with a
description of my actions.

It seems odd that I can see that my driver isn't up to date, but my computer
crashes whenever I try to install a newer one. Rats!!!

Still no Aero!

Rebecca


"Spirit" <noone@localhost> wrote in message
news:...
> Did you get your drivers here? Redownload and re-install the
> latest versions.
>
> http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Prod...=2300&lang=eng
>
> "Rebecca" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> Thanks for your input, but once again, no luck. My device driver shows a
>> Mobile Intel 945 Express Chipset Family and an HP RC Mirror Driver under
>> "Display adapters." I've been looking online and I even updated my score
>> since I hadn't done that after I downloaded all the drivers recently, but
>> that didn't help either (and my score remained the same). Very
>> frustrating.
>>
>> Anybody else have ideas??
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Rebecca
>>
>>
>> "Paul Smith" <> wrote in message
>> news:...
>>> "Rebecca" <> wrote in message
>>> news:...
>>>> Thanks for your quick response. Unfortunately, it didn't work. I even
>>>> stopped the service and started it up again since the "restart" didn't
>>>> do the trick, but nada. Any other suggestions? Any thoughts as to
>>>> what might be causing this?
>>>
>>> The system might of fallen back to the generic VGA driver for your
>>> display. Type 'device manager' into Start Search, hit enter, elevate
>>> when prompted and check under Display adapters.
>>>
>>> If it is showing as a 'Generic VGA device' instead of something like
>>> Intel 945GM or similar then trying right-clicking on it going properties
>>> and try Update Driver (just try automatic) failing that try 'Roll back
>>> driver'.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Paul Smith,
>>> Yeovil, UK.
>>> Microsoft MVP Windows Desktop Experience.
>>> http://www.dasmirnov.net/blog/
>>> http://www.windowsresource.net/
>>>
>>> *Remove nospam. to reply by e-mail*
>>>
>>
>

I wanted to add that I just did some more research and checked the
properties of my Intel GMA 950 and found that there is no Dedicated Video
Memory. Could this be causing the problem? If so, what would I do to alter
it? Anybody???

Rebecca


"Rebecca" <> wrote in message
news:Oerq$...
> Actually, I got the links to the drivers from the MS Support fellow
> helping me, but I don't remember where they were from. Anyway, I went to
> Intel and downloaded the driver but my system crashed. I then went to
> Dell (I have an E1405 Inspiron) and downloaded the latest video driver
> from there--more system crashes. I saved all the info and copied them to
> a Dump file the tech support guy had me create and I'll email them to him
> along with a description of my actions.
>
> It seems odd that I can see that my driver isn't up to date, but my
> computer crashes whenever I try to install a newer one. Rats!!!
>
> Still no Aero!
>
> Rebecca
>
>
> "Spirit" <noone@localhost> wrote in message
> news:...
>> Did you get your drivers here? Redownload and re-install the
>> latest versions.
>>
>> http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Prod...=2300&lang=eng
>>
>> "Rebecca" <> wrote in message
>> news:...
>>> Thanks for your input, but once again, no luck. My device driver shows
>>> a Mobile Intel 945 Express Chipset Family and an HP RC Mirror Driver
>>> under "Display adapters." I've been looking online and I even updated
>>> my score since I hadn't done that after I downloaded all the drivers
>>> recently, but that didn't help either (and my score remained the same).
>>> Very frustrating.
>>>
>>> Anybody else have ideas??
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Rebecca
>>>
>>>
>>> "Paul Smith" <> wrote in message
>>> news:...
>>>> "Rebecca" <> wrote in message
>>>> news:...
>>>>> Thanks for your quick response. Unfortunately, it didn't work. I
>>>>> even stopped the service and started it up again since the "restart"
>>>>> didn't do the trick, but nada. Any other suggestions? Any thoughts
>>>>> as to what might be causing this?
>>>>
>>>> The system might of fallen back to the generic VGA driver for your
>>>> display. Type 'device manager' into Start Search, hit enter, elevate
>>>> when prompted and check under Display adapters.
>>>>
>>>> If it is showing as a 'Generic VGA device' instead of something like
>>>> Intel 945GM or similar then trying right-clicking on it going
>>>> properties and try Update Driver (just try automatic) failing that try
>>>> 'Roll back driver'.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Paul Smith,
>>>> Yeovil, UK.
>>>> Microsoft MVP Windows Desktop Experience.
>>>> http://www.dasmirnov.net/blog/
>>>> http://www.windowsresource.net/
>>>>
>>>> *Remove nospam. to reply by e-mail*
>>>>
>>>
>>
>