Windows 7 x64 graphical glitch

Using Arduino IDE 1.x
1

Hi all,
I'm getting started on the Arduino but running into a very annoying problem on Windows 7. The graphical interface keeps glitching out on me every time I click on the menus. I tried reinstalling the graphics card driver (latest version released on 6/11/2011), switching Aero on and off, running under Windows XP compatibility mode, etc. to no avail. Please look at the images and advice. Much appreciated!

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My apologies if this is a repost.

Thank you.

2

[running W7/64 myself on an ASUS laptop, not running Aero]

What PC /videocard do you have this problem?

It is (95%) probably a video driver issue,

  1. Run windows update (do you have SP1 installed?)
  2. There are tools to check if you have the latest drivers for your PC that windows update doesn't see (yet). Payed versions will update them too.
  3. Check Java update ?

(2) did help me in the past with something similar.

no guarantees

3

Thank for the reply. As I said above, my system software including graphics card driver is up to date as of today. I'm using the ATI Radeon HD 5850 1 GB GDDR5.

To answer your questions:

  1. Windows Update is on and SP1 is installed a while ago
  2. I believe this is not windows related because everything is updated as soon as Microsoft releases them
  3. Same with Java

I wouldn't be pulling my hair out and asking for help if I didn't first make sure my system is up to date with every little piece of update there is to download and install. But thanks for reminding me.

4
  1. I believe this is not windows related because everything is updated as soon as Microsoft releases them

You should check the site of Radeon, MS definitely release HW drivers in another pace than the vendors. And they even release new drivers not instantly to the "whole" customer population. They have reasons for that, in fact I think these are the very same why some people not want to buy the next windows version immediately, "wait and see if it is stable enough", "try with a small representive group first, before patching the masses" , MS cannot afford to roll out a faulty driver (often), so they wait longer than the driver manufacturer.

There are many commercial tools that scan free for missing drivers (and you must pay for the update function).
I just checked my PC which was up to date according to windows with - http://www.drivereasy.com/ -
Result: 26 drivers not up to date and 1 missing completely (bluetooth, never used)

So my advice is: grab one of those tools and just do the scan to see if your video drivers are up to date.

5

Hi,

I've registered here to report this as well. I also have Windows 7 x64, all Windows updates applied, and the latest Radeon drivers installed (downloaded directly from AMD/ATI). When navigating menus in the IDE, or sometimes resizing or moving windows, similar graphical glitches will appear, and after a couple of seconds, my screen will go blank for a few more seconds, then the display will return and Windows reports that "The display driver has stopped responding and has recovered".

Tonight I'm going to try a complete cleanup and reinstall of my Radeon driver using DriverSweeper.

For what it's worth, no other application or game that I use does this.

6

Have you other Java based programs running? (e.g. processing?)

Could be a java VM glitch/interference

7

I don't believe so. I'll check my Java VM version tonight, and make sure there's no other Java running, and I'll fire up the IDE and see what happens.

8

No other Java running. The issue has persisted through reboots. I haven't removed and re-installed my drivers yet though.

9

I've finally gotten around to removing my Radeon driver, nuking it with DriverSuite, and re-installing them fresh. Graphical glitches and display driver crash has been eliminated. Excellent!

Now I just have to actually buy an Arduino so I can do more than just play with the software :.