Windows 10: Screen no more detected correctly and confused with a ghost one after postponing of Windows...

Hello,


Since the last updates forced on my system a few days ago without my persmission, I've refused it by deactivating updates for a long period.

That action seemed to have triggered a snowball effect of problems, and now my screens are black when starting my computer.

Not only it is, but I'm not sure that updates are correctly applied anymore, as I will explain to you.


Here's a bullet-list of the complete steps of what occured :


A1 - Windows 10 displayed the icon of an update on the "shutdown" button.

A2 - I went into Windows Update settings to report updates to the 1th of February.

A3 - The icon disappeared. I managed to shut down my computer without applying any update.

A4 - The next day, when powering ON my computer, my two screens where black.


Then :


B1 - I rebooted several times until having screens back.

B2 - But the problem reoccured the next days, and waiting or rebooting wasn't making screens to go back as normal. So I had to figure why.

B3 - After several tests, I now have a "procedure" to have my screens back : first, I need to unplug my main screen, this switching the login area onto the secondary screen. Once logued in, I click on my main screen's button to access menu, and to power it OFF, then I power it ON again, and windows "detects" it.


But I noticed something strange :


C1 - When going in the Display settings, I tried the "Detect" function, and a third screen appeared. I have no physical third screen.

C2 - When clicking on "Identify", the number 2 shows for the secondary screen, and 1 for the main screen.

C3 - But some softwares like RocketDock, that are screen-dependent, were displaying on my secondary screen 2 and not on the main screen 1 anymore. When I went into RocketDock's settings, I had to select screen #3 to display it on the screen #1 main screen !


And another thing I noticed :


D1 - During the tests I performed to retrieve my screens usage, I wondered if finally applying the update could solve that terrible screen problem.

D2 - So I went back into Windows Update's settings, I deactivated the postponing of updates, but I could not find any update to apply anymore.

D3 - I checked for optional updates, and it found one. So I rebooted to apply it, but during log-off, screens when BLACK again, and the computer refused to reboot and stayed like that indefinitely.

D4 - I did an hardware reboot pushed the power-off button for several seconds, and went back to Windows with procedure explained in B3. No information screen with updating process never shown itself.

D5 - So I decided to go in the "Progams and features", to find the list of Windows updates installed. The2020-january updates seem to be installed.


_____________


The thing is I'm not sure that those updates really installed. Moreover, my windows seems broken about screen detection.

My intuition says me that when Windows planned to do an update A1, a few things were prepared, and reporting the update triggered a bug, and that bug led to screen detection problems.

:)

 

Sniper Ghost Warrior

Hi Gary,

Sorry for the delay in response.

• What is the make and model of the computer?
• Do you face the issue only with Sniper Ghost Warrior?

We would suggest you to update the graphics drivers and check.

 

Unexpected Ghost task detections


1 The problem

Strangely-named and seemingly inexplicable entries have been seen in the Task scheduler, Task status pane and they do not even record a Triggered by entry that would allow them to be investigated.

I’ve taken to referring to these tasks as ‘ghost tasks’ merely as a convenience, a shorthand title.





No corresponding task definition can be found anywhere within Task scheduler or in any of its configuration folders -C:\Windows\System32\Tasks,
C:\Windows\Tasks,
{not confirmed} %SystemRoot%\SysWOW64\Tasks
The only other place that refers to these Task status pane entries is the Event viewer, Task scheduler log which refers to them as JD_TaskSchedulerSchedule tasks.





The Task scheduler, Task status pane entry & the Event viewer entry both refer to this particular task as {429ce28d-4d24-48c8-914a-8605598c50c8}.
Further instances of the Task scheduler, Task status pane entry have different reference codes [GUIDs] - each of which is always matched by an Event viewer entry.

The TenForums member Andy Bruin has investigated these ‘ghost tasks’ and has identified
- the Windows mechanism that causes them to be shown in the Task scheduler, Task status pane, and
- a method of suppressing them.

Reassuringly, these ‘ghost tasks’ appear to be the result of Windows internal mechanisms [rather than malware] and do not appear to be doing anything at all.

The jury is still out about whether the existence of these ‘ghost tasks’ is inevitable or requires some particular originating trigger that remains unidentified. I believe that there is an unidentified trigger -- Several users have observed the existence of these ‘ghost tasks’ but many others have never had them.
- A user who used to suffer from ‘ghost tasks’ has reinstalled Windows and no longer has them. This user knows what to look for in Task scheduler & Event viewer. If the existence of ‘ghost tasks’ was inevitable, they would have returned on that user’s computer after Windows’ reinstallation.
2 Purpose of the GhostTaskSuppressor

The purpose of the GhostTaskSuppressor is to scan for, detect & delete the immediately-preceding cog in the ‘ghost tasks’ mechanism so that they never start.

This GhostTaskSuppressor tool both includes and builds upon Andy’s suppression method.- Andy has done all the clever work.
- All I’ve done is wrap it up into a package that can run in the background without bothering the user [unless, optionally, the user chooses a notification option].
3 Contents of the attached zip file
GhostTaskSuppressor v1.3.zip







GhostTaskSuppressor v1.3.pdf - This post as a pdf document.

GhostTaskSuppressor.xml - A Task scheduler task definition for initiating scan, detection & deletion. This task does not need any elevated privileges. This task runs StartGhostTaskSuppressor.vbs.

StartGhostTaskSuppressor.vbs - A script that starts the batch file and allows it to run minimised & with a specific icon {so a user can recognise its taskbar entry without being interrupted by it}.

GhostTaskSuppressor.ini - A text file in which the user sets preferences for use by the batch file. Using an ini file allows a user to change preferences without having to edit the batch file itself.

GhostTaskSuppressor.bat - This manages the scan, detection & deletion work and makes use of Andy’s WpTasks.exe tool. This batch file does not need any elevated privileges.

WpTasks.exe - This does the scan, detection & deletion. This file does not need any elevated privileges.

4 Setting up

4.1 Download then unzip the zip file into any convenient folder

I suggest extracting to something like
C:\Users\%UserName%\ToolsDevn\TS\GhostTaskSuppressor
but the location is not at all critical.

You can use this folder to browse & edit the files as you desire.

4.2 Copy the unzipped subfolder GhostTaskSuppressor to a chosen folder

I suggest
C:\Tools\TS\GhostTaskSuppressor

What is important, in my opinion, is having access permissions set so that Windows protects the chosen folder in the same way that it protects, for example, C:\Progam files. I describe a method of setting suitable access permissions for C:\Tools in section 1 of and the annex to Make Task scheduler run a batch file minimised and with a specific icon - TenForums You need not concern yourself with the rest of that article because it has all been done for you by the attached .xml, .vbs and .bat files.

You do not have to use the folder that I suggest. To accommodate a different location, all you need to change is a path recorded in the .xml file [see below].

4.3 Setting user preferences

4.3.1 GhostTaskSuppressor.xml

Changing the .xml file is only necessary if you have not copied the subfolder GhostTaskSuppressor to C:\Tools\TS\GhostTaskSuppressor as I suggested above.

If you have used my suggested folder then skip to step 4.3.2.

Open the .xml file in Notepad or similar and find the line
<Arguments>"C:\Tools\TS\GhostTaskSuppressor\StartGhostTaskSuppressor.vbs"</Arguments>

If you have not copied the subfolder GhostTaskSuppressor to my suggested folder then replace the path given in the <Arguments> line with your own chosen path.

Save the changed file.

No other changes are needed to specify the location of the GhostTaskSuppressor files.

4.3.2 GhostTaskSuppressor.ini

1 Open the .ini file in Notepad or similar.

2 Go to the line LogYN=YesIf you want to keep a running log of GhostTaskSuppressor scans, detections & deletions then leave this entry as it is.
If you do not want to keep a running log of GhostTaskSuppressor scans, detections & deletions then change this entry to LogYN=No
3 Go to the line starting LogFolder=If you have left LogYN=Yes as it is in order to keep a running log then change the suggested C:\Users\%UserName%\Documents path to the path that you want to keep the log in. The batch file has not been written to cope with any special characters except ampersand [&] so this might prove to be a limitation for paths that use foreign language characters.
If you have changed LogYN=Yes to LogYN=No, because you do not want to keep a running log, then this path entry is ignored so there’s no need to alter it.
4 Go to the line NotificationYN=YesIf you want to be told when a ghost task has been detected then leave this line as it stands.

If, like me, you like having a tool that stays completely in the background without bothering you at all then change this line to NotificationYN=No
5 Now save the changed file and copy it into the folder used in 4.2 above. If that folder has been set up as I suggested then you will need to give Admin permission to copy into that folder.

4.4 Import the GhostTaskSuppressor.xml into Task scheduler

1 Open Task scheduler
2 In the right-hand ‘Actions’ pane, click on Import task
3 Browse to the folder containing GhostTaskSuppressor.xml, select it then click on Open
4 The task properties dialog opens. No changes are required.
5 Click on OK to save it.
6 You can now close Task scheduler.

4.5 That’s it

You can now let the task run to prevent ghost tasks from appearing.

While GhostTaskSuppressor is running, its icon will appear in the Taskbar.



GhostTaskSuppressor normally runs in the blink of an eye.

Denis

 

Windows phone is not detecting

Hi Vijay,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

I suggest you to connect the phone to another computer and check if it gets detected. Also, check if the phone gets detected by connecting with a different USB cable.

I suggest you to run the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter by following the steps below:

• Click on the Start button, and type “Troubleshooting” on the search bar.
  
• Click on “hardware and devices”.
• A pop-up will appear, click on the “Next” button and follow the on-screen prompts for troubleshooting.
  

Hope the information is helpful. Keep us posted on the status for further assistance.