Dual Monitor - Flashing Screen
 

Jim,

I'm using the screensaver with a dual monitor setup on a Windows 7 Machine with an NVidia Quadro FX1700 graphics card and the latest Nvidia driver - 190.38

There seems to be some type of a strange timing issue going on. If I allow my system to idle until the normal screensaver timeout triggers (mine's set to 30 minutes), then the screensaver comes up just fine sometimes.

But more often than not the logo for the screensaver only appears on the second screen and then the second screen starts flashing between the logo and the screensaver itself. The first screen is just blank. During the flashing the screensaver's background is black and the fish don't move. The flashing continues until I right click the mouse and bring up the menu you built. If I click "Settings" in that menu and then click the settings window's "OK" button then the screensaver comes back up and runs perfectly on both screens. It also runs perfectly if I start the screensaver manually with the "Preview" button.

This behaviour occurs whether I set any combination of "Render same image on all monitors" and/or "Wait for vertical sync".

It does not occur if I set the screensaver to only appear on my first display. And as I write this I just realized that I haven't checked to see if the problem happens when I set the screensaver to only display on my secondary screen. Of course I'd really like it to start properly on it's own on both.

Dual Screen vs. Single Screen
 

Jim,

If I set either monitor to not display the screensaver then it alway starts properly. The problem only occurs if both monitors are running the screensaver.

Anyone else experiencing anything like this?

No.... But!.....
I can only guess that it may be a Windows 7 problem.
If it was any other OS, I would suggest drivers and/or a DirectX re-install, followed by a reboot.
If the fish are not moving though,... perhaps philosopher can check out and glean something from one of these two threads ?...
https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...ead.php?t=4701
https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...ead.php?t=4388
ie. Which monitor have you got designated as 'Primary'?

RE: No Movement on Screen
 

cjmaddy,

It probably is related to Windows 7. I didn't have this problem on the same machine when it was running windows vista. Of course NVidia makes a different driver for Windows 7. So it could be the driver too.

I did a little more digging and realized that I didn't fully describe what the screensaver is doing. It's not just that the fish don't move. It's that they never even get started. The background is black, nothing moves, only one screen has any images, and on that screen the screensaver flashes between the logo and the screensaver flipping between each every second. I can always gets the screensaver running properly by right clicking, clicking settings, clicking display, and then clicking ok and ok again. It would seem that some piece of code that is run within the "Display" area of the settings starts up the screen saver differently, or makes some change to recognize a monitor, or something.

Jim, I don't know if you want to worry about Windows 7 yet and I understand if you don't, but I am running the release version. Soon many people will be purchasing computers that are running Windows 7. However I'd much rather see some new fish movement than have this bug fixed. I'd absolutely say it's secondary. Especially since I'm probably the only person running Windows 7 and experiencing this problem. I have plenty of other machines I can use to see your fantastic work with.

Oh, something else I noticed in a different thread. Someone had mentioned that they were waiting to run the new version until it was complete. And you questioned how it could ever be complete when you will constantly be adding to it. I think it's just a matter of semantics. I think they are waiting for you to take the "Beta" label off of it. I think you should remove Beta from the Serene Screen site.

Just for the record - are you running the 32-bit or the 64-bit version of Windows 7?

Footnote: Windows 7, and dual monitors and Nvidia hardware/drivers. Not minimizing the priority of this fix - and Windows 7 is certainly going to start increasing very soon.

I agree. I think MA3 is stable enough now to remove the "BETA" designation. Those that are waiting for the "Final Release" should be willing to purchase MA3 instead of MA3 BETA. Future enhancements can be considered MA3.1 or even MA4.0

How strange. I would think drivers if it weren't for this method to reset it.

That might be 2012 if not later. Google Mail was beta for 4 years and people used it no problem.

philosopher, - I'm sorry you are still having no luck with your dual-monitor Windows 7 setup. - I do think it may be worth your while checking the connections from your video card to the two monitors. - Whilst I was running the checks described here... https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...99&#post107999, I discovered that it can be really important to have the "Primary" monitor, (the one in Jim's MA3's stats display marked "#0"), to be connected to the correct socket on the video card's spine, (usually the one nearest the motherboard). The "Secondary" monitor, the right-hand one, marked "#1", can then be connected to the other socket.

Whatever others may say about it not mattering which is "Primary", is not true! - It can and does make a difference, - at least on my system. - I have no experience of Windows 7, and from what I remember reading somewhere the implementation of DirectX is different, - But if it is possible to reinstall DirectX into Windows 7, then I would strongly recommend it. - It so often solves graphic problems on some systems, when all else fails!... Good luck!

We had a thread a while ago about when would the Beta be ready for release , which things should be in place . I wonder if it's worthy of a new thread to discuss when the beta should no longer be 'officially' referred to as a Beta . Not to be confused with the BetaBeta for the cogniscenti . This is only my 2 cents , and should carry appropriate value , but I think that when the fish models and behaviour are in place , and maybe a few of the detail items reported by Dale , then the program will be at a point when it could be described to the GP as 'finished' . All things added after that would be extras . Either free or to be optionally purchased .

It seems this is really a matter of semantics.. the reality is all software is forever in some degree of "beta"...until abandoned. Witness the weekly updates / security fixes for every bit of software you have on your computer. If... it was not a "beta" there would be no need for the updates.:D

New Information
 

Dale, thanks for reminding me to give a complete system spec. It's Windows 7 64 bit. I've been running 64 bit everything for about 3 years now.

cjmaddy, I tried switching around which monitor is the primary and the problem remains.

Feldon, I'm researching re-installing / repairing Direct X on Windows 7 but as of yet I still haven't found the necessary information to give it a try.

Thanks for the various ideas everyone. Jim, again, please keep working on the fish and ignore this problem for now at least. At some point I might find more information but so far I have no idea what the cause could be and I'm sure I'm one of very few with this particular setup.

I'm also seeing the same issue. I just downloaded the demo to try out, experienced the same issue, and came here to see if it was a known problem.

Win7 x64 RTM
Triple Monitor
--Nvidia 260 - Primary display
--Nvidia 8800 - 2nd and 3rd display
--190.62 WHQL driver
--All displays at 1680x1050

Screensaver runs fine if set to just display on one monitor. When running on all three only Mon1 and Mon3 display anything. The splash logo shows fine on both, then starts flickering. The aquarium will load with fish but very dark and flashing between the black screen with logo and the aquarium. The fish move with the flickering, probably about 2FPS. Setting SS to display same image on all displays is no help.

Try switching to 16-bit.

I set MA3 to display in 16 bit, that didn't help. I also tried lowering the resolution all the way down to 640x480 and the problem persisted. Disabling Aero also didn't help.

Have you also tried re-installing DirectX and then re-booting?

https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...65&#post115365

Direct X
 

I just reinstalled my direct x drivers and restarted my system. Unfortunately the problem still persists.

philosopher, would you be willing to download and install the package found at http://www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon/download_beta.asp, and then run the Moire screen saver contained within it?

That screen saver was built from a sample DirectX SDK multi-monitor screen saver app, and running it might be able to tell you whether the problem is specific to your system or possibly specific to MA3.

EDIT: I just found a direct link to the Moire screen saver itself at http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon...p#ScreenSavers .

Something Interesting
 

Here's something interesting:

If if leave the screensaver running in the "flashing state" described above, in about 10 - 15 minutes it fixes itself.

Flipper, I haven't had a chance to try the screensaver experiment you've suggested yet, but will try to do so in the near future.

I installed the moire screensaver and it runs great across all three monitors.

Just read this topic and I get the same background flashing black issue. I am using Windows 7 64bit.

If I launch the screensaver and got to windowed mode and back again then it starts flickering.

I have had the same problem, system uses a Nvidia GeForce card and dual monitors under Windows 7 32 bit.

I installed MA3 and it worked perfectly, I then upgraded my hard drive reinstalled Windows and all my "normal" software along with MA3 and this is when the problem began.

I have found the cure for it, as mentioned as a possibility in an earlier post, when I unchecked the "On resume, display logon screen" option the problem dissappears, so some sort of conflict there in my case.

Just for the record I'm having the same issue, GTS260 cards on win7 64 bit with three monitors.

I was just playing around with my NVidia card drivers and have finally found a setting that reproduces the screen saver flashing issue that I originally reported here. Within the NVidia control panel if I go to 3D settings - Adjust image settings with preview and select: Use my preference emphasizing quality then the screen flashes on and off for about a minute when the screen saver first starts.

The fix? If I set the radio button selection to: Let the 3D application decide then everything is fine!

If anyone else is experiencing a flashing aquarium on startup and you have an NVidia card this setting might be the culprit.

Having had Windows 7 64bit installed for some time now, and also a Nvidia GeForce card, I decided to do some checking....

Eventually I was able to produce a flashing MA3 on the secondary (right-hand) monitor, with a black screen on the primary. - But ONLY when returning to Full-screen mode from Windowed mode. - So far, I haven't found ANY setting that will cure this. - But I'm not bothered, it's not something I consider too much of a problem. - If ever I do find a cure, I will report back here...

solution for flashing screen
 

Hello,

I have the same problem with flashing screen : it appear that it's a conflict betwen the resolution of the desk and the screensaver.

To solve this problem (work on friends in multiscreen with have the same problem too). Try different resolution, checked sync vertical sync and change to 16b or 32b.

You arrive at each time to a solution, when you find it, do not touch to the setting anymore.

I hope that i help the person who have this sort of problem.

B. regards from France

P.

Dual Monitor Issue
 

I have the same problem... Did anyone ever figure out how to resolve this??

I have run this for years on dual monitors... just built a new win7 x64 machine with dual hdmi nvidia card.

Screen black on one screen and flickers on the other unless I uncheck the "lock on resume" button, which I need for safety/security reasons...

Any Resolution to this??
 

I find every time the NVIDIA display driver updates I have this problem again.

I am running Win7 x64.

If the "lock", enter password window is engaged, by EITHER pressing Start & L-key to lock the operating system, or you choose the Lock on Restore button in the screen saver settings, the screens go haywire when the Serene Screen Aquarium screens saver starts up.

One screen is blank and the other flashes while the program runs in the background.

The only two resolutions i have found is to run one of the screens in a lower resolution or not Lock the computer.

This is clearly a bug - Is there an actual tech Support Department that would work on this and resolve it???

This has been an ongoing issue for ??? 5 years??

"Tech Support Department?" :) Ha! That is us, every member of this forum, including the developer, Jim Sachs, and all his minions. Unfortunately, the number of active participants has decreased significantly over the past few years, to the point that it is almost nonexistent. Sorry, I don't use dual monitors, so can't help you.

Tech Support
 

Hey guys, it's Josh over at Prolific tech support. We are looking at this issue. We always try to look at any issues that come our way, though we always encourage submissions through our website as we don't often visit here.

Regardless, we have some of our people looking into it. We may ask for a bit of help from some people here with Nvidia hardware once we get a better idea of what the problem might be.

Thanks to all you here who are helping each other (and us) out. :)

Dual Monitor Flashing Issue
 

I've have the about problem on my machine. Windows 7 x64 with an Nvidia Quadro 4000 video card.

I've tried all the suggestions and nothing helps. I'll be glad to help test anything.

Thanks
Charles

Dual Monitor - Flashing Screen
 

One of the things I noticed, hit the space bar while flashing and bring up the menu; click OK and mine is fine. Same if I preview in screensaver setup (Windows).

Charles

Charles - the only thing that comes to mind is a driver problem. I say this because after more than a decade of attempting to chase down every anomaly that has been reported, I'd be hard pressed to name one that did not turn out to be driver-related.

I suppose we'll eventually reach a point where video cards become so advanced that the kids writing the drivers lose touch with the DirectX roots of their grandfathers. As part of my deal with Microsoft to include my program in their Plus Pack, they were supposed to check MA on every video card and OS setup available with their vast resources. Wouldn't THAT have been nice? Of course, it never happened. So, I apologize for not having any suggestions regarding your problem, but I can only attest that the program works flawlessly on my one aging machine and nVidia card. (including stereo 3D).

Same problem but a new guy here
 

I have had this same problem since version 2.0 and have found that it has only occurred on my laptop systems with NVidia chips in them. It does right itself after about 15 minutes of course the screen shuts itself off just as the screen rights itself (powered or not irrelevant of screen settings). I haven't tried the mirror image the monitors as my laptop monitor is only 1920x1080 while my desktop monitor I connect it to is 1920x1200.

Not sure what causes it but every now and then it works just fine but most of the time, it just blinks at me.

I have the same issue also. Dual monitors on a Windows 64bit system. Nvidia Quadro K100M driver on a Thinkpad Laptop W520. Any new fixes?

Found a fix for this issue on my config...
 

Hi,
I tried many settings without success until i decided to change my Nvidia Color depth setting.
You can find it in Display, Change Resolution, i have refresh rate at 60Hz and the color depth has been changed from 32bit to 16bit.
In SereneScreen setting, i have checked the "Wait for vertical sync" and set the Display mode on "Automatic".
I have 3 screens, and it's working fine now on all 3 monitors !!! :TU::lol:
I hope that helps.

Thanks for following up on this.