Display Properties Crashes!

[banGerprawN]

Hey all.
Im getting desparate. every time i right click on desktop or go to control panel and open up display properties (in windows xp), the properties panel will be shown until i select a tab, button, etc, and then it will crash back to the desktop. 2 error messages come up, one about "run dll as an app" and "dr watson post-mortem debugger". the latter appears about 20 seconds after the former. i can choose to send error report to microsoft, or not. there is also the error information available, but this hasnt helped me much at all.
after ive closed/sent the error message box, the desktop reappears with an "imprint" of the display properties panel on it. anything in this is not actually selectable, its as though it is not really there. however, moving windows over the top of it, right clicking near it, and generally moving or placing an item over the top of this box will result in an image of the moved object being copied into the area where display properties was. if an item is dragged over the top of it, a drag box will appear, like what happens when extremely memory- and cpu-intensive applications are running and a window is dragged across the screen. this problem is fixable, opening task manager reveals that DRWATSON is still running, and is using an inordinate amount of memory (usually about 1200mb of my 2gb!!!)

Things i've tried: reinstall directx.
reinstall video card drivers from ATi.
install different video card drivers (tried Omega Catalyst, DNA-Drivers and Techpowerup FAQ Drivers)
reinstalling service pack 2.
deleting user profile and creating a new one.
installing different video card.

my machine specs are:
P4 3ghz LGA775 prescott core (usually overclocked at 3.8-3.9ghz)
2gb OCZ DDR2 666 1:1 ratio with FSB
radeon x600xt 128mb
4x Western Digital 74gb raptor RAID0
Gigabyte i915g chipset (i cant remember the model name)
OCZ Powerstream 520w PSU
WinXP Pro SP2

Please help me out, its driving me crazy looking at this dodgy XP desktop theme!!

[Killer_Typo]

can i get the EXACT error messages that pop up, every bit of detail is nessicary!!

in the mean time, if you dont mind reupdating your computer (granted you are on Windows XP and i see you are from your descritpion)

you can try

SFC /SCANNOW (go to run and type it in)

Start>Run>SFC /SCANNOW

this will verify all windows files and replace any missing or damaged ones, but in the process it will replace them with the copies from the cd (which you must supply during the scan) so you will have to reupdate your computer most likely.l

[banGerprawN]

okay. here is a pic of my screen after it crashes
http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=&stc=1
on the left is the blurry area where anything that is moved over the top is copied.
the error reports reads like this:
RUN A DLL AS AN APP
Error Signature
AppName: rundll32.exe AppVer: 5.1.2600.2180 ModName: mshtml.dll
ModVer: 6.0.2900.2523 Offset: 0024d621

and

DRWATSON POSTMORTEM DEBUGGER
Error Signature
EventType : BEX P1 : drwtsn32.exe P2 : 5.1.2600.0 P3 : 3b7d84a2
P4 : dbghelp.dll P5 : 5.1.2600.2180 P6 : 4110969a P7 : 0001295d
P8 : c0000409 P9 : 00000000

If you want the technical info for either error, please ask, i didnt want to paste them here, it is huge.

also, the reupdate of win xp didnt work. but thanks anyway.

[alc6379]

What is that desktop theme you're running? Some type of skinning program? Might that be the source of the trouble?

[Killer_Typo]

What is that desktop theme you're running? Some type of skinning program? Might that be the source of the trouble?

exactly what i thought, because some of those skinners require you to allow them to replace some of the windows files.

i will look into the errors that you posted though.

[Catweazle]

banGerprawN, yours sounds like a classic example of where, sometimes, a fresh install is the best method of resolving problems.

Some points to consider:

* You're using 'themes' software. Third party desktop themes interfere with system files, and most will have an impact on functionality, however slight. Dialogue boxes can display incorrectly, notification area icons can refuse to 'hide', or any number of other small problems can arise.
* Service Pack 2 is best applied to a fresh install of Windows. It's more like an OS upgrade than a 'patch', and applying an upgrade to an already unstable system can work to magnify problems, rather than resolve them.
* You've changed display cards, and if that has meant you've changed from a graphics processor manufactured by one company to a graphics processor manufactured by another, again you've encountered a situation where it is both recommended and best practice to clean install and start over.

[banGerprawN]

Ok, thanks for the replies.
First off.
XP SP2 was installed on a clean system, when i got my new hard drives, about 3 months ago. i only did the reinstall to see if that would help, sort of as a last resort, hope-it-might-help sorta thing.
2nd of all.
the themes program was NOT installed when i started having this problem, nor did i, at any point, have any type of theme program installed on my pc. i used the default windows Display Properties to change my background, nothing more.
3rd off.
i havent changed graphic cards at all. i've only uninstalled and reinstalled different modded versions of graphic card DRIVERS. all 3 drivers i tried i have used on my system (between clean installs, i'll add for the record) with no problems at all. they all have the same problem in this case.
i'm aware that a full reinstall will fix the problem, but backing up my data is a huge problem because i've got the 4x74GB Raptors as i've said, but also have 2x250GB Western Digital Caviars running in RAID 0 as well, which are filled with around 320GB of various crud. I cant borrow hard drives from anyone on a temporary basis, because everyone i know doesnt even come close to having 300-350GB. And rebuilding and retuning my RAID 0 array(s) will be a pain.
I'm not entirely sure what I can do, apart from fork out for a low-end system and throw a 400GB Seagate in there and back-up over a network.

[Catweazle]

Things i've tried: reinstall directx.
reinstall video card drivers from ATi.
install different video card drivers (tried Omega Catalyst, DNA-Drivers and Techpowerup FAQ Drivers)
reinstalling service pack 2.
deleting user profile and creating a new one.
installing different video card.

Also, that attached thumbnail most certainly does NOT display a standard Windows 'theme'.

I'm confused here :confused:

[AkVirgo]

I know this is an old post, but I figured I might as well reply just in case anyone else lands here. I had this problem before on my fathers computer. It happened after he installed a new video card. The igfxtray.exe program for the onboad intel graphics card during startup was what caused it.

Here's what I did to fix it:
Start > Run > Regedit

In the registry find: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

You'll see an entry that points to igfxtray.exe. Delete ONLY that entry.

Or if you don't want to mess with the registry onhand, you can download HijackThis, have it run a scan, find the entry that points to igfxtray.exe, put a check by it, then click on Fix Selected Items.

Hope this helps,
AkVirgo