Display properties fails to load

Hi, i'm trying to change my wallpaper, and i can't get the display properties to show up anymore. i tried rightclicking the desktop, through the control panel, and through the nvidia control thingy.
i can choose properties or double click it from the control panel, and my pointer does its busy animation, but then it stops and there's nothing. can't task switch to it, no extra process shows up, nothing. if there's something in administrative tools to disable it, that might be my prob, but i swear i looked through it all. help me please!!

win xp pro
1024 mb ram
nvidia geforce4 ti 4200

 

forgot: win xp pro sp1

 

nVidia drivers have a lot of integration features, and if you disable certain startup programs or services, I can see that breaking Display Properties. Check MSConfig and Services in Computer Management to see if anything of nVidia's is disabled. Also check the Windows Management Instrumentation Driver Extensions service and make sure it's not disabled (Manual or Automatic should be OK).

If that doesn't work, I would try reinstalling your video drivers. (Or, preferably, uninstalling all of them in Add/Remove Programs and then installing the newest ones.) Can you access Display Properties by booting into VGA mode? If so, this is likely to work.

 

Thanks, but nothing nvidia in comp management services or msconfig is disabled, and it still won't load up in vga mode. im gonna try un-re-installing the drivers. its the 56.72 detonator, any know problems with it?

one more thing: this happened while i was using the comp. I booted up and my desktop icons lost their transparency (drop shadow on icon texts did nothing). i seached around and there was all this stuff about active desktop and yadda yadda. i turned act.des. on, drop shadows off, rebooted, undid it, rebooted again, etc etc, and it didnt work.
so i downloaded microangelo and used its On Display to force the icons to be transparent. then i disabled that option and voila it works now. no microangelo, no act.des, drop shadow icon labels.
then i went to change wallpaper and display properties was like "hell no i ain't loading!"

 

ok i just unistalled nvidia, havent reinstalled yet, but i got a weird thing now:
i got that message in the taskbar that says something like
"your current desktop resolution is set to a very low level. click here to increase the resolution" or something to that effect. thats not weird, i've had that before.
the weird part is that the icon im supposed to click on is NOT the little computer monitor. it's a red ball with a white X on it, like the icon on the left of the message box when you get a system error. now i know something is wrong with that. please tell me there's a fix without reinstalling windows!!!!

 

Those are probably just the low-res icons. 640x480x4 (16 colors). I think even Safe Mode tries to do 640x480x8 (256 colors).

 

Well, bad news. I still can't get display properties and I just installed the 56.72 detonator. No other ideas? I've changed my background to an internet picture, and that doesn't help.

 

I've never heard of or used Microangelo. Try reinstalling it. If that fixes things, then there's your problem.

If that doesn't work, my next suspect would be to think that something in Windows itself is broken or missing.

What I would probably do now is run the System File Checker. The System File Checker will compare all the OS files on your system with those that are on the CD and replace them as necessary. Get your Windows XP CD, open up a command prompt, and run "sfc /scannow". Be aware that this might essentially uninstall some of the Windows updates, so I would make sure you have a firewall running to prevent worm infections. And, obviously, go to http://www.windowsupdate.com/ when you've finished.

 

well, thanks again but neither worked.
when i click properties on the desktop (or control panel), my computer icon blinks, like it was refreshed.
i ran regseeker and got rid of all invalid references, and still nothing.

 

Did you have any previous drivers? If so, can you install the older one to get it working again, and upgrade from that?

Driver Cleaner
You can use that to remove driver files so you can re-install a version of the driver that worked.

Another thing you could try is getting your XP SP1 cd out, open up cmd and type:
sfc /scannow
and let it check the files. I think that control panel applets are usually in the form of DLLs (they run under the process or rundll32.exe, so thats my guess), and sfc will replace corrupted dll files. (doih! da chicken posted it before me!)

Have you checked for viruses recently? This could have caused some system file corruption. If now, go to HouseCall and get your machine checked out.

 

Not sure how comftable you are with Windows XP, but after uninstalling previous drivers, then I would try to use the Device Manager to remove all graphics adapters and monitors listed there.

23. Uninstall ghost devices or services in Win2k/XP

And then try to install the nvidia drivers.

 

its not the display drivers cuz it was workin before, and it didnt work when i tried it when dachicken said. It also didnt work when i had the generic windowsxp drivers (no nvidia reinstalled yet) and right goldfish, i already tried the scannow. no dice. also, i only have one graphics device so ill try houscall and snakefoots advice. crossing my fingers!

 

i think i found my answer...i dont seem to have "desk.cpl". i found a reference to it in the registry, which is probably why its in my control panel, but its not in \system32 and i searched all over and its not in my comp....
so...anyone got a copy of desk.cpl (display properties applet) for winxp pro sp1?

 

scratch that. i found it on my cd, didnt work

 

wait, it did work! go me! and thanks to all of you too!