Classic Shell: Forum

Hello,

I have been using Classic Shell with Windows 8.0 without any problem on a Laptop (Asus A7C)

With an unexpected automatic upgrade to window 8.1 I got a serious problem.
After starting up de Laptop i got stuck with a black screen and only the mouse cursor.
I can the bypass the by pressing the poswerbutton, forcing the Laptop in Standby.
A very short moment before is switches into standby I see the desktop.
After a few seconds I can press the Powerbutton the get the Laptop back to live
I get then a login screen, (coloured with circles) click with the mouse and the I get the
normal desktop screen.


Trying to solve the problem I have removed classic shell, now windowss 8.1 starts normally up|
and directly shows the desktop. Then I installed the latest version 4.02
This did not solve the problem. Also a repair action in the installation menu did not solve the problem.
The Laptop is Asus model A7C, AMD Radion Mobility X1450 graphics chip,
Driver version is 8.352.0.0 installer: 13-12_win7_win8_64_dd_ccc_whql.exe
I tried to install more recent and the latest set but even in Vista compatibility mode these
are refused to install.

When I remove the Radeon Mobility drivers, Windows 8.1 installs a basic Microsoft driver,
which reduces display resolution and functionality to much.

Any suggestion to solve this problem is welcome, otherwise I must reinstall Windows 8.0
and block update.

Cheers
JaapV

OK, So with Classic Shell installed, you get a black screen. Few questions:
1) Is that before or after you enter your password?
2) Is it black, or the color of the start screen background?
3) If you uninstall the Radeon driver, does Windows work (even though at reduced resolution)?
4) If you press Ctrl+Shift+Esc on the black screen, do you get a Task Manager, and are you able to run explorer.exe from it?

Hello,

Anwers:
1) I did not configure a password, so normally i get the login screen and then automatic the desktop screen.
but now with classic shell I only get a short time see the W8 icon (blue blocks and circling points) then
immediately a black screen.
2) Yes, it is the black screen.
3) After de-installation of the Radeon driver Windows works fine, it comes up in desktop mode.
but with the W8 startbutton I can switch between desktop and metro screen.
The resolution due to limation of the Microsoft basic driver is reduced.
But the Classic Shell works fine and I don't get the black screen.
4) I normally use Ctrl+Shift+Del to get the taskmanager, but also this does not appear with Classic Shell active.

Btw. I was just searching the Internet I found other W8 button tools and tried these as alternative and test
- Windows 8 Stardock Start8 v103 has exactly the same problem
- Startmenu 8 see http://www.iobit.com/iobitstartmenu8.php. does not show the problem.

But I like and prefer the Classic Shell because it offers much more functions to tune the behaviour.

Cheers Jaap



I hope this helps.

OK. Since it works fine without either Classic Shell or the video driver, then it is likely some incompatibility between the two. It might be time-sensitive since you are logging in automatically without a password and the driver may not be ready by the time Classic Shell needs it.

Try this:
Go to the General Behavior tab in the settings and uncheck "Start automatically for this user". Reboot and see if you can enter Windows correctly. If that works, then see if running ClassicStartMenu.exe manually works. If that works, the next step is to put a shortcut to ClassicStartMenu.exe inside your Startup folder. Here's how: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1945&view=unread#p9829
The start menu will take about 5-10 seconds to start, which hopefully will be enough for the video driver to get ready.

Hello Ivo,

I have done as you instructed.
Uncheck Classic Shell - Start Automatic... Then after reboot win8.1 starts correctly.
Entered a link to ClassicStartMenu.exe in the startup:
The first reboot, Windows starts with Win8.1 button, after few seconds the Classic Button
replaces the Win8.1 button. so far good.
A second reboot, problem with black screen is back, I think because Windows after shut down hibernates,
and then at reboot nearly immediately loads the classic button (and shell)

When before shutting down Win8.1 I close (right mouse click on the button) Classic Shell
and then shut down and reboot, Windows 8.1 starts normally and with a delay of the startup
link Classic button appears.

I expect indeed that just before completing loading the display driver, Classic Shell is not succesfull
to switch on the log-in screen, and then after that also does not switch to the desktop screen.
In case of a black screen I can let the Laptop go into sleepmode (shortly press the power button)
Before it switches into sleepmode it presents a very short moment the desktop (less then 0.5 sec)
When I then wake up the Laptop the desktop screen appears as should.

I hope this information helps further in analysing the problem.

Cheers Jaap

hi I just encountered this problem yesterday except that i cant even get the screen to show at all, i can bring up the task manager but I cant seem to find "ex7forw8" in the "processes" or "startup" tab, i was thinking if i disable it i can at least see the original 8.1 layout. does Ex7forW8 run under a different name?
please help.

Sorry, this forum is about Classic Shell, not about Ex7forW8.