Flickering Display using Version 7.6.3.3012

Please, somebody - help. I'm losing my mind. The icon flickering is maddening.

It really seems to have some relationship with the Network Client's dialog's status updates (every few seconds). Can someone please check that the display refresh/invalidation is limited in scope to just?

Thanks, Gary

Gary,

Does it still flicker if you minimize the client? What about if the task panels on the connected dialog are all closed?

Robert

Robert:

Thanks for replying.

Yes, it still happens when I minimize the client's dialog.

The flickering phenomenon is not consistent in how it begins. Typically, when I start everything up from scratch it does not occur. I see it after a period of time; apps opened and closed, system put into standby and back, etc. I *do* know that when it gets to that point I can stop it immediately by killing the AT&T client.

I have also noticed that sometimes I can get the flickering started by "maximizing" the "Security Status" section of the client. There are times that performing that action gets the whole thing started. As I mentioned before, once it's going, minimizing stuff doesn't seem to help; the only way to get it to stop is to kill the entire client. The flickering usually restarts once I launch the client again.

I do appreciate your help. Frankly, I have "solved" the problem by reverting back to the 6.X version of the client. Yes, I know it's not supported, but that's a more acceptable situation for me at this point than the flickering is.

Can't remember if I mentioned that I tried upgrading to 8.X (not supported by my employer anyway) and it too flickers, just like 7.X.

Gary

Gary,

It sounds like it might have something to do with the updating of the security status information. Obviously, the update should only be repainting the security status window, but it sounds like it is somehow causing a larger repaint on your laptop.

Would you be able to test an 8.2 beta if I can find any likely culprits? None of the machine here exhibit the flicker, so it will be hard to tell if any changes we make affect it.

Robert

Robert:

Yes, I'll certainly give it a try. And I agree with your assessment about repainting.

It appears that it's the *icons* that are flickering, and I notice that there are icon-like images in the Security Status window. Out of curiosity, how often does the code refresh that particular part of the window? Is it in the five-second ballpark?

Again, thanks for your help!

Gary

Gary,

I was talking with one of the other developers and they said this sounds like a driver problem. I was a little skeptical, but another person confirmed that this can be caused by obvious things like video drivers, but also seemingly unrelated things such as cellular device drivers. Apparently this is somewhat well known. So, it might be worthwhile to also check if you have the latest drivers for the hardware you are using.

Robert

Robert:

Thanks for the reply.

I have the very latest version of the ATI video driver on my system.

I agree that a driver could be part of the problem, but I've (and a colleague) only ever seen this problem when the AT&T Network Driver is active. Since I've gone back to 6.9.0.3006 I have not seen the problem once. I'm pretty confident that the 7.6.3.X client (with its new GUI) plays a part in the problem. Especially in that, when the flickering starts, I can stop it immediately by killing the client.

Gary

Robert:

Anything new on this? Again, I haven't seen the problem since moving back to version 6.9.X.

Gary

I have a couple of developers looking at this now in Version 8.2. I do not think we will have it in the first public beta, as we are trying to post that on Monday or Tuesday of next week, but it should be resolved for the second public beta.

Robert

Robert:

Thanks again for the reply!

So does that mean that you have, in fact, verified and reproduced the problem, and have determined that it's caused by the network client?

Gary

We definitely found a problem where the Security Status task panel would flicker on 64-bit operating systems. This should be fixed in beta 36 and later. I am just waiting for confirmation from our Quality Assurance team that it looks fixed to them, then I can update the public beta to make sure it is the same issue you were encountering.

Robert

Robert:

I'm running a 32-bit version of Windows - would you expect the same problem to manifest itself there as well?

Thanks, Gary

We only saw this on 64-bit operating systems, but it could be realted to the video display driver (which is not identical on 32-bit and 64-bit), so it could have been the same issue.

Version 8.2 has finished QA testing and will be available on Monday.

(Well, it is on the ftp server now, but I will be sending out the announcements and publishing it Monday, but if you go to the ftp server it is already there.)

Robert

Version 8.2 is now available and it includes the fix for the screen flickering. Does it resolve it for you as well?

Robert

Robert:

I'm an IBM employee. Does the IBM-specific 8.2 beta contain the fix?

Thanks, Gary