[SOLVED] Disappearing icons (apps) from Windows 11 Start Menu pinned app list / mystery

[Minaz]

Hi,

You know how when you hit the Windows key, the start menu now pops up in the center, and the main part of the start menu is the pinned app list? So I spend quite a bit of time arranging and pinning icons for my apps to the pinned app list. Recently an update even allowed grouping of icons so that you can create app folders like on an Android phone (or like Windows 10 used to do). Anyway, suffice it to say, it took a long time to get the pinned apps list organized the way I want it, which I sorted by type of app, and how often I used them, and grouped them according to function, etc...

Until yesterday, that is, when I hit the Windows key, the start menu seemed to have reverted back to the default setting. Just as if I had reinstalled Windows and chose the option not to preserve user settings! All the app icons, groups/folders, everything was reset so that only the default icons and apps that shipped with Windows showed in the start menu pinned app list. The apps were stilled installed and operational, its just that the start menu seemed to have been reset.

Does anyone know how/why this happened, and if it is somehow recoverable? I tried some troubleshooting tips I Googled on the Internet including logging out, refreshing explorer, and resetting the component store but those all turned out to be useless.

EDIT: I was just trying to re-order the start menu again when my computer crashed (BSOD). When I logged back in, the start menu was reset again! Now I recall that the start menu reset the first time after a BSOD too. So, it seems that the crash caused the start menu to reset, but I never put two and two together because I never thought that a BSOD would cause Windows to reset the start menu, especially when the BSOD is hardware related AFAIK (my system has been suffering from Clock Watchdog Timeout errors). Does anyone know why Windows reset my start menu as a result of a BSOD, and how this can be fixed/prevented?

 

[Colif]

Re order your start menu how you want it and log out. I wonder if going to bottom of this page and clearing the stored record might at least let you replace it with what you want - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...settings-deebcba2-5bc0-4e63-279a-329926955708

I have not seen BSOD change windows settings before. And I seen a lot of BSOD questions. But if the BSOD happens after you make changes and before they are synced to the cloud, it is probably just windows grabbing what was saved there on logon, its trying to be helpful.

As for BSOD

Can you follow option one on the following link - here - and then do this step below: Small memory dumps - Have Windows Create a Small Memory Dump (Minidump) on BSOD - that creates a file in c windows/minidump after the next BSOD

1. Open Windows File Explore
2. Navigate to C:\Windows\Minidump
3. Copy the mini-dump files out onto your Desktop
4. Do not use Winzip, use the built in facility in Windows
5. Select those files on your Desktop, right click them and choose 'Send to' - Compressed (zipped) folder
6. Upload the zip file to the Cloud (OneDrive, DropBox . . . etc.)
7. Then post a link here to the zip file, so we can take a look for you . . .

What are specs of the PC?

 

[Minaz]

Thank you so much for the reply. Yes, my Windows PC is being synced, although that wouldn't explain it as all the PCs that are synced (I have 2 PCs and 1 laptop) have customized folders, icons arranged, etc... One point of me arranging the start menu is that the PCs have the same interface for me. When I say reset, I mean to say the start menu looks like a new installation of Windows 11 if you've never done anything to it. Now that you mention it however, I did notice something strange happening with Windows 11, but I thought it was a harmless bug. As mentioned I have 3 computers. Right now not one of them work perfectly and that's just Windows 11 I guess. The laptop is the one that is closest to working "fine" because the only problem it has is that some applications won't successfully download from the Windows Store. The 2nd PC (not this one) won't allow grouping of icons into folders in the start menu. No idea why, maybe its some setting somewhere (the Windows is up to date). Now this PC I am talking about, it is a newer PC (specs below) and the strange thing about it is that occasionally when I try to group items into folders the items won't move. It would hang for a moment, then reset the icons back to where it was. For example, say I want to put all my Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, etc...) icons into one folder called "MS Office". Usually that would be as simple as drag and drop. But sometimes for particular apps, the folder would be created and the icons would go into the folder, but when I try to open the folder, it would hang for a moment, close the start menu, and when I open it again, the icons are not grouped into a folder. I am suspecting but not definitely sure that rearranging my folders/icons is one of the triggers for the BSOD. The other triggers I have found are: file I/O operations, accessing certain drives, and oddly enough, locking the screen - if I lock the screen and go away, it would have BSOD and restarted by the time I come back. This does not happen if I just let the screensaver go without locking the screen. Oh and all three of my PCs suffer from the fact that when you add icons to the start menu ("pin to start"), you often have to do a manual epxlorer refresh before the icons show up.

Also, I should note that I have performed a reinstallation of Win 11 from the Microsoft official image file on this PC to try to fix the BSOD, and this problem of resetting the start menu started happening after the reinsatllation.

The BSODs occur usually when some trigger happens, but its not that consistent. It used to be copying a large number of files would crash the system every time, then that behavior stopped for a while before coming back again. It happens more often with a particular drive (an external HDD) but again this is not consistent, sometimes it would BSOD just copying to the other PC across the local network. DisplayCAL used to crash the system, but hasn't in a while. Currently, the reliable way to crash the system is to lock the screen and leave it for an hour or so (I say currently because the BSOD triggers change with time it seems, and there was also a period of about 8 days I think where the PC didn't BSOD at all). As mntioned, I am suspecting that rearranging the icons in the start menu causes some instability that might crash the system, but I cannot verify this since it has only happened once or twice and it doesn't happen right away - i.e. not while I am actually moving the icons, but a short while afterwards. But the strange thing is this: if I don't do one of the triggers, the PC can run for literal hours sometimes days without BSOD. In particular, playing games, even two games at once (dual monitor setup) would not crash the system. I ran a bunch of CPU stress tests and memory stress tests and after overnight sessions, the PC would not crash.

Below are the system specs, nothing is overclocked, since troubleshooting I have the BIOS updated to the latest version (F9a) and set at its default configuration (by actually resetting the BIOS so its bone stock).

MiniDump files:
https://files.catbox.moe/2u1a2y.dmp

https://files.catbox.moe/hrfc2w.dmp

https://files.catbox.moe/7y22o6.dmp

https://files.catbox.moe/ewv21u.dmp

https://files.catbox.moe/d7we4k.dmp
(I have more, but they are always either WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR or CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT).

OS Name Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
Version 10.0.22621 Build 22621
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name
System Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model Z590 AORUS PRO AX
System Type x64-based PC
System SKU Default string
Processor 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-11900KF @ 3.50GHz, 3504 Mhz, 8 Core(s), 16 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends International, LLC. F9a, 1/24/2022
SMBIOS Version 3.3
Embedded Controller Version 255.255
BIOS Mode UEFI
BaseBoard Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
BaseBoard Product Z590 AORUS PRO AX
BaseBoard Version Default string
Platform Role Desktop
Secure Boot State Off
PCR7 Configuration Elevation Required to View
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume5
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "10.0.22621.1"
User Name MARKS-NZXT\markw
Time Zone Pacific Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 64.0 GB
Total Physical Memory 63.9 GB
Available Physical Memory 49.9 GB
Total Virtual Memory 67.9 GB
Available Virtual Memory 49.6 GB
Page File Space 4.00 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
Kernel DMA Protection Off
Virtualization-based security Not enabled
Windows Defender Application Control policy Enforced
Windows Defender Application Control user mode policy Off
Device Encryption Support Elevation Required to View
Hyper-V - VM Monitor Mode Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Second Level Address Translation Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Virtualization Enabled in Firmware Yes
Hyper-V - Data Execution Protection Yes

 

[Colif]

WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR or CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT

both of those are hardware errors. Often WHEA dumps all look the same to me, I convert one just to get some data about PC

CPU -
Motherboard - Gigabyte Z590 AORUS PRO AX, Bios F9a, 1/24/2022 (newest)
Ram - 64gb Teamgroup TEAMGROUP-UD4-4000 I assume its one set?
GPU Nvidia RTX ?
Storage?
PSU?
Anything else?

Conversion of dumps

report - Click run as fiddle to see report


File: 2u1a2y.dmp (Oct 21 2022 - 19:20:26)
BugCheck: [WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR (124)]
Probably caused by: GenuineIntel (Process: System)
Uptime: 0 Day(s), 23 Hour(s), 59 Min(s), and 08 Sec(s)

I wonder what this is

Mar 22 2011

AceecaUSBDx64.sys

could be for a palm pilot?
possibly https://palmdb.net/help/hotsync-setup

might not be cause, I just look at drivers the program doesn't recognise. I can also see that file linked to virus.

 

[Minaz]

Hi,

The RAM was original 32GB, I added another 2 sticks of the same make and model to bring it to 64GB. The BSOD did start before the additional RAM was added though.

The machine was built by NZXT.
RTX3080
The main hard drive is a 1TB M.2 nVME that was provided by NZXT (Corsair I believe).
I have added more hard drives though.

PSU is the NZXT 1000W supply (C1000 Gold).

And yes, that driver is for a Palm Pilot.
I only recently added the driver so my Palm Pilot could sync to the PC, but the BSODs started long before that.

 

[Colif]

intel CPU better at accepting 2 different sets compared to AMD would be

I decided to look at the other 4
Conversion of dumps

report - Click run as fiddle to see report


File: 7y22o6.dmp (Oct 22 2022 - 13:37:20)
BugCheck: [WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR (124)]
Probably caused by: GenuineIntel (Process: System)
Uptime: 0 Day(s), 4 Hour(s), 24 Min(s), and 19 Sec(s)

File: d7we4k.dmp (Oct 15 2022 - 19:41:30)
BugCheck: [WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR (124)]
Probably caused by: GenuineIntel (Process: System)
Uptime: 0 Day(s), 0 Hour(s), 04 Min(s), and 41 Sec(s)

File: ewv21u.dmp (Oct 18 2022 - 13:41:26)
BugCheck: [CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT (101)]
Probably caused by: Unknown_Image (Process: MsMpEng.exe)
Uptime: 0 Day(s), 0 Hour(s), 28 Min(s), and 34 Sec(s)

File: hrfc2w.dmp (Oct 22 2022 - 09:12:31)
BugCheck: [CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT (101)]
Probably caused by: Unknown_Image (Process: System)
Uptime: 0 Day(s), 6 Hour(s), 57 Min(s), and 43 Sec(s)

2 of each...

do you use WIFI or Ethernet?
victim of one crash was Defender anti virus so thought it might be internet but your drivers are pretty new.

what else gets used on pc? WHEA errors can be any hardware
can be caused by heat so make sure no dust in heatsinks
can be caused by overclocking so remove any you may have
can be caused by overclocking software - you don't appear to have any
can be any hardware, hence we test it all


Should still check ram... its possible 1st set is cause but RAM errors tend to be all over the place, not just the same error. Might leave that until we test other parts.

run this on CPU - https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/15951/19792/intel-processor-diagnostic-tool.html?

try running Crystaldiskinfo (blue icons) on all the drives, it auto runs so don't need to really do anything - https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/

its 7.30am, I need some sleep

give me any dumps you have. One of them might offer more of a clue

 

[Minaz]

intel CPU better at accepting 2 different sets compared to AMD would be

I decided to look at the other 4
Conversion of dumps

report - Click run as fiddle to see report


File: 7y22o6.dmp (Oct 22 2022 - 13:37:20)
BugCheck: [WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR (124)]
Probably caused by: GenuineIntel (Process: System)
Uptime: 0 Day(s), 4 Hour(s), 24 Min(s), and 19 Sec(s)

File: d7we4k.dmp (Oct 15 2022 - 19:41:30)
BugCheck: [WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR (124)]
Probably caused by: GenuineIntel (Process: System)
Uptime: 0 Day(s), 0 Hour(s), 04 Min(s), and 41 Sec(s)

File: ewv21u.dmp (Oct 18 2022 - 13:41:26)
BugCheck: [CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT (101)]
Probably caused by: Unknown_Image (Process: MsMpEng.exe)
Uptime: 0 Day(s), 0 Hour(s), 28 Min(s), and 34 Sec(s)

File: hrfc2w.dmp (Oct 22 2022 - 09:12:31)
BugCheck: [CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT (101)]
Probably caused by: Unknown_Image (Process: System)
Uptime: 0 Day(s), 6 Hour(s), 57 Min(s), and 43 Sec(s)

2 of each...

do you use WIFI or Ethernet?
victim of one crash was Defender anti virus so thought it might be internet but your drivers are pretty new.

what else gets used on pc? WHEA errors can be any hardware
can be caused by heat so make sure no dust in heatsinks
can be caused by overclocking so remove any you may have
can be caused by overclocking software - you don't appear to have any
can be any hardware, hence we test it all


Should still check ram... its possible 1st set is cause but RAM errors tend to be all over the place, not just the same error. Might leave that until we test other parts.

run this on CPU - https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/15951/19792/intel-processor-diagnostic-tool.html?

try running Crystaldiskinfo (blue icons) on all the drives, it auto runs so don't need to really do anything - https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/

its 7.30am, I need some sleep

give me any dumps you have. One of them might offer more of a clue

Hi,

I just wanted to update this thread to mention that the reason I haven't replied is that my PC is actually being sent back to the manufacturer with an RMA. I will update after they take a look at it and perform any possible repairs since it would make more sense in that context. Thanks!

 

[Colif]

Its your thread, you can reply whenever you like

 

[Minaz]

Its your thread, you can reply whenever you like

Of all the improbable things, the RMA returned and I was told, it was a GPU error! That definitely was not on top of my list. However, thank you for the tips, they were useful for my own development.