Question Taskbar Comes and Goes Repeatedly + also Glitches in another way too?

[Dylan Beckett]

Hello

TL : DR - Taskbar Comes and Goes Repeatedly + also Glitches in another way too!


Goes grey - can't access anything on it - but it comes back after a while. However, repeatedly Disappears, Reappears, Disappears etc etc etc ad infinitum.

Also - there is another glitch that seems to happen lately sometimes too....

If you try to right click an icon on the Taskbar to get to it's sub Menu options - and/or left click to Maximise/Minimise that Program... it just won't work or kind of looks like it's 'trying' to do what you want but can't...

Usually after a few goes or a while later it comes back (for a bit at least).
See an example of this here (Right Click example at least)



UPDATE - I've discovered that in the Reliability Monitor in the Control Panel - It appears that this is either caused by File Explorer - OR File Explorer crashing is merely a visible indicator/symptom of whatever the problem is.

It appears File Explorer started crashing repeatedly on the 13th less than a week ago - it's gotten worse since then so it can crash dozens of times a day.


Here are 3x Screenshots as examples....

Here is a picture of what I see.... lasts 30 seconds to a minute I think?.
From Reliability Monitor - Example 1
From Reliability Monitor - Example 2




I do not want to do a fresh install ok - not unless really necessary!

I've heard of various kinds of ways to Repair Windows things - but not being too familiar with Win 10 and 11 - i'm not sure the best way to attempt to fix this especially re File Explorer? Can guys please advise me as to what I should do and how to do it?



NOTE - I've read that a lot of people have a Taskbar that doesn't ever work - that is NOT the case here ok. It starts out fine, then goes haywire...
There are no errors or writing displayed - it just goes blank grey.

Just before it flips back to normal and reappears - the window title bar/s at the of the screen all kind of blink slightly darker then it pops back to normal.

It also locks things up so you can't Alt Tab / Switch between open programs eg between Adobe Acrobat or even Browser windows etc and may even close File Explorer etc?
I do know that I can continue browsing ok if I'm in Edge - but Can't switch Browser Windows as mentioned.



BTW - This is for Windows 11 Pro 64 bit - HOWEVER - I've put this here because I've found the majority of issues that occur in Windows 11 also occur in Windows 10 (and they tend to have well known solutions that I'm not aware of having never used Windows 10).

So it makes more sense to place it here as there are soo few viewers for the Windows 11 forum and I'm far more likely to get solid answers here.

So please leave it here if that's ok?


Thank you for your help

 

[Colif]

Goes grey - can't access anything on it - but it comes back after a while. However, repeatedly Disappears, Reappears, Disappears etc etc etc ad infinitum.

Try a clean boot and see if it changes anything - make sure to read instructions and make sure NOT to disable any microsoft services or windows won't load right - https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/929135/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows


if clean boot fixes it, it shows its likely a startup program. You should, over a number of startups. restart the programs you stopped to isolate the one that is to blame.

What storage drives do you have? I would run a health check on C drive.

BTW - This is for Windows 11 Pro 64 bit - HOWEVER - I've put this here because I've found the majority of issues that occur in Windows 11 also occur in Windows 10 (and they tend to have well known solutions that I'm not aware of having never used Windows 10).

So it makes more sense to place it here as there are soo few viewers for the Windows 11 forum and I'm far more likely to get solid answers here.

Most people who answer questions here likely use the New posts tab or unanswered threads to see threads and as such would see your posts in win 11 area, but i can leave it here. Makes no difference. Most of my solutions are for both, just need to alter some for how 11 moved things.

 

[Dylan Beckett]

Hey Colif

If you can - please re-read the op first then come back here - as I've updated it quite a lot...

Try a clean boot and see if it changes anything .....

if clean boot fixes it, it shows its likely a startup program. You should, over a number of startups. restart the programs you stopped to isolate the one that is to blame.

Now that I've found File Explorer seems connected - will this Clean Boot approach still help as I can't imagine you can or should turn the former off?

What storage drives do you have? I would run a health check on C drive.

Brand new Samsung 980 Pro's (C:\ Drive) and Samsung 970 EVO Plus

I assume only the System drive should be relevant?
They have latest drivers/firmware etc and whole system is up todate.

Most people who answer questions here likely use the New posts tab or unanswered threads to see threads and as such would see your posts in win 11 area, but i can leave it here. Makes no difference. Most of my solutions are for both, just need to alter some for how 11 moved things.

I can understand that - however don't forget not everyone reads/replies to posts that way...

I know I just browse forums and find things that way. So I do think you'd get far more eyeballs in here in the Windows 10 forums as it's so much more ubiquitous.


Thanks for letting it stay.


Thank you for your help

 

[Colif]

look in event viewer at the times these errors show and copy/paste the details of the related events in here, I see what I can find.

clean boot might stop what is causing Explorer to crash. Since explorer is part of windows, you exclude it in the process of setting up a Clean boot. the instructions show you only stop NON Microsoft start up apps, as stopping Microsoft ones can mess up boot.

Brand new Samsung 980 Pro's (C:\ Drive) and Samsung 970 EVO Plus

if you don't have them already, install the Samsung NVMe drivers and also grab Magician from here and run diagnostics on C - https://semiconductor.samsung.com/consumer-storage/support/tools/