Guest Robbie Hatley Posted July 5, 2008 Posted July 5, 2008 Greetings, group. I've got an annoying little problem with my Windows 2000 that keeps cropping up. Often, when coming back from stand-by, my system tray contains a little icon, a video terminal with a line descending and turning right, with a red X on the line. It looks like this: http://www.well.com/~lonewolf/system-tray.gif That's a 2x blowup of my system tray. All but one of the icons are known to me: Top Row: Power Settings Volume Control Nvidia Sound Settings Nvidia Video Settings Bottom Row: Epson Printer Settings English Input Method ***MYSTERY ICON*** Local Area Connection What the heck *IS* that mystery icon??? Single clicking it does nothing. Right-click does nothing. Hovering over it fails to pop-up a tooltip (unlike all my other system-tray icons). It does not seem to be related to any running process. So... what is it??? Anyone have any idea of what it is, or how to find out? (Note that doing cold shut-down and restart makes it go away for a few days. But a few days later, it will pop up again, always after coming off stand-by mode.) -- Puzzled, Robbie Hatley lonewolf aatt well dott com www dott well dott com slant user slant lonewolf slant
Guest philo Posted July 5, 2008 Posted July 5, 2008 Re: Mysterious icon in system tray with red X. "Robbie Hatley" <lonewolf@well.com> wrote in message news:r7ydnSDyDLq9TvLVnZ2dnUVZ_tHinZ2d@giganews.com... > > Greetings, group. I've got an annoying little problem with my > Windows 2000 that keeps cropping up. Often, when coming back from > stand-by, my system tray contains a little icon, a video terminal > with a line descending and turning right, with a red X on the line. > It looks like this: > > http://www.well.com/~lonewolf/system-tray.gif > > That's a 2x blowup of my system tray. All but one of the icons > are known to me Maybe it's just showing that an external monitor is not connected > Top Row: > Power Settings > Volume Control > Nvidia Sound Settings > Nvidia Video Settings > Bottom Row: > Epson Printer Settings > English Input Method > ***MYSTERY ICON*** > Local Area Connection > > What the heck *IS* that mystery icon??? Single clicking it > does nothing. Right-click does nothing. Hovering over it > fails to pop-up a tooltip (unlike all my other system-tray > icons). It does not seem to be related to any running process. > So... what is it??? Anyone have any idea of what it is, or > how to find out? > > (Note that doing cold shut-down and restart makes it go away > for a few days. But a few days later, it will pop up again, > always after coming off stand-by mode.) > > -- > Puzzled, > Robbie Hatley > lonewolf aatt well dott com > www dott well dott com slant user slant lonewolf slant > >
Guest Andrew Rossmann Posted July 6, 2008 Posted July 6, 2008 Re: Mysterious icon in system tray with red X. In article <r7ydnSDyDLq9TvLVnZ2dnUVZ_tHinZ2d@giganews.com>, lonewolf@well.com says... > > Greetings, group. I've got an annoying little problem with my > Windows 2000 that keeps cropping up. Often, when coming back from > stand-by, my system tray contains a little icon, a video terminal > with a line descending and turning right, with a red X on the line. > It looks like this: > > http://www.well.com/~lonewolf/system-tray.gif > > That's a 2x blowup of my system tray. All but one of the icons > are known to me: > > Top Row: > Power Settings > Volume Control > Nvidia Sound Settings > Nvidia Video Settings > Bottom Row: > Epson Printer Settings > English Input Method > ***MYSTERY ICON*** > Local Area Connection > > What the heck *IS* that mystery icon??? Single clicking it > does nothing. Right-click does nothing. Hovering over it > fails to pop-up a tooltip (unlike all my other system-tray > icons). It does not seem to be related to any running process. > So... what is it??? Anyone have any idea of what it is, or > how to find out? I would guess it's something network related. Can you double-click it? How many icons do you have BEFORE the mystery icon shows up? Maybe it is for some program you have, but never noticed that version? -- If there is a no_junk in my address, please REMOVE it before replying! All junk mail senders will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law!! http://home.att.net/~andyross
Guest John John (MVP) Posted July 6, 2008 Posted July 6, 2008 Re: Mysterious icon in system tray with red X. It's telling you that the Local Area Network cable is unplugged. John Robbie Hatley wrote: > Greetings, group. I've got an annoying little problem with my > Windows 2000 that keeps cropping up. Often, when coming back from > stand-by, my system tray contains a little icon, a video terminal > with a line descending and turning right, with a red X on the line. > It looks like this: > > http://www.well.com/~lonewolf/system-tray.gif > > That's a 2x blowup of my system tray. All but one of the icons > are known to me: > > Top Row: > Power Settings > Volume Control > Nvidia Sound Settings > Nvidia Video Settings > Bottom Row: > Epson Printer Settings > English Input Method > ***MYSTERY ICON*** > Local Area Connection > > What the heck *IS* that mystery icon??? Single clicking it > does nothing. Right-click does nothing. Hovering over it > fails to pop-up a tooltip (unlike all my other system-tray > icons). It does not seem to be related to any running process. > So... what is it??? Anyone have any idea of what it is, or > how to find out? > > (Note that doing cold shut-down and restart makes it go away > for a few days. But a few days later, it will pop up again, > always after coming off stand-by mode.) >
Guest Robbie Hatley Posted July 6, 2008 Posted July 6, 2008 Re: Mysterious icon in system tray with red X. Regarding my "mystery icon" (a video terminal with a line descending and turning right, with a red X on the line) http://www.well.com/~lonewolf/system-tray.gif "philo" wrote: > Maybe it's just showing that an external monitor is not connected Hmmm. I'd not thought of a video-related explanation. However, there is no second monitor (or any provision for one) on my system, nor is my monitor unplugged (else I could not have seen the icon, nor written a post about it). As for "external monitor", aren't they all? I haven't seen an internal monitor since I was working on a TRS80 back in 1978 or so. So thanks for the tip... but no cigar. -- Cheers, Robbie Hatley lonewolf aatt well dott com www dott well dott com slant user slant lonewolf slant
Guest Robbie Hatley Posted July 6, 2008 Posted July 6, 2008 Re: Mysterious icon in system tray with red X. Regarding my "mystery icon" (a video terminal with a line descending and turning right, with a red X on the line) http://www.well.com/~lonewolf/system-tray.gif Andrew Rossmann wrote: > I would guess it's something network related. So I thought, but it does not correspond to any network i can detect. > Can you double-click it? Yes, I sure can. Oh, you mean, does anything HAPPEN when I double-click it? Yes! I hear two clicks! :-) Other than that, nothing happens. > How many icons do you have BEFORE the mystery icon shows up? Maybe it is > for some program you have, but never noticed that version? I suppose that's possible, but if so, it must be one of the background daemons. It's not related to an application program. I'm thinking it has to do with the order in which processes are restarted when coming back from stand-by. If they're restarted in the wrong order, a process may be started at a time when a prerequisite process is not yet started, and paint that icon. Later, the prerequisite starts, and the process that painted the icon resumes normal operation, but the programmer neglected to write code to erase the icon. That's my current guess. (Which may, of course, be dead wrong.) -- Cheers, Robbie Hatley lonewolf aatt well dott com www dott well dott com slant user slant lonewolf slant
Guest Robbie Hatley Posted July 6, 2008 Posted July 6, 2008 Re: Mysterious icon in system tray with red X. "John John (MVP)" wrote of my "mystery icon": > It's telling you that the Local Area Network cable is unplugged. Well, if my network is unplugged, how are these messages getting into Usenet? :-) Besides, I already have a network icon. But let me unplug my cable for a minute and see what happens. :::unplugs ethernet cable::: Wow, now I have 2 identical icons, each a video terminal with a line that descends and turns right, with a red X on the line. :::plugs ethernet cable back in::: Now back to one regular network icon, and one "red-X" icon. I think I see what happened, now. On coming back from stand-by, Windows tries to start a program that requires a network connection, but the network is not up yet, so Windows displays a red-X icon. After the network comes up, it also displays the normal network icon, but fails to erase the "red-X" one, which then stays there forever. A bug in the code that handles network icons in system tray. If my guess is right, if I don't restart the system for a while and just put it in stand-by every night, after a while I'll collect a whole slew of red-X icons in my system tray. That ought to be fun, now that I know its harmless. -- Cheers, Robbie Hatley lonewolf aatt well dott com www dott well dott com slant user slant lonewolf slant
Guest Tom Del Rosso Posted July 9, 2008 Posted July 9, 2008 Re: Mysterious icon in system tray with red X. "Robbie Hatley" <lonewolf@well.com> wrote in message news:bK2dnb-5msMaruzVnZ2dnUVZ_u6dnZ2d@giganews.com > > I think I see what happened, now. On coming back from stand-by, > Windows tries to start a program that requires a network connection, > but the network is not up yet, so Windows displays a red-X icon. > After the network comes up, it also displays the normal network > icon, but fails to erase the "red-X" one, which then stays there > forever. A bug in the code that handles network icons in system > tray. Noooooo. It means you have 2 network adapters. Open "Network and Dial-up Connections" in control panel. One of them may be a virtual adapter. If you don't need it, disable it, or delete it if it's virtual. -- Reply in group, but if emailing add another zero, and remove the last word.
Guest Robbie Hatley Posted August 11, 2008 Posted August 11, 2008 Re: Mysterious icon in system tray with red X. On 2008-07-09, "Tom Del Rosso" wrote:" > "Robbie Hatley" <lonewolf@well.com> wrote in message > news:bK2dnb-5msMaruzVnZ2dnUVZ_u6dnZ2d@giganews.com > > > > I think I see what happened, now. On coming back from stand-by, > > Windows tries to start a program that requires a network connection, > > but the network is not up yet, so Windows displays a red-X icon. > > After the network comes up, it also displays the normal network > > icon, but fails to erase the "red-X" one, which then stays there > > forever. A bug in the code that handles network icons in system > > tray. > > Noooooo. It means you have 2 network adapters. Open "Network and Dial-up > Connections" in control panel. One of them may be a virtual adapter. If > you don't need it, disable it, or delete it if it's virtual. YYYYYYEEEEEESSSSSS iiittt mmmeeeaaannnsss just what I said it means. No, I don't have two network adaptors, either physical or virtual. Why do you think I would not have noticed? In fact, if you actually READ the previous posts in this thread, you'd see that I already thorougly checked-out those options before bothering to post to this group. Furthermore (again as I already made very clear in previous posts) neither right-clicking, nor left-clicking, nor double-clicking this zombie icon has any effect whatsoever. It's dead weight. It does nothing, indicates nothing, and always disappears the next time the machine is restarted. So NO, it is NOT a second network adaptor, either physical or virtual. It's not linked or related to any NIC, virtual adaptor, port, or other network-related entity in, on, or attached-to my computer. It is a zombie. So yes, it must be a left-over "cable disconnected" icon from my one existing NIC. Therefore, yes, it can only be a bug somehere in the code that writes/erases "network cable disconnected" icons to the system tray. I can see no other option that fits the facts. Can you? (And this time, I recommend that would-be respondants go back and read the whole thread before jumping in with suggestions which have already been ruled-out by observations in previous posts.) Update as of 2008-08-10: Over the last month, the mysterious icon has not returned even once, so I am unable to either verify or debunk my theory as to its origins. It seems the most likely cause, though. Probably just one of thousands (millions?) of minor bugs which haunt all of todays huge operating systems. Most of them are only triggered by exceptionally rare circumstances, which is why they were never caught during alpha or beta testing. No big surprise there, really. Where there's software, there's bugs. -- Cheers, Robbie Hatley lonewolf aatt well dott com www dott well dott com slant user slant lonewolf slant > > > -- > > Reply in group, but if emailing add another > zero, and remove the last word. > >
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