Mysterious icon in system tray with red X.

[Guest Robbie Hatley]

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]

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]

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)]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

>

>