Why does my desktop screen keep flashing after installing Windows 10 and can't open anything?

[Windows Central Question]

Desktop screen keeps flashing after installing Windows 10 and can't open anything

After updating to Windows 10 turned my computer ont his morning and signed in. Now desktop screen appears but keeps blacking out and reloading. Unable to open anything and tried rebooting, still happening

 

[LAWALLN]

Just want to say thank you, thank you! It worked, I'm relieved, you're awesome!

 

[Scott Corrales]

A big thanks to Nuala and everyone who posted a solution! The blinking has stopped and my icons are reappearing one by one :-D Bless you all!!

 

[Bob Snj99]

Thank you! Same problem on a Windows 10 install on 9/1. Unchecked those and flashing stopped now more updates happening so I hope Microsoft has a fix. Do they ever read these boards?

 

[elindalyne]

The sad part about this so called fix is its just masking the root issue(driver problems or an application going nuts like mentioned above).

Boot into safe mode, go to the event viewer and find out what's actually crashing!

 

[jetero]

Hi peter,

There are two services screens one can be used to turn off the two functions. Took me a couple of times to see it.

 

[harisjasar]

hi there,
so blinking screen issue happens if you download or get some update that is not compatible with win10.
I had the same issue, I looked on internet and forums, and there was one fix where you have to disable some services, and it looked that for most people that fix worked, but not for me.
Some this is what I did in order to fix mine:
press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC and that will open Task Manager (TM)
In TM go to file,new task and type msconfig then press ok
in system configuration select "Selective startup" but make sure that Load Startup Items is unchecked. press ok then restart.

Hope this helps your issue,
harisjasar

 

[chuckthibault]

Re: Desktop screen keeps flashing after installing Windows 10 and can't open anything

OMG! Worked great, Thank you so much!

 

[ZimFromIRK]

Re: Desktop screen keeps flashing after installing Windows 10 and can't open anything

I had the flashing screen problem (which is really a flashing desktop problem) yesterday after letting Windows install the first Windows 10 update. If the screen flashes, and then the icons flash, that's an indication that Windows Explorer, which runs the desktop, is crashing. This is often caused by an extension. Windows Explorer loads the extension, it crashes, Explorer crashes, and the cycle repeats once or twice a second. You can also start the Task Manager with Ctrl+Shift+Esc and you may see Windows Error Reporting using the CPU as it forwards reports to Microsoft.

The way to diagnose this is to use the Event Viewer. In the Task Manager (which is still usable when this happens), pick File->Run and enter "eventvwr.msc" without quotes. Click "Windows Logs", "System" and then click on one of the red stop signs (you may have to look at several).

That will usually give you the name of the offending DLL that Windows File Explorer is trying to load. Uninstall that application and the problem should be fixed.

In my case, it was actually a Microsoft DLL: cortana.dll that was crashing. I had turned off Cortana because it's not useful to me on a desktop system and I thought its data gathering was too intrusive. So I turned that back on, rebooted, and that solved the problem. I suspect I could turn it back off now, and just haven't gotten to that yet.

But there are any number of Windows File Explorer add-ins that could cause this problem, including iCloud.

I hope this helps someone. Wasted a bunch of time on this.

 

[terryt1]

Ok, I usually never reply to these things because I am a two finger typer and HATE typing, but in this case it is deserved. I had issue with the flashing as did others on an update to windows 10. I found this site on a Google search for my issue. I do not know which one it was, but on this forum it said I should remove that muscle thing (which I had installed0 uncheck the two services and uninstall Norton. so I did all three in safe mode and BINGO! I do not know which of, or if all of three worked, but it worked. THANK YOU AL,L SO MUCH for sharing!!!
:amaze:

 

[earl_z]

Re: Desktop screen keeps flashing after installing Windows 10 and can't open anything

I had the flashing screen problem (which is really a flashing desktop problem) yesterday after letting Windows install the first Windows 10 update. If the screen flashes, and then the icons flash, that's an indication that Windows Explorer, which runs the desktop, is crashing. This is often caused by an extension. Windows Explorer loads the extension, it crashes, Explorer crashes, and the cycle repeats once or twice a second. You can also start the Task Manager with Ctrl+Shift+Esc and you may see Windows Error Reporting using the CPU as it forwards reports to Microsoft.
The way to diagnose this is to use the Event Viewer. In the Task Manager (which is still usable when this happens), pick File->Run and enter "eventvwr.msc" without quotes. Click "Windows Logs", "System" and then click on one of the red stop signs (you may have to look at several).
That will usually give you the name of the offending DLL that Windows File Explorer is trying to load. Uninstall that application and the problem should be fixed.
In my case, it was actually a Microsoft DLL: cortana.dll that was crashing. I had turned off Cortana because it's not useful to me on a desktop system and I thought its data gathering was too intrusive. So I turned that back on, rebooted, and that solved the problem. I suspect I could turn it back off now, and just haven't gotten to that yet.
But there are any number of Windows File Explorer add-ins that could cause this problem, including iCloud.
I hope this helps someone. Wasted a bunch of time on this.

I have the same issues as you. I disabled Windows Error Reporting service and that seemed to fix the issue for me.

 

[Ty_Contratto]

Re: Desktop screen keeps flashing after installing Windows 10 and can't open anything

I can't take credit for this but it is a fix that worked for me. Someone by the user name of NualaMa at PC Adviser suggested this and it worked for me and others. I felt like I needed to pass this on because I know your anguish. One thing is, though, you will have to figure out how to boot into safe mode, which took me a while to figure out. Google it if you need to know how to do that. Anyhow here's NualaMa's suggestion which I cut and paste. Good luck!

"There is a simple fix

Open task manager ... under file (top left) "Run new task" ... type msconfig (yes it is hard to type as screen blinks, but it can be done) ... In the new box that opens (it may be behind the task manager box) go to Service Tab .... Scroll until you find 2 tasks that need to be stopped ... (1) Problem Reports and Solution Control Panel Support .... (2) Windows Error Report Service.... Disable these by unchecking .... Click Apply ... Click OK ... If you are prompted to restart, then restart computer .....

This is the main issue causing the screen to blink . .. Ironic that the items causing the errors are the solutions designed to report errors to microsoft"

This worked very well for me thank you very much it is very hard to type in the blinking screen and it will require time and patience but it can be done

 

[Michael7823]

I can't take credit for this but it is a fix that worked for me. Someone by the user name of NualaMa at PC Adviser suggested this and it worked for me and others. I felt like I needed to pass this on because I know your anguish. One thing is, though, you will have to figure out how to boot into safe mode, which took me a while to figure out. Google it if you need to know how to do that. Anyhow here's NualaMa's suggestion which I cut and paste. Good luck!

"There is a simple fix

Open task manager ... under file (top left) "Run new task" ... type msconfig (yes it is hard to type as screen blinks, but it can be done) ... In the new box that opens (it may be behind the task manager box) go to Service Tab .... Scroll until you find 2 tasks that need to be stopped ... (1) Problem Reports and Solution Control Panel Support .... (2) Windows Error Report Service.... Disable these by unchecking .... Click Apply ... Click OK ... If you are prompted to restart, then restart computer .....

This is the main issue causing the screen to blink . .. Ironic that the items causing the errors are the solutions designed to report errors to microsoft"

This worked....sort of. I can now open the control panel, which is a major step forward, but I am still having my desktop "refresh" every few minutes. So many bugs with this upgrade. I had to first fix the "can't open app as built-in admin" and now I just fixed the problem of opening the control panel, and now onto the desktop refresh issue. Lame.

 

[Michael7823]

The sad part about this so called fix is its just masking the root issue(driver problems or an application going nuts like mentioned above).

Boot into safe mode, go to the event viewer and find out what's actually crashing!

Thank you for this bit of info. I have never needed to use this feature, and it works great. I was able to track down the issue to the printer:
"The print spooler failed to regenerate the printer driver information for driver Microsoft XPS Document Writer for environment Windows x64. Win32 system error code 1797 (0x705). This can occur after an operating system upgrade or because of data loss on the hard drive."

My printer didn't show up after the upgrade, so I installed it....everything is now back to normal. Wasted a whole day getting this upgrade to work like it should. SMH.

 

[billkeys]

This fix worked perfectly. Thanks.

 

[KMP HD]

someone in another thread said that the Nvidia driver causes the issue. Try uninstalling that and see..

Thank you soooooo much this worked perfectly, just got this laptop and panicked, thank you again!!

 

[roryhart89]

Re: Desktop screen keeps flashing after installing Windows 10 and can't open anything

I can't take credit for this but it is a fix that worked for me. Someone by the user name of NualaMa at PC Adviser suggested this and it worked for me and others. I felt like I needed to pass this on because I know your anguish. One thing is, though, you will have to figure out how to boot into safe mode, which took me a while to figure out. Google it if you need to know how to do that. Anyhow here's NualaMa's suggestion which I cut and paste. Good luck!

"There is a simple fix

Open task manager ... under file (top left) "Run new task" ... type msconfig (yes it is hard to type as screen blinks, but it can be done) ... In the new box that opens (it may be behind the task manager box) go to Service Tab .... Scroll until you find 2 tasks that need to be stopped ... (1) Problem Reports and Solution Control Panel Support .... (2) Windows Error Report Service.... Disable these by unchecking .... Click Apply ... Click OK ... If you are prompted to restart, then restart computer .....

This is the main issue causing the screen to blink . .. Ironic that the items causing the errors are the solutions designed to report errors to microsoft"

Thank you very much for this post. My dad was having this same problem with his asus laptop for a month or so. He gave it to me to try and fix this problem and I came across this post and it worked perfectly. One thing I might add is; I didnt have to put my computer into Safe mode to make this work. After the computer booted up and started flashing on the desk top I did all the steps as previously posted. The only difference was that this computer started having this problem after a Norton update. So, when I went into the task manager steps, I selected Norton along with the first two; ( 1) Problem Reports and Solution Control Panel Support, and (2) Windows Error Report Service. This may or may have not made a different but, I also unchecked Norton 360 along with the other two. After the restart prompt, everything was back to normal. Thanks again

 

[Peter Kuteyi]

Thank You for sharing this it worked fine. :smile:

 

[TamaraBridge]

Thanks so much! This worked for me. It is nice to have a non jumping computer screen again.

 

[Marie Aiken]

Can you share what you did to fix the problem? I would love to know!

Thanks

 

[petrusknut]

My Toshiba laptop has exhibited this problem since going to W10. None of the suggested fixes worked for me and I have tried them all!

It is intermittent and of varying intensity. When screen is flashing keyboard is dead so only solution has been to power off completely and re-power up when hopefully system then works. As problem is not reproducible then it is difficult to know if any course of action has 'cured' problem.

A friend suggested removing power lead and/or battery

My battery looks OKish. It runs down faster than it predicts but
does recharge OK as judged by battery view app.

I am working through another blog official MS W10 one with570
people who also have this problem.

However last night with battery in and mains power in, when flashing occurs
I removed mains and system immediately shut down. It would not
restart until mains power chord put in even though battery was in and charged, then restarted normally

If this is consistent - I have done it three times so far- it
would indicate a power problem but whether a new battery would help I am not sure . I shall continue to run on power plus
battery and when flashing screen occurs remove mains power