Transparency issues in Windows after resume from Hibernation

For the last several years I have been having this issue every day once I resume from hibernation. For example, this is what Firefox tabs look like:

Firefox tabs

What you see is actually 2 Firefox windows (one behind the other, with the one behind's tabs showing through the top one).

This applies to Chrome too, so it's not FireFox specific at all. In fact it applies to everything which has extended client area on their windows. That extended client area is either rendered completely transparent or black.

This applies to Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 - I have had exactly the same issue on all these OS-s with the same hardware.

Now, this will NOT happen after resume if you minimize all the windows (by clicking on the bottom right-most button in the taskbar to show desktop) BEFORE hibernating

Note: restarting DWM does not fix the problem. The only way to "fix" it is to restart all the affected apps themselves, which kinda defeats the purpose of hibernation.

I DO have the latest video drivers, in fact I update them regularly, but it does not seem to do a thing.

My setup is 3 monitors: Left - Intel HD Graphics 4000 - Intel Driver 10.18.10.4176 (30.03.2015) Right - the same as left Center - Nividi9a GeForce GTX 660 Ti - Nvidia Driver 9.18.13.5306 (27.05.2015)

The issue happens on ALL monitors.

NOTE: This is not a FireFox-specific issue or a bug. It happens with any / all programs left unminimized before hibernation that have their client area extended via DWM API.

One final observation is that after resuming from hibernation CPU usage seems to be higher in DWM and other apps that were NOT minimized PRIOR to hibernation.

Any ideas on how to tackle this?

Fit Nerd

Posted 2015-06-03T06:15:00.177

Reputation: 267

it has never done this to me on all the hardware i have run W7 on, so my conclusion is it some sort of hardware or driver issue. – Moab – 2015-06-03T13:57:16.073

But which one? I have the latest drivers from Intel and NVidia, and it's all the same issue for around 2-3 years! Since it first started I have upgraded OS-s and drivers many times, though hardware remained the same (and hence the kind of drivers I guess). But what is wrong with NVidia GPU for primary screen and Intel Graphics for 2 other screens? They should certainly be compatible. – Fit Nerd – 2015-06-03T14:05:48.227

Is this a desktop PC? sure is a strange problem. – Moab – 2015-06-03T14:48:26.247

Yes, it is desktop PC. – Fit Nerd – 2015-06-03T14:49:43.010

Only thing I know to try is a different graphic card. – Moab – 2015-06-03T15:29:42.220

Right, but then why would both NVidia and Intel HD 4000 be affected? Wouldn't then the issue be restricted to just one monitor? – Fit Nerd – 2015-06-03T16:51:37.920

We wont know until you try, it could be a driver conflict you will never sort out until you try a different manufacturer card, like AMD. – Moab – 2015-06-03T17:31:44.700

Thank you for suggestion. But as I explained in my question, it has nothing to do with FireFox. FireFox is just an easy example. It happens with Chrome and any other program that extends its client area. For example, I use Batch Images, and it happens there too.

– Fit Nerd – 2015-06-03T10:54:33.200

And it's not specific to Windows 8.1 either. Windows 7 and Windows 8 are affected too. – Fit Nerd – 2015-06-03T11:00:15.820

I've only seen it on W8 & Firefox so it just goes to show. I've seen it on 2 different machines from Microsoft and Lenovo. – Julian Knight – 2015-06-03T23:37:45.530

I've seen this frequently with Firefox, but just now Chrome did the same thing. Check your event logs (System) - I found this: Display driver igfx stopped responding and has successfully recovered. I have a laptop connected to a larger screen. Seems to trigger everytime I close the lid of the laptop, forcing the larger screen to redraw. – Frederik Struck-Schøning – 2015-08-20T06:54:10.683

Transparency issues in Windows after resume from Hibernation

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