Flashing screen

[Rmarshp]

Does anyone else find that since upgrading to 2.6 their screen flickers really badly. It doesn't affect ZionWorx just Powerpoint and anything else that is using graphics. When ZionWorx is closed down the problem goes away! Phil

[Jonathan Hills]

Which screen is this - the monitor or projector?
All programs use graphics to a lesser or greater degree, perhaps your card is not up to the demands you are putting on it.
What is the spec of your equipment?

[davepartridge]

I'm finding something which is probably related since upgrading to the latest variant (2.6.42).

I tried upgrading the Church computer this afternoon (only just over a year old with good graphics card and XP) - everything went as planned with the upgrade. However, when ZionWorx is open the icons on the desktop flicker every second or so - this is on the control screen, not the presentation screen. It's only on the desktop and not whilst viewing other folders etc.

A more pressing problem, though, is that if I've shown a song in ZW, minimise the control screen and maximise it again the song is no longer shown on the projector. This also happens if there is currently no live song on the projector i.e. no song shown on second screen, minimise ZW, maximise, try to display song (F12) but nothing shows on second screen. If I close ZW and restart it, it generally works again, but I don't want to have to restart ZW instead of minimising every time!

This problem wasn't evident with the earlier 2.6.01 version - I'm going to need to go back because this is stopping us using ZW properly - is there a link available to the full setup file as I can't find my downloaded copy? If not, is someone able to e-mail it to me?

I just want to finish by saying that ZionWorx is a cracking bit of software which does exactly what we need it to.

Thanks.

[Rmarshp]

Hi,
Thanks for your responses. We use a 2 year old 1600 mhz Fujitsu Seimens Amilo laptop with a quality card. Tried to use it in anger at the service this morning and ZW was fine as long as I didn't try to use the Powerpoint we use for notices, and closed ZW when we needed PowerPoint during the sermon. As Dave Partridge reported whilst ZW is running, desktop icons and any windows other than those of ZW itself flash at about 1 sec intervals. Remove ZW and all is well

Also similar to David I am finding on occasions that although a song is showing in the "current list" it refuses to show on the main screen. Haven't fathomed under what conditions this happens as yet.

I upgraded from 2.5 and will go back to that if possible for a while, as we need PowerPoint presentations more than we need spontaneous on screen bible passages, great though that will be. Phil

[Rmarshp]

OK! Not sure what this proves but I have carried out a system restore back to before upgrading from 2.5 to the current version. Using the same powerpoints and set-lists there are none of the problems encountered with 2.6. I'm gutted but I'll stick with this for the time being. Phil

[brainier]

As for minimising ZW, see http://www.zionworx.org.uk/forum_3/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=713#p3128

[davepartridge]

Sorry to ask again, but does anyone have the 2.6.01 setup file which they would be able to e-mail to me? I need to change our Church ZionWorx back and I'm going away for Easter early on Thursday morning so need to get it done before then.

If anyone has got it, can you post on here or PM me please?

Thanks.

[Rmarshp]

Sorry Dave. I reverted to 2.5 but be wary. I tried reloading 2.5 from the ZW website which worked apart from losing all the songs. I then did the system restore to the point before I downloaded the 2.6 upgrade and all was well.

Phil

[Jonathan Hills]

Tried this tonight and same as reported above.
It seems to be firing off a refresh desktop command (f5 or right click desktop - refresh) every 0.5 seconds. By clicking on the restore down button (never knew it was called that!) next to minimise, this got rid of it - at least on our system (WMC).

Also similar to David I am finding on occasions that although a song is showing in the "current list" it refuses to show on the main screen. Haven't fathomed under what conditions this happens as yet.

Not sure if this is exactly the same, but I found that if the focus is not on current item (right pane of control screen), then the song won't display. I don't remember having this issue before.

[Rmarshp]

Cleared a load of space, defragged and downloaded 2.6 again. Oddly, at first the flashing was still happening. ZW with PowerPoint loaded flashed, ZW with PowerPoint closed down was fine. I tried starting Powerpoint with the presentation I wanted running without ZW running - all OK. Then loaded ZW still OK.
So tried ZW again allowing it to open Powrpoint and Lo & Behold! Flashing!
I tried a few other combinations to make sure - IE. starting ZW, allowing it to open PowerPoint , closing PowerPoint and opening it again manually, etc and --All Flashing Stopped.Couldn't get it to flash whatever I did!!! No idea why! Has someone been praying?
Just tried it again to make sure - No Flashing. I'm leaving well alone. Praise God!

Thanks for your patience! Phil

[ChrisClark]

Re: Flashing - We are able to reproduce this when ZionWorx is minimised (with powerpoint open). However when it is open normally there is no flashing occuring (this is running in single monitor mode - I can't see how the behaviour would change being in dual screen though). The flashing is related to ZW maintaining a synchronised view with any powerpoint changes - however this was an unintended side effect that we will correct in the next release.

Re: "Also similar to David I am finding on occasions that although a song is showing in the "current list" it refuses to show on the main screen. Haven't fathomed under what conditions this happens as yet."
We would need further information for this - as unable to see this happening. We have added protection around the fades so that song text can't be changed mid-fade and this may be what you are experiencing. But as long as ZW is in words and text state then you should see song changes on the projector. If you are relying on the Enter key as a shortcut to move text then yes the current item has to be focussed.

Re: 2.6.01 installation. Sorry Dave - I can't find a copy of the installation on our systems either. We will be correcting the minimise issue in the next release - but perhaps for now a suitable workaround for you will be using the Ctrl+F9 shortcut which hides/shows the presentation screen under normal usage. It also works to recover the presentation screen in this situation.

[davepartridge]

Cheers. I've managed to get hold of 2.6.01 so have gone back to using that for now. When the next release comes out, hopefully we'll be able to use that.

[Jonathan Hills]

Re: "Also similar to David I am finding on occasions that although a song is showing in the "current list" it refuses to show on the main screen. Haven't fathomed under what conditions this happens as yet."

Had this happen yesterday. Seemed to be after stopping a powerpoint series of looping slides.
Restarting ZW fixed the problem but it was difficult to replicate this.

[Daveee]

I have just come across a related problem..... Working on a dual screen setup and minimising ZW i too get the flashing but on maximising the screen the second screen the display screen has vanished and i cannot get it back, except to close down and re-open. Fortunately this is on my home machine and not at church which is still at 2.6.01 which workes fine. I'm using a 3 year old P4 - XP service Pack 2 graphics is a Matrox Millenium G450 DVI

[brainier]

As for minimising ZW, see http://www.zionworx.org.uk/forum_3/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=713#p3128

The summary from this post is that you should not minimise Zionworx.