Just to help others out! I had a problem similar to this with dual screens, one going through a onkyo receiver. I had my computer hooked up to it for audio and video from my PC. The receiver also has a projector hooked to it.
Needless to say I logged off back in and it worked!
What it did before was as soon as I would turn the receiver on to get sound from my PC both screens would blink and my primary LCD would have the icons messed up. Once I shut the receiver down, the icons would somewhat go back. Very annoying issue. I wonder what is actually causing this. I updated my video card
driver thinking that was the issue, but nope.