Clipboard stops working

[DaveR]

Twice in recent weeks the Windows clipboard has stopped working. I can't copy anything to it or paste anything from it; I have to reboot the computer to get it to work again. I have Windows 7 Pro 64-bit SP1 on a Dell Inspiron 580 with a Core i5 CPU and 8GB of RAM.

When I tried to reboot the computer after this happened, several programs had a variety of issues shutting down, and had to be shut down manually (with Alt+F4 or the X in the top right of their windows, not with Task Manager). Only after these manual closings would Windows shut down and reboot. Thus it seemed that something had caused a fairly widespread problem in the OS. I had never seen anything like any of this before.

Note that I was not using any MS Office software when this happened, not even IE. However, I was using ClipCache, a clipboard enhancement program. I believe that on both occasions I used a hotkey combination to paste something from ClipCache just before the problem occurred, and I have a support request in to them. However, I have used ClipCache for many, many years without anything like this happening.

It's possible that this is all somehow due to ClipCache, but I do wonder if anyone else has seen anything like this, with the clipboard just stopping. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Ztruker]

Since the problem is with the clipboard and you are using a clipboard "enhancer" it's almost a sure thing that is the cause.

The next time it happens, kill ClipCache via Task Manager, see if that cures it.

 

[DaveR]

Thanks. That certainly makes sense, I'm just not understanding why it started happening all of a sudden, and why I get all these shutdown problems with other programs when I reboot. But I hope for some clarification from the ClipCache folks.

 

[mitchell65]

When you say that you are having shutdown problems with some programs when you re boot does that mean you have programs still open when you hit the shutdown or restart option?

 

[DaveR]

When I hit the Windows Key and then hit Shut Down, the usual shutdown process starts, but I'll get the message that one program is preventing Windows from shutting down, for instance Scrivener (a writing program). I hit cancel, and Scrivener will have an error about accessing a file. I close Scrivener manually, try to shut down again, and this time a different program will be preventing it. Cancel again, deal with that program's error message, try shutting down again, and another program is preventing it. Each program has a different kind of error message.

The whole thing is bizarre, and unlike anything I've experienced in 30 years of using personal computers. It's these shutdown errors that make me wonder if there's something going on besides a problem with ClipCache. The most recent Windows update was June 11. Conceivably it could have introduced some sort of conflict; but the first instance of this didn't happen till June 22.

 

[mitchell65]

How about uninstalling ClipCache? I think you will need Revo Uninstaller to clear the residue in the registry!

 

[DaveR]

If the problem can be traced to something with ClipCache, hopefully it can be fixed. I've used ClipCache for so long that it's become intrinsic to my work flow, so uninstalling would be a later-than-last resort.

 

[Ztruker]

Are you using the latest version? ClipCache Pro v3.5.3

Still seems like a good idea to uninstall it and test for awhile. If the problem doesn't happen then ClipCache is the problem. If not then it's not so reinstall it.

 

[mitchell65]

Still seems like a good idea to uninstall it and test for awhile. If the problem doesn't happen then ClipCache is the problem. If not then it's not so reinstall it.

My point exactly!

 

[DaveR]

I appreciate the advice, but from my perspective, the problem has been so recent, so unreproducible, and so uncommon that uninstalling a program I use a dozen times an hour feels like overkill. But in fact I haven't updated to the latest version, Ztruker, and since I expect that will also be ClipCache tech support's suggestion I might as well go ahead and do that anyway. (I hadn't done it before because all it seems to do is add a Polish-language translation to the interface.) Apologies if this turns out to be totally unrelated to Win7.

 

[Ztruker]

I think it's a valid problem and since you are running Win 7 this is where it belongs.

Being intermittent does definitely make this harder to nail down.

Were there any Windows Updates installed around the time this started happening? You can look in Control Panel, Windows Update, View update history to see.

or ...

from a Elevated Command Prompt, enter wmic qfe list full > Updates.txt & notepad Updates.txt

That will create Updates.txt with info on all installed updates in it. Each entry will look something like:

Caption=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2899189
CSName=DESKTOP
Description=Update
FixComments=
HotFixID=KB2899189_Microsoft-Windows-CameraCodec-Package
InstallDate=
InstalledBy=DESKTOP\rrkurtz
InstalledOn=4/15/2014
Name=
ServicePackInEffect=
Status=

You could also do the following:

wmic qfe list full | find "KB" to get the list of update names
wmic qfe list full | find "InstalledOn" to get the install dates

I have not found any way to get them bot (yet).

 

[DaveR]

My most recent Windows update was June 11, but that was 11 days before the first instance of this. Yet it could be that that introduced something that I've managed to trigger just twice since then.

It's peculiar. I often wonder why whenever I have a computer problem, it's always something no one ever heard of. I've decided to take this as a compliment to myself: the problems that most people encounter all the time I already know how to deal with!

 

[DaveR]

I've heard back from ClipCache tech support, and they say that there isn't anything that that program could do to damage the clipboard's functionality like this. Very frustrating. I'll just have to hope it doesn't happen again, and if it does try to recall the exact sequence of actions that precedes it.

 

[mitchell65]

Well they would say that wouldn't they! I still think if it happens again the best bet would be to uninstall the program and see if the problem persists. That's the only sure fire way you will establish whether ClipCache is to blame!

 

[DaveR]

Thanks for the quick response, mitchell65. I know, nobody ever thinks it's their fault. If the problem were frequent and occurred under reproducible conditions, I think you're right, uninstalling ClipCache and testing without its presence would definitively locate the issue. However, it's still so uncommon and obscure that I wouldn't be able to do any actual testing after the uninstall. For now, I'll just have to bide my time until it happens again. Hopefully, though, it will disappear as mysteriously as it arrived! At least I know that this is not a known issue in either Win7 or CC.

 

[mitchell65]

But surely if you have this problem again and the clipboard stops working, if you uninstall ClipCache at that point, don't reboot just see if the clipboard starts working again! Seems simple to me.

 

[DaveR]

Good point. The first time this happened, I did at least turn ClipCache off before rebooting, and it did not help. But yes, this would be something further to try.

Meanwhile, ClipCache tech support suggested that I look at the Windows event viewer. This is right at the edge of where I know what I'm doing, but I was able to run the event viewer and isolate the hour between when I turned the computer back on and when I had to reboot it after the first time this problem occurred. This hour will contain the event when the clipboard quit working, if it was logged. I've saved that set of events to a file. Unfortunately, I can't make anything of the event descriptions between the resume-from-sleep and the shutdown (mostly various services starting or stopping). Can anyone suggest what event I might look for that would be related to the clipboard ceasing to function?

 

[Ztruker]

As I said before, "The next time it happens, kill ClipCache via Task Manager, see if that cures it."

 

[carwiz]

Run the System File Checker just to make sure none of the Windows drivers are corrupt then I'd look at updating ClipCache. Is the update free? It's pretty rare that they would issue an update just to add a language. Perhaps there's some fixes that aren't documented.

 

[DaveR]

I did do the most recent update (free; very minor). Any thoughts on what might show up in the system events log when the clipboard ceased working?