Solved Start Menu Anomaly

[timw128]

Hello-

OK, so my Windows 7 Professional SP1 x64 machine has learned a new trick all by itself.

I have the machine set-up to go to sleep after an hour of inactivity. Works good!... However, when I tap the

keyboard space bar to awake, my Start Menu is open. It seems to be a random thing, but since it started

doing this a couple of weeks ago, I took notice. I don't think I've made any changes to the machine since

this started.

Anyone have any solutions to this anomaly?

Thanks in advance-

tim

 

[Megahertz07]

What kind of keyboard you have, mechanic or membrane?
Membrane keyboard has plastic bubbles that acct as a coil. On another layer you have a membrane with a conductor that with pressure close a contact with the lower layer. It's possible that the contact is closing when you hit the keyboard space key that is just beside the Windows key.
Try another keyboard. If you find out that it is the keyboard, open it and wash the membranes. Or just replace it.

 

[timw128]

What kind of keyboard you have, mechanic or membrane?
Membrane keyboard has plastic bubbles that acct as a coil. On another layer you have a membrane with a conductor that with pressure close a contact with the lower layer. It's possible that the contact is closing when you hit the keyboard space key that is just beside the Windows key.
Try another keyboard. If you find out that it is the keyboard, open it and wash the membranes. Or just replace it.

Interesting... it's a brand new Logitech K120. I couldn't tell you whether or not it's mechanical or a dome-

switch membrane style. It's not the keyboard. I tried the other HP keyboard and it does the same thing.

Also, this Start Menu anomaly is intermittent.

They say mechanical keyboards are expensive and start at around $60- well, I've never payed anything

near that for a keyboard. And I've never had an issue with a Logitech.

You Should Use A Mechanical Keyboard - Tested

 

[MilesAhead]

What happens if you move the mouse instead?

I wonder if there is some way the start menu opens with spacebar if it has the focus? Just for grins I would click on a desktop icon before leaving the machine go idle just to see if it stops opening the start menu if a desktop icon is left with the focus.

Just weird ideas.

 

[timw128]

What happens if you move the mouse instead?

I wonder if there is some way the start menu opens with spacebar if it has the focus? Just for grins I would click on a desktop icon before leaving the machine go idle just to see if it stops opening the start menu if a desktop icon is left with the focus.

Just weird ideas.

LOL!... My man!...Miles Davis fan- a pioneer of cool jazz.

Yeah, mouse movement awakes, too. I have it set-up that way- although a click responds faster than

wigglin' the rodent.

Not sure what you mean regarding 'desktop icon'- I have none, with the exception of trash can. And even

that remains highlighted for some strange reason.

For some reason, I'm leaning toward something happening when it goes to sleep. This open Start Menu

deal is not a consistent thing- it's highly random, actually. Also, when I hooked up this new keyboard

I couldn't awake with keyboard right away. Only the case button. Then, all of a sudden the next day I can

awake with keyboard again. Weird!

I do have some issues with the USB ports on back of machine, it seems. I have them all set the same,

but the only way the keyboard will work with sleep mode is if I have it plugged into a USB 3.0.

Started a thread about it a while back, but never got it resolved.

 

[MilesAhead]

Yeah, that does sound like a funky hardware thing. Intermittent problems are a pita.

Just for grins you could try the Old Jedi Support Trick. Supposedly you should do this in Safe Mode but I am lazy and have done it a bunch of times in regular user mode and have never seen it make a difference. Go into Device Manager and right click on any funky hardware devices and click uninstall/delete whatever it says to remove it.

Reboot. Plug and play will say Windows has found new hardware. It will install the same drivers as before but for some reason they seem to "take" better. The fix may not do anything or it may last for months. From doing it in support my anecdotal evidence subconscious counter feels like it works about 50% of the time. So it is well worth trying.

I have never seen plug and play fail to reinstall whatever you deleted from DM so I would not be too paranoid about deleting the troublesome drivers.

 

[timw128]

Yeah, did all that through DM, AND checked with vendor for new drivers. It just seems that sometimes these things have a mind of their own. Also, this machine has an OEM mobo, although the components have been upgraded significantly.

 

[MilesAhead]

Have you tried tapping one of the Shift keys instead of the space bar? Not a solution but a work-around. It does seem that really strange problems often have the word "logitech" stuck in there somewhere. Even back in the old Slackware Linux days I could never get anything logitech to be completely compatible. It seems like the cheapest MS mouse clone always works as expected.

But I am not a gamer so I have no use for extra buttons etc.. I just use the standard 2 button with wheel type mice.

 

[timw128]

I think so...don't really pay attention to that. Like I said, it happens infrequently. Ya just never know when it's going to do it. :roflmao:
I've never had any issues with Logitech stuff...I've been using these K120 keyboards for a long time, and their basic mice. They quit making the LS-1 mouse, which I really liked- had some heft and a solidity to it, and was ergo- so now I use this basic '2 button with a wheel' type M100 mouse.
This wake issue was happening with the HP keyboard that came with the machine- I just didn't like the feel of that KB, and one of the legs got snapped off from it.
Machine's an HP Envy 700-515xt CTO. It's not quite 2 yrs. old, had all top end stuff in it. Since then I've added an i7-4790K, Samsung 256GB 850 Pro SSD for OS and progs, Corsair RM750i PSU, 32GB G. SKILL RAM, and an MSI GTX 960-4G GPU. I have all of this stuffed into the HP Envy mATX case, but cooling hasn't been a problem. I don't do any gaming, with the exception being one of those simple games on social media once in a while. I do a bit of graphics and CAD work, though.
The OS is running clean, no SFC issues. All updates installed, EXCEPT the ones that are known to cause issues.
This Start Menu bug just seems to be one of those pesky lil' annoyances that pop up now and then. Who knows whether it's a Windows deal, or hardware related. I suppose most people would simply ignore it. I'm just not one of them.

 

[MilesAhead]

Why not try one of the free Start Menu replacements like Start Menu X? Often you can find the Pro version free on a giveaway site. If nothing else it may give a clue if it is a software or hardware issue.

 

[timw128]

Why not try one of the free Start Menu replacements like Start Menu X? Often you can find the Pro version free on a giveaway site. If nothing else it may give a clue if it is a software or hardware issue.

Hmmm...now that's an idea. Thanks for that... I've used Classic Shell on a couple of customer's machines who didn't like the 8/8.1 arrangement- they liked it.

Not sure what you mean by 'giveaway site'... I don't think. I know from to time MGs has giveaways, like on the Pro version of iobit Advanced System Care Pro, but I've found that stuff to be dangerous unless one really knows what they're doing- and then there's all the crap that comes along with those outfits.

Yeah, I don't have geek-itis to the degree where this Start Menu anomaly's bothering me that bad- at least not yet. From my experience with MS Windows OS's, it is more than likely within the sleep/hib package, as that Power Options section has always been sketchy. Heck, just Google 'Sleep/Awake issues in Windows 'xx'' sometime...page after page on the darn topic. There are only so many search and tweak options within the machine to chase down. The majority of folks resign to the notion of 'gremlins'.

Hey, thanks for all the input...I think if it happened at every wake cycle, I'd feel more aggressive about it. 'chkdsk' and 'sfc /scannow' come up clean, and I only get a very limited amount of error and warning blips within EV that are non-consequential, and the machine screams, so maybe I should just leave it alone.
The last OS install isn't old enough to worry about any bit rot, either.

 

[MilesAhead]

Start Menu X the free version has all you need anyway. The Pro version is mainly for people who want to create unlimited categories of shortcuts and group similar things together. I thought I wanted that until I started to do it. Too much work.

If you are leery of giveaway sites I would get Start Menu X free directly from the publisher's page and try it.

There is a lot of chaff on giveaway sites. But now and then there are one year licenses for good solid software such as Wise Care 365 Pro and Auslogics Defrag Pro.

Again, when it comes down to it, when I defrag with Auslogics I only use the simple defrag anyway. So I have stopped searching for Pro giveaways and just installed the free version. It defrags just as fast as the pro.

 

[timw128]

Yeah, at some point, I've tried a lot of those utilities in the past. Both Wise and Glary worked out OK. Now, I just pretty much stick with Geek Uninstaller, CCleaner, and TFC. Don't use defrag, as we run an SSD... even the 1 TB Storage HDD doesn't seem to ever fragment.