So, WTF do you do when XP fvcks up your theme and doesn't draw any text/windows?

[notfred]

So, I changed a setting in system properties and XP decided it'd switch me back to the default "XP" theme instead of the "windows classic" theme. So, I changed it back to windows classic. As soon as it changed back, the OS stopped drawing anything except for the cursor, and icons. I can see the icons on the desktop, the icons on the start menu, and that's it. Everything else is black. No text, no menus, no windows, nothing.

Of course, safe mode doesn't help. I get 640x480 and a black desktop. WTF am I supposed to do with this now? Reinstall? POS XP.

 

[teerex20]

Try reinstalling your video drivers.They could be corrupted.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: teerex20
Try reinstalling your video drivers.They could be corrupted.

Yeah, that's gonna be freaking easy when I can't see anything but blackness and my desktop icons.

Anyway, it's obviously a problem with my theme. My video card drivers didn't spontaneously die from changing themes.

How does one reset a theme without using the GUI?

 

[xcript]

Originally posted by: notfred
How does one reset a theme without using the GUI?

This may or may not be helpful, but to switch back to the default theme without needing to see what you're doing on-screen:

Click on Desktop -> Shift+F10 -> R -> Up -> Alt+A

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: xcript

Originally posted by: notfred
How does one reset a theme without using the GUI?

This may or may not be helpful, but to switch back to the default theme without needing to see what you're doing on-screen:

Click on Desktop -> Shift+F10 -> R -> Up -> Alt+A

That almost seems to do something? Is there a similar set of keystrokes that will select the default "XP" theme? I'm pretty confident that one actually works, if I could select it.

edit: Woohoo, with varying amounts of scrolling up I got it to work

 

[xcript]

Originally posted by: notfred
Woohoo, with varying amounts of scrolling up I got it to work

Good stuff. :beer: