Firefox Black window - Pidgin Blank Contacts - Chrome won't launch.

[Traggums]

Hey everyone, *long* time lurker, first post here.

I've looked around the net and can not find any results that describe my issue.
I have run memtest86+ and it came back with no problems.
I have also updated my graphics drivers to the latest from nVidia.

These are some very strange things that are happening on my system:

1) Firefox opens to a compeltely black window.
There will be window chrome around the left, bottom, and right side, the top bar is completely black (no chrome). If I choose to launch Firefox in safe mode it is the same thing, only the color is white instead of black. If I choose to launch Firefox with compatibility mode for WinXP SP3, it is the same story as launching it in safe mode, only this time I can see the "Mozilla Firefox" titlebar text and chrome. Nothing is ever rendered inside the window, and when I resize it, everything within the window once again turns to black (can still see the titlebar/text).

Steps I have taken to remedy this problem:
1) Uninstalled/reinstalled Firefox.
2) Uninstalled Firefox, deleted the Mozilla folders from /Users/Me/AppData/Local and /Roaming then Reinstalled
Same results every time.

2) Pidgin opens to a blank list of contacts.
The titlebar and buddy list are selectable but there is no text anywhere within the entire Pidgin window - I can not see which buddies are online, and if I click any menu item (File/Edit/View etc) it will drop down with icons, but there is no text, so I have no idea what I would be clicking on.

Steps I have taken to remedy this problem:
1) Uninstalled/reinstalled Pidgin
2) Uninstalled Pidgin, deleted the .purple folder from /Users/Me/AppData/Roaming and reinstalled.
Same results every time.

3) Google Chrome will not open.
Now this problem is actually correctable, however it just does the same thing again after about 24 hours of applying the fix.

To fix this (temporarily, it always comes back) I Uninstall, then delete the Google/Chrome folder out of /Users/Me/AppData/Local. After reinstalling it will work for some time.

My previous Windows 7 Ultimate x64 installation was doing this *exact same thing*, which prompted me to install Win7x64 again on a new hard drive. Everything worked great on this new install until about 24 hours after finishing the last of Windows Updates, and after I had finished downloading some games (GuildWars2 and Diablo3). and now THIS installation is doing the same junk.

The only other clue I have to this is that when I do an /sfc scannow it comes back with an unfixable file: iassdo.dll.mui
This is another thing that happened on my previous install.

The common (software) denominator is the installation media, I used the same disc to do the installation on my previous install, and this new one.

If anyone has any suggestions/leads to troubleshoot, I could really use the help! It has me and my tech buddies stumped!

System Specs:
Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Service Pack 1
Intel Core2Duo E8400
8GB DDR2 6400 RAM
nVidia GTX 465

 

[Traggums]

So I found the culprit. Apparently it was a 3rd party program called IndieVolume that was causing all the problems. Awesome software, but instead of simply disabling the program once you go beyond the Trial period, it makes your system act up like this. At least that's as much as I can figure, because my system was working great until the trial time ran out on the program, though it offered no resistance to continuing to use the program with the nag screen.

I discovered my problems went away when the program was not running, but as soon as I launched it, all of the symptoms came right back.

I'm not sure if I bought the program that it would fix the problem, but I don't feel like taking a $25 gamble just so I can hear per-application audio to certain sound output devices. (I was using it to watch my Slingbox on my HDTV with the audio going to the TV speakers) Oh well. If anyone has a program that does what IndieVolume does, I'd love to hear about it.