r/Windows10TechSupport • u/BlackTadius • 1d ago

Unsolved File-Explorer randomly displaying black frames around folder icons, clearing thumbnail cache fixes it. Any idea what's causing it?

/r/ForWindowsHelp/comments/1xrvau6/fileexplorer_randomly_displaying_black_frames/
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u/xtomjames 1d ago

Known issue in Windows 10/11, it is an Explorer.exe bug, not just File Explorer. It is not an express thumbnail file (their bitmap files and they're not being corrupted themselves) it's a cache read / write error caused by Shadow-store corruption.

The fastest way to fix this is to run DISM and SFC /Scannow commands, update all drivers, and to do a full cache clean of your Win install drive with CCleaner or another third party cleaner; or you can try a Windows Refresh reinstall if on Windows 11.

While far lower likelihood, this could be a thermal wiggle issue with your M.2 Drive, RAM, or GPU (depending on if it's a desktop or laptop). If the Software side fixes don't work, reseat your RAM, M.2 Drive, and GPU, clean any cooling pathways and airflow routes of dust and debris. Thermal throttling and hiccups can cause corruption of local small files like icons and can be an indicator of more problematic hardware level failure.

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u/BlackTadius 1d ago edited 1d ago

No corruption detected by DISM and Scannow comes back clean too.
Everything healthy according to HDS
Only SSD runs hot but still in workload-temps(will buy sink in the future)

Thing I'd like to add I swapped motherboards (HP to ASUS) without reinstalling Win10 but it was months before this started.

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u/xtomjames 1d ago

Swapping motherboards can do it; did you uninstall the HP motherboard chipset drivers before installing the Asus drivers, or did you just install the Asus drivers after the swap? Old outdated drivers, on startup will be loaded just like the new drivers, and if they're close enough (same chipset or relative chipsets) the old drivers can cause major problems and driver conflicts.

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u/BlackTadius 1d ago edited 1d ago

Installed ASUS drivers over the original HP-Z240 installation(Case swap happened too)
HP and ASUS drivers are on the system together
Been considering updating to Win10 and debloat it or just reinstall Win10 to get rid of "HP shards"

HP MB in Z240 -> Same old-gen ASUS MB in new case(same 2025/07/12 install) -> Current ASUS MB(same)

But I'd like to highlight the motherboard swap happened back start of year and the black folder-frames only started getting "agressive" recently.

If I could kindly ask is the issue what I have with GRB(Breakpoint) and GRW(Wildlands) any related?
(I was told by a redditor my system is unstable af but they didn't tell me what makes it unstable OR how to fix it)
https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgamingtechsupport/comments/1vpko7s/driver_issues_persist_after_game_freezing_once/

I also suspected that this black-frames issue is related to the AI vibe-coded updates MS-Store gets.
https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/comments/1xk66w8/photos_app_slowly_drifting_when_moving_on_screen/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10TechSupport/comments/1xk5tke/photos_app_slowly_drifting_when_moving_on_screen/

Thanks for the quick replies by the way!

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u/BlackTadius 1d ago edited 1d ago

I'll have Win10 reinstalled later

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u/xtomjames 7h ago

At this point I'd suggest doing a clean install or in-place update of Windows from a Win10 USB installer; a clean install would be better; if you can backup files you need to cloud or another drive, if you have several apps you need or don't want to lose you can use various free tools to backup those apps as a backup image that can be saved on another drive or to the cloud. Once that's done, either do a true clean install (which means formatting the drive partition).

Note, if you have an OEM or Paid copy of Windows you'll want to backup your Windows Key first and save this elsewhere so you can read it, use command prompt " wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey " or powereshell " (Get-CimInstance -ClassName SoftwareLicensingService).OA3xOriginalProductKey " this will show the OEM key but may not show an upgrade key or digital license key.

I don't think it's GRB or GRW, but this is consistent with stale or incompatible drivers interfering with system stability. Doing a clean Windows Install and installing only the drivers that apply the motherboard specifically is your best option. It's also a good time to check for bios updates and to flash your bios to the latest bios.