axtool tools are flickering and cannot be accessed

I am having a problem with the stability of the axtool menu bar. To investigate I created a simple app containing a single UIAxes and the default set of tools. When the mouse pointer is placed over the tool bar, the icons will flicker briefly and then disappear. Clicking the mouse causes the tools to appear briefly and then disappear again.and it seems next to impossible to select a single tool.I have used the axtool command sucessfully in recent times and I don't understand what has changed.

[dpb]

You might try <another similar issue> apparent solution just to see if it might make symptoms go away...