[Virtualacorn-list] Windows panes flashing under dead full-screen RO

[Roger Darlington]

On 16 Nov 2010, Alan Adams  wrote:
> In message <mpro.lbzb0o001reqr02b0 at wingsandbeaks.org.uk.invalid>
>           Jeremy Nicoll - ml virtualacorn
> <jn.ml.vac.83 at wingsandbeaks.org.uk> wrote:

>> Chris Hughes <chris at noonehere.co.uk> wrote:

> <snip>

>>> Its not a bug really but an interaction between Windows and a full
>>> screen VA windows application. VA is just an application running on
>>> Windows.

>> Indeed.  It worries me that Roger is having so many problems that others
>> don't see.  Why?

> There is something about this problem which isn't working quite the
> way most of us see.

> When a Windows app pops a window to the front of the stack VRPC gets a
> little confused, granted. What I see, and I think it's normal, is that
> VRPC thinks it is still full-screen, but ceases to update its window.
> However it does draw the black background, thereby hiding the pop-up.

> Alt-enter will, in the normal case, tell VRPC to run in a window,
> which it does, at which point the pop-up can be seen and dealt with,
> or a second alt-enter will restore full-screen mode, with the redraw
> working.

> Roger's symptoms seem to centre around the fact that alt-enter doesn't
> produce a response.

> There seem to me to be a few possible explanations:

> 1  Another application has claimed input focus, so the alt-enter isn't
> delivered

> 2  Another app has grabbed all key presses, with the same result.

> 3  Something has redefined the keyboard, and lost alt-enter.

Ah - I like this reasoned analytical approach :-)

> The point is that alt-enter is processed by Windows, which tells the
> application to toggle between full-screen and windowed mode. It works
> with other programs as well.

> There are a couple of things it would be useful to test:

> When VRPC is working, does alt-enter correctly switch between windowed
> and full-screen modes?

Yes, that does indeed work (when things are normal)

> When there is a problem, what does alt-tab do? It should allow
> switching betwen the current applications, and VRPC should be one of
> them.

I have never ever tried using Alt-Tab, so I do not know.

If I knew exactly which conditions initiated the condition I could try 
experimenting, but it has only happened twice, and I cannot remember 
exactly what I was doing (or attempting to do) at the time. This makes 
testing a little tricky, until such time the erroneous condition 
recurs.

> When the problem  occurs, does clicking the Windows mouse pointer over
> the RO part of the screen allow alt-enter to be delivered? (The latter
> should fix the issue of a program taking input focus - it won't help
> if all keystrokes are being captured.

No. Clicking over any part of the RO screen makes any windows7 window 
underneath the RO window (I was running RO full-screen) temporarily 
and momentarily visible for just about 1 frame-scan period, after 
which the full RO windows image reappears. This gives the impression 
that RO is a ghost application.

> When the problem occurs, can other programs be used? In other words is
> it just VRPC which is having trouble, or is it deeper in Windows?

I could not possibly test that when the fault was occurring. The RO 
was permanently visible and un-moveable, until a mouse button was 
pressed when any Windows7 windows underneath it were temporarily 
visible (and active).

> What does task manager show - is there a program using 100% CPU, or
> doing hundreds of I/Os per second? Are there lotas of applications
> shown as "not responding"?

No apps said 'not responding'  - but then I wouldn't be able to tell 
anyway, because RO obscured everything else until a mouse button was 
pressed when for 10ms some windows7 window flashed on the screen. 10ms 
or so was insufficient to read what window it was, but clicking 
randomly all over whole screen I saw quite a few different windows7 
windows. I had to be very careful where I clicked, because I could 
activate something on the windows side of it and be non the wiser 
until it was too late. I could have later found I had deleted the 
compiler or wiped all my hard discs or something.

I don't normally do things on Windows7 when RO is full screen, so I 
can only assume something initiated itself on the windows side (which 
seems highly probable). Likely culprits are automatic updates or 
iTunes or CoolPlayer. I do plug my USB iPhone in sometimes when RO is 
running, which initiates iTunes and an automatic update.

I eventually managed to find the Windows start button, and was able to 
shut the computer down. On the second occasion when the fault occurred 
I remembered I could do CNTRL-ALT-DEL instead, and did that.

But I didn't run the windows task manager with it, as Jeremy has now 
suggested.

> And this being Windows 7, I would check as suggested elsewhere that
> the program is set to run in compatability mode.

Where do I check?

I assume it is. Andrew Rawnsley set it all up and I haven't dared mess 
about with configs I don't understand.



> (I've just wasted two weeks at work forgetting that one!)



-- 

Cheers
Roger
There are no short cuts to any place worth going