ALT-TAB issues with OpenGL applications.

dpm_dpmartin

Hello all,

I recently bought a new 27" monitor and found out that my standard 1024x768 resolution was way too chunky. I wanted to go to a resolution like 1400x1050 but my IBM drivers for the ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 in my Thinkpad T41 didn't allow that. I downloaded the DH Mobility Modder tool and the latest ATI Catalyst Drivers from DriverHeaven and installed them successfully. Hey presto - I get access to 1400x1050 and a load of others too.

However, one thing that didn't happen previously was a strange issue when ALT-TABbing between windows when running an OpenGL program - either windowed or full-screen. When I do this now, it basically doesn't work properly - it gets all mixed-up it seems. The task selector window doesn't even appear properly... if you have an OpenGL full-screen application running (just a maximised window I mean - not exclusive running) then you start getting loads of flickers when the graphics card appears to be trying to draw what I want it to draw - i.e. the application I ALT-TABbed to... but it fails.

I've been through the Catalyst Control Centre options, but haven't seen anything obvious I should be setting... question is - is there a fix for this, or should I go back to my old drivers and see if IBM (Lenovo now) have releaed some updated drivers themselves... they might well have.

Here is some output from the Catalyst Control Centre that might be useful to a guru on these forums... I'd be very grateful if there was a way around this. This is especially annoying when my firewall kicks-in asking if my application (which changes frequently becausing I am developing it) is allowed to access the Internet - it wants to ask this every time I run it because it detects it has changed... I think I could override this firewall check but it is a good example of why the new behaviour is very frustrating.

Graphics Card Manufacturer Powered by ATI
Graphics Chipset ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9000
Device ID 4C66
Vendor 1002
Subsystem ID 0531
Subsystem Vendor ID 1014
Bus Type AGP
Current Bus Setting AGP 4X
BIOS Version 008.007.011.023
BIOS Part Number BK-ATI VER008.007.011.023
BIOS Date 2004/08/17
Memory Size 32 MB
Memory Type DDR SGRAM / SDRAM
Core Clock in MHz 252 MHz
Memory Clock in MHz 200 MHz
Primary Display Yes

Driver Packaging Version 8.401-070815m-052022C-ATI
Catalyst® Version 07.8
Provider ATI Technologies Inc.
2D Driver Version 6.14.10.6715
2D Driver File Path System/CurrentControlSet/Control/Video/{835A41FC-C7F2-41A1-884F-47545AF901FA}/0000
Direct3D Version 6.14.10.0517
OpenGL Version 6.14.10.6747
Catalyst® Control Center Version 2007.0815.2326.40058
AIW/VIVO WDM Driver Version 6.14.10.6238
AIW/VIVO WDM SP Driver Version 6.14.10.6238

Liqourice

I had a similar problem with OGL games and 7.8 drivers. After installing 7.9 it was gone.

dpm_dpmartin

I tried upgrading to 7.8. Did this successfully, but I still get the problems with OpenGL stuff. Whether these be games or programs I have written myself. For example, one program uses a form-aligned Panel for rendering OpenGL stuff to - but the program has a normal "File", "Edit" menu across the top... whenever I click on these menu headings, the actual menus cannot be seen - they go behind the OpenGL rendered stuff.

Same ALT-TAB issue... the ALT-TAB chooser dialogue does not come up properly. When you press ALT-TAB you get a quick flicker of the small window that you expect in the middle of your screen... then it disappears... you can ALT-TAB, say three times, and you will actually select another window - you just can't see what you're selecting 'cos the OpenGL display is on top of everything else. If you press "File" then click where you think "Open..." might be, then it does click it - but the standard Windows file open dialogue is then hiding behind the OpenGL stuff.

Suffice to say I can ALT-TAB normally when nothing OpenGL is running.

Oh, and I'm talking about windowed applications, nothing complicated like fullscreen.

And, yes, I most definitely used to be able to ALT-TAB properly before I upgraded ATI drivers and used the Modder Tool - the reason for me upgrading to these, first 7.8, now 7.9 drivers was because I wanted to take advantage of higher widescreen type resolutions that simply weren't offered by my drivers at the time.

Frustrating.

Output from Catalyst Control Centre:

Graphics Card Manufacturer Powered by ATI
Graphics Chipset ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9000
Device ID 4C66
Vendor 1002
Subsystem ID 0531
Subsystem Vendor ID 1014
Bus Type AGP
Current Bus Setting AGP 4X
BIOS Version 008.007.011.023
BIOS Part Number BK-ATI VER008.007.011.023
BIOS Date 2004/08/17
Memory Size 32 MB
Memory Type DDR SGRAM / SDRAM
Core Clock in MHz 252 MHz
Memory Clock in MHz 200 MHz
Primary Display Yes

Driver Packaging Version 8.411-070821a1-052443C-ATI
Catalyst® Version 07.9
Provider ATI Technologies Inc.
2D Driver Version 6.14.10.6719
2D Driver File Path System/CurrentControlSet/Control/Video/{835A41FC-C7F2-41A1-884F-47545AF901FA}/0000
Direct3D Version 6.14.10.0523
OpenGL Version 6.14.10.6847
Catalyst® Control Center Version 2007.0821.2146.36991
AIW/VIVO WDM Driver Version 6.14.10.6238
AIW/VIVO WDM SP Driver Version 6.14.10.6238

dpm_dpmartin

I solved this by uninstalling the Catalyst stuff and going back to my IBM drivers; the latest release of them actually. OpenGL stuff now works fine and I can ALT-TAB to my heart's content and overlay GDI stuff, like drop-down menus etc. on the OpenGL rendering area.