Cannot exit to desktop
 

is anyone else having problems exiting to the desktop after viewing MA3 in Windows 7 64-bit? if i run it then press esc to exit, it just goes blank like it's exiting only to get stuck there. the music is still playing and the pc is still running but the video just locks up. i do not believe this to be just with MA3. i had similar problems with other aquarium screensavers like 3D Fishtank and the ones from Smith Micro. i don't know what is responsible for this -- Win 7? 64 bit? Video card too new (Radeon 5850)? I have a Vista 32 bit laptop and there is no problem running anything. It's beautiful on my hd plasma but i can't run it like this. Any thought developers, Jim?

Ouch. What happens if you press SPACE and exit through the Settings panel? Can you exit by pressing Backspace?

Or what happens when you move the mouse (assuming you have "exit on mouse move" enabled)?

I have a W7-64 test system with MA3 that exits fine that way. The next time I boot up that box, I'll try using Escape to see what happens.

Oh, and is the behavior the same for all 3 ways of starting MA3?

What happens if you right-click the mouse, then choose Exit?

HDMI?
 

i haven't tried other methods of exiting but i would assume it would be the same because the same thing happens with Smith Micro's aquariums by moving mouse or whatever. this may be a problem with HDMI cause that's how i'm hooked up to the hd plasma. can someone try over hdmi and see if this issue occurs? could it be all of the above (hardware too new, my particular plasma)? i suspect hdmi cause others have reported using win7 64 fine.

We do know (from previous threads) that MA3 works via HDMI with no reported problems with exiting (although maybe not reported, and maybe not W7-64).

If none of those other suggested methods (3 earlier replies) of exiting work, then it's not a bug in MA3. In the absence of you testing those methods on your system, then I assume it's not a bug.

If "the same thing happens with Smith Micro's aquariums by moving mouse or whatever" -- then I would assume that nothing could be done to MA3 to fix something that's not a bug in MA3.

Of course, if you do those tests and have different results, then that would be a different matter.

There's really not much that can be done on this end. To exit, a program sends a WM_CLOSE command. After that it's all up to Windows.

Not a problem at all I just move the mouse a wisker and its back.

I had a similar problem with XP it turned out the mouse required replacing.

But it should still work when you press the "Escape"

Flip.:):)

I finally got a chance to test this on a Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit system. On a Laptop, if that makes a difference.

With MA3 running, pressing Escape exits MA3.

This is the case for all 3 ways of starting MA3.

Thanks for trying it out, Dale.

based on the fact it happens with other programs besides ma3, I bet the video card is in need of an oil change. W7 needs lots'o memory. I'm running W7 64 no probs here.

You're welcome. Note that I didn't try it with an HDMI-connected display. But it "shouldn't" make a difference.

In any case, if Arahanto suspects it's the HDMI connection, then he/she should be able to try it with a DVI or VGA connected monitor, and see if that makes the problem go away. (If so, I'll then go to the trouble of testing HDMI).

My brother bought a $280 Panasonic DVD player a couple of years ago. The HDMI cable that came with it was defective. Made his tv do some very odd things and caused him weeks of grief before he figured it out. I wonder if that could be the case here?

I think it's unlikely that a defective cable would cause a problem with the MA3 software - particularly if the display is otherwise working correctly.

Unlikely, but I suppose not impossible.

Of course, Arahanto can eliminate that possiblity rather easily - just use a VGA cable (most displays that have HDMI input also have VGA or DVI inputs)

The point here is that the person with the problem (Arahanto) can rather easily do some tests that nobody else can duplicate (his computer, his collection of software and operating system, his cables, his monitors, etc.). Those tests can help isolate and perhaps fix his problem.

Nobody else seems to have reported anything like his problem.

this is a new desktop i built: i7 920, ati radeon 5850, 4gb ram. i am using hdmi to my plasma for gaming, and also i don't have the money for a proper monitor yet. the hdmi cable is new from monoprice.com. if not the hdmi interface's fault, then it might be the video card/drive set. that's all i can think of now since others don't seem to have trouble with hdmi itself. might be the plasma (pana th42pz80u), too, though there is no trouble displaying the blu-ray player. does anyone have a similar machine spec to try?

OK, the only cable type that's usable with that combination is HDMI.

What video driver version are you using? (10.1?)

i'm using the latest 12.9, i believe.

You indicate that you're using this for gaming. Have you considered that many games want close control of the video, and that one or more of your games might be interfering with the correct operation of MA3?

Do you (for instance) have some game running all the time (and can't exit to the game from MA3?

The latest drivers for the ATI Radeon 5850 seem to be 10.1 - where did you get 12.9?

http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_ca...indows-7-64bit

actually, i just built it 2 weeks ago so there are no games on it right now (i'll get around to it). sorry, i meant the latest driver 2 weeks ago, so the version before 10.1 (9.12?).

these are what i'm running:
rivatuner (loaded but does not seem to work)
boinc manager ( i tried exiting/stopping but doesn't help with ma3)
comodo internet security
pctools threatfire
steam
superantispyware (not realtime scanning)

plus some system monitoring (windows) gadgets

There are two possible solutions to your problem.

I do have a question, and also some comments about your current configuration:

Question: What "Display Settings" do you have, for MA3? Automatic? Wait for Vertical Sync?

Comments:

1. I suspect that Rivatuner does not work with W7-64 (without a "UAC" hack).

2. Having multiple antivirus/antispam/security applications on the same PC is deprecated.

3. "plus some system monitoring (windows) gadgets" - any chance of those causing problems?

Concur -

try disabling one at a time (re-boot between each) and see if you can find a conflict.

Uninstalling, with a reboot before testing MA3, would be the best way to "disable" one of these.

But actually, I suspect that uninstalling Boinc and rebooting will fix the problem.

(That's alternative 2).

Alternative 1: (Since not much has been installed on this system - no games, etc. etc.) would be:

Do a fresh install of Windows 7-64. Don't add any other drivers, etc. Let the video just use the Windows 7 stuff to start with.

Install MA3 don't change any options, and see if it works. If it doesn't work correctly (exits properly, etc.), then we know something.

Assuming that MA3 works properly, install the "other stuff" one thing at a time, testing MA3 operation at each stage. For each "thing", make absolutely sure you have the latest program/driver version. In particular, try to check to see if the version is compatible with W7-64.

Perhaps this will identify which program is causing the conflict. If not, you'll have a system that has everything just the way it now is, and MA3 exits properly.

In any case, we will all have learned something. And that whole operation shouldn't take more than a few hours.

I know that sounds like a lot of trouble - but it's probably less trouble and effort than you have spent trying to solve the problem, so far.

[If you have some way to do it, of course doing a complete system backup before doing the fresh (format the hard drive) install of Windows 7, would be an excellent thing to do]

Jim, pure speculation (because we don't have adequate diagnostics yet). Could this be related to the fact that MA3 goes from full screen to windowed mode just before exiting?

https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...d.php?p=109616

I'm not suggesting this is a bug in MA3 (it should work OK that way) - just trying to diagnose the problem.

It's concievable.

thanks for all the suggestions guys. i'll start with disabling running apps, then the gadgets. redoing the OS itself is more difficult, and which i'm not thrilled about doing. that will be a last resort. also, i did change the settings in ma3: load 1 of each fish, but no waiting for v-sync (i believe that's default). ma3 video setting is automatic. there is one more possibility we haven't considered: hdmi audio. when i try to exit, the audio continues to play.

dale: you can have as many anti-malware apps as you want but only one active monitor at a time, like one antivirus and one antispyware that has an active monitor (like spyware doctor). the superantispyware version i'm using is the free one which does not have real-time scanning. that's threatfire's job. and comodo handles firewall and av.

update: well, i tried disabling all gadgets (didn't work), i tried disabling all startup apps (didn't work), i tried disabling hdmi audio (didn't work). all those resets for nothing:( maybe one day i'll get fed up enough to try a reinstall, but not today. does anyone else have an hdtv they can set up like me and try and report back?

1. Disabling can be quite different from uninstalling, which can be quite different from not having installed something in the first place.

2. Did you reboot between each "disable", as JohnWho suggested?

3. Did you uninstall Boinc? You didn't mention that.

4. Yes, I understand about multiple anti-malware applications, and I don't think that's your problem - but it's still deprecated by most experts. It was just a comment, not a suggestion about the problem.

5. I doubt that anybody else (who is interested) has a setup exactly like yours. However, I finally got fed up enough to try an HDMI connection with a laptop that's running Windows 7 64-bit. Can exit to desktop Win7-64. It works fine, exits fine, with all of the "as designed" ways of starting and exiting.

My conclusion: I doubt it's your hardware - I believe there is some conflict in your combination of software and drivers that is unique to your system. Several people here have tried to duplicate your problem without success. I doubt that anybody here is going to install exactly the same combination of software and system monitoring gadgets.

Of course, you could quickly determine if it's your hardware or your additional applications and drivers. Just: (A) Back up your system image. (B) Do a "clean" install of W7-64 and MA3, and see if the problem still exists. (C) or, even easier - just do a second (multiboot) installation of W7-64 and MA3, and try it. (D) or, even easier, just swap out your hard drive, and do a clean install on the "new" one. For that purpose, you wouldn't need a very large drive. If you don't have one, borrow one from a friend?

I believe that some of us are still interested in what's causing your problem. So, when you find out for sure whether the "clean install" works, please let us know. And (if it's other software) when you get it resolved, please let us know.

Could ya use this to kill the app to close it:
http://www.diamondcs.com.au/advancedseries/apt.php

Close MA3, you mean? Or close some/all of the other possibly-conflicting applications?

Meant ma3, but it would work with possible conflicts too.
Ya can just quickly 'kill' it.

I'm sure that would work - but of course the question was why MA3 isn't working the way it's supposed to.

My bet is that MA3 is "doing the right thing" and some other application is interfering with it.

Since it's only happening on one system, as far as we know, I automatically win my bet until Arahanto demonstrates that the problem exists with a fresh installation. :)

thanks dale. will keep your suggestions in mind. i don't have this problem with other savers like ones that come with windows, just ones that are more complex like ma3.

Issue Resolved:
https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...ead.php?t=5231

Note: the title of this thread is somewhat misleading -- the problem had nothing to do with Win7-64 bit. And nothing to do with HDMI.

Did someone change it? Atleast now the topic says: "Cannot exit to desktop"

I really should stop giving Dale everything he asks for...

Yodelking, I like your new avatar. :TU:

Yeah, the title used to have "W7-64" in it. It seemed like Arahanto was totally convinced that the problem was either W7 or 64 or HDMI. So, I spent a fair amount of time (unsuccessfully) trying to duplicate the problem on a Windows 7 64-bit system, and then hooking up that system to a display using HDMI.

Thanks for the effort, Dale.

You're welcome, of course.

Remote diagnostics, over a slow channel with incomplete information (forum posts), are an interesting challenge.

:lol: