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How do you close a not-responding screen?

blamo2000blamo2000 Member RarePosts: 1,130
in Hardware
I know this is the hardware forum, but if there is a tech help forum I couldn't find it.  This has been happening to me a lot in windows 10 lately.  I tab out of a game and most of my screen gets locked.  The game freezes but I have access to my task bar.  I can run task manager, start menu, run any other program.  But I can't tab to anything.  The frozen screen locks my viewing anything but the taskbar, so I can't get to task manager to shut the game down.  When you mouse over the frozen game I can hit the x on the little picture that pops up on the taskbar, but it doesn't do anything.  Right click close window doesn't work either.  I tried everything I can think of, all the controls (windows d, alt tab, shift tab, etc.)  I fix it by signing out and signing back in but that is a huge pain and slow.

I tried doing an internet search but I am getting nothing, probably because I don't know the right language/terms to get good results.  Anyone else have this issue or know of a fix?

Comments

  • TEKK3NTEKK3N Member RarePosts: 1,115
    edited March 2020
    Ctrl+Alt+Del to get the Task Manager window to pop up.
    I bet you haven’t tried the 3 keywords combination, not really intuitive, is it? 


    blamo2000
  • kitaradkitarad Member LegendaryPosts: 8,096
    edited March 2020
    Since you can run the task manager itself look for the game under processes it is the first column. Close it from there.
    blamo2000

  • BloodaxesBloodaxes Member EpicPosts: 4,662
    I know what you mean.

    In task manager go to options and tick the always on top setting. This will ensure you can see the window when this happens and be able to shut the game down.
    Iselinblamo2000

  • IselinIselin Member LegendaryPosts: 18,719
    edited March 2020
    kitarad said:
    Since you can run the task manager itself look for the game under processes it is the first column. Close it from there.
    I think what he's saying is he can go to the CTRL-ALT-DELETE blue window and open the task manager from there but after he opens it he can either not see it because the crashed game window persists on top despite alt-tabbing out of it or alternatively he can see it but not interact with anything in the task manager.

    I've had that happen before but not for a long while. For all practical purposes it's just like having a hard crash where powering down either from the CTRL-ALT-DELETE screen or manually with the power button is about all you can do.

    I'm going to guess he was running the game full screen and not in a borderless window since releasing exclusive GPU access and re-acquiring it is typically what causes those crashes when running in full screen mode.

    Borderless window FTW :)
    blamo2000
    "Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”

    ― Umberto Eco

    “Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” 
    ― CD PROJEKT RED

  • kitaradkitarad Member LegendaryPosts: 8,096
    edited March 2020
    Oh I see ahh hmm I thought by default the window is always on top.

    Well then when he presses ctrl-alt-delete he can try sign out and sign back in which should then give him access to the task manager window. Or use the windows key and get to the options from there.

    I have had one game do that once come to think of it and I used the sign out and in option.
    blamo2000

  • IselinIselin Member LegendaryPosts: 18,719
    kitarad said:
    Oh I see ahh hmm I thought by default the window is always on top.

    Well then when he presses ctrl-alt-delete he can try sign out and sign back in which should then give him access to the task manager window. Or use the windows key and get to the options from there.

    I have had one game do that once come to think of it and I used the sign out and in option.
    Yeah signing out and back in is an option too but my computer re-boots so quickly I think it's actually faster to reboot lol.
    kitaradblamo2000
    "Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”

    ― Umberto Eco

    “Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” 
    ― CD PROJEKT RED

  • blamo2000blamo2000 Member RarePosts: 1,130
    Thank you guys very much.  I just changed task manager to always show on top.  I always go borderless window or fullscreen windowed when it is an option.  A lot of older games don't have this, or have very small resolution outside of full screen.  One newer game makes my computer sound like it is going to blow up unless I play in normal fullscreen with vsync.  And some games the only way I can get my extra mouse buttons to work is run in fullscreen, tab out to end Logitech software, run it as admin while game is running.

    But thank you all very much, especially Iselin.
  • CleffyCleffy Member RarePosts: 6,412
    I clean my case of dust and make sure my drivers are up to date. A game freezing is a sign of an issue with your system. 
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