Can't start ChimeraX

[yw9et@…]

Hi, I would like to ask for help to start ChimeraX. Two of my workstations
with Windows 10 or Windows 7 can't open ChimeraX. The error messages are
the same and listed below.

Startup Errors
bug OpenGL.error.GLError: GLError(
err = 1282,
description = b'invalid operation',
baseOperation = glGetString,
cArguments = (GL_VENDOR,)
)

File "src\errorchecker.pyx", line 53, in
OpenGL_accelerate.errorchecker._ErrorChecker.glCheckError

See log for complete Python traceback.

error Could not create OpenGL context
warnings QWindowsEGLContext: ANGLE only partially supports OpenGL ES > 3.0
QWindowsEGLContext: Failed to create context, eglError: 3005, this:
0x15422635050
QWindowsEGLContext: ANGLE only partially supports OpenGL ES > 3.0
QWindowsEGLContext: Failed to create context, eglError: 3005, this:
0x15422766090
No statusbar messages will be shown due to inadequate OpenGL
note Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "C:\Program
Files\ChimeraX\bin\lib\site-packages\chimerax\ui\graphics.py", line 56, in
event

    self._check_opengl()

  File "C:\Program
Files\ChimeraX\bin\lib\site-packages\chimerax\ui\graphics.py", line 76, in
_check_opengl

    self._check_for_bad_intel_driver()

  File "C:\Program
Files\ChimeraX\bin\lib\site-packages\chimerax\ui\graphics.py", line 86, in
_check_for_bad_intel_driver

    if r.opengl_vendor() == 'Intel':

  File "C:\Program
Files\ChimeraX\bin\lib\site-packages\chimerax\core\graphics\opengl.py",
line 969, in opengl_vendor

    return GL.glGetString(GL.GL_VENDOR).decode('utf-8')

  File "C:\Program
Files\ChimeraX\bin\lib\site-packages\OpenGL\platform\baseplatform.py", line
409, in __call__

    return self( *args, **named )

  File "src\errorchecker.pyx", line 53, in
OpenGL_accelerate.errorchecker._ErrorChecker.glCheckError

OpenGL.error.GLError: GLError(

 err = 1282,

 description = b'invalid operation',

 baseOperation = glGetString,

 cArguments = (GL_VENDOR,)

)

We have updated the graphic drivers(AMD Radeon 5450, or Nvidia Geforce 970
) to the most up-to-date version with openGL 4.4. However, my other
computers run windows 10 can work just fine. I would really appreciate your
help!
-- 
Yibo Wang
Graduate Student
Gahlmann Lab, Department of Chemistry (Chem 135)
University of Virginia
yw9et@Virginia.edu

[Greg Couch]

By any chance do you have the QT_OPENGL environment variable set to "angle"? If so, that would explain this problem.

[Greg Couch]

Another environment variable that can cause problems is QT_OPENGL_BUGLIST.

[Tom Goddard]

These errors mean the Qt window toolkit did not find a working OpenGL driver so it tried using some fallback emulation of OpenGL using D3D via an adapter called ANGLE. That was inadequate to run ChimeraX.

So the problem is your system OpenGL graphics driver is not working. I don't know why, the error gives no clues about that.

Also ChimeraX is only supported on Windows 10, not Windows 7.

[yw9et@…]

I suspect that is the case but I am not sure how to test it. Do I need to
download additional QT software, or how do I check the
environmental variable and change it? Many thanks.

On Wed, Nov 13, 2019 at 4:47 PM ChimeraX <ChimeraX-bugs-admin@cgl.ucsf.edu>
wrote:

[Tom Goddard]

It is unlikely you set any environment variable. By far the most likely problem is the OpenGL driver is not working. I'm not sure how you test OpenGL on Windows -- most Windows 3D graphics is done with D3D, a different graphics API.

You could try our older Chimera program. It does not use Qt but uses older OpenGL. If Chimera can start then its menu entry Help / Report a Bug... will list the OpenGL graphics driver it is using.

[Greg Couch]

An easy way to see the environment variables, is to start a Command Prompt window, and give the "set" command. The output includes all of the enviroment variables.

To see the environment variables graphically, follow the instructions in ​https://www.nextofwindows.com/how-to-addedit-environment-variables-in-windows-7

[Tom Goddard]

Some kind of OpenGL / graphics driver problem on reporter's computer. Reporter did not respond.