diff --git a/src/video/x11/SDL_x11opengl.c b/src/video/x11/SDL_x11opengl.c
index 7f907e638..a431ae742 100644
--- a/src/video/x11/SDL_x11opengl.c
+++ b/src/video/x11/SDL_x11opengl.c
@@ -529,10 +529,11 @@ X11_GL_GetVisual(_THIS, Display * display, int screen)
 #define GLXBadProfileARB 13
 #endif
 static int (*handler) (Display *, XErrorEvent *) = NULL;
+static const char *errorHandlerOperation = NULL;
 static int errorBase = 0;
 static int errorCode = 0;
 static int
-X11_GL_CreateContextErrorHandler(Display * d, XErrorEvent * e)
+X11_GL_ErrorHandler(Display * d, XErrorEvent * e)
 {
     char *x11_error = NULL;
     char x11_error_locale[256];
@@ -545,12 +546,12 @@ X11_GL_CreateContextErrorHandler(Display * d, XErrorEvent * e)
 
     if (x11_error)
     {
-        SDL_SetError("Could not create GL context: %s", x11_error);
+        SDL_SetError("Could not %s: %s", errorHandlerOperation, x11_error);
         SDL_free(x11_error);
     }
     else
     {
-        SDL_SetError("Could not create GL context: %i (Base %i)\n", errorCode, errorBase);
+        SDL_SetError("Could not %s: %i (Base %i)\n", errorHandlerOperation, errorCode, errorBase);
     }
 
     return (0);
@@ -576,9 +577,10 @@ X11_GL_CreateContext(_THIS, SDL_Window * window)
 
     /* We do this to create a clean separation between X and GLX errors. */
     X11_XSync(display, False);
+    errorHandlerOperation = "create GL context";
     errorBase = _this->gl_data->errorBase;
     errorCode = Success;
-    handler = X11_XSetErrorHandler(X11_GL_CreateContextErrorHandler);
+    handler = X11_XSetErrorHandler(X11_GL_ErrorHandler);
     X11_XGetWindowAttributes(display, data->xwindow, &xattr);
     v.screen = screen;
     v.visualid = X11_XVisualIDFromVisual(xattr.visual);
@@ -676,12 +678,24 @@ X11_GL_MakeCurrent(_THIS, SDL_Window * window, SDL_GLContext context)
     Window drawable =
         (context ? ((SDL_WindowData *) window->driverdata)->xwindow : None);
     GLXContext glx_context = (GLXContext) context;
+    int rc;
 
     if (!_this->gl_data) {
         return SDL_SetError("OpenGL not initialized");
     }
 
-    if (!_this->gl_data->glXMakeCurrent(display, drawable, glx_context)) {
+    /* We do this to create a clean separation between X and GLX errors. */
+    X11_XSync(display, False);
+    errorHandlerOperation = "make GL context current";
+    errorBase = _this->gl_data->errorBase;
+    errorCode = Success;
+    handler = X11_XSetErrorHandler(X11_GL_ErrorHandler);
+    rc = _this->gl_data->glXMakeCurrent(display, drawable, glx_context);
+    X11_XSetErrorHandler(handler);
+
+    if (errorCode != Success) {   /* uhoh, an X error was thrown! */
+        return -1;  /* the error handler called SDL_SetError() already. */
+    } else if (!rc) {  /* glxMakeCurrent() failed without throwing an X error */
         return SDL_SetError("Unable to make GL context current");
     }