Restoring NT Graphics after Graphics Driver Restart

[Lancer]

A graphics card driver may restart automatically, or it can be restarted manually by Win+CTRL+Shift+B, and upon restart and re-rendering the desktop, all open application windows re-render correctly as they were, except NinjaTrader. Instead of the NT workspace re-appearing as it was, the only remaining visible NinjaTrader graphics are chart interiors. Not visible are all chart borders, including toolbars (top) and tabs (bottom). Also not visible are all other NinjaTrader windows including Control Center, Market Analyzer, Account Data, SuperDOM, T&S, Data Box, etc. The windows are not closed or moved and still exist (tabs for all are as normal in the Windows desktop toolbar), but the windows do not re-render and are just not visible.

Clicking on a Windows desktop toolbar tab to minimize, restore, or maximize non-visible NT windows has no effect. Clicking on a toolbar tab to move (CTRL+Shift+RightClick) non-visible NT windows places the move cursor where the non-visible windows should be on the desktop, but the windows remains non-visible. With all NT controls not visible, there is no way to deal with open orders or otherwise control NT or close NT normally. In this state, NT also does not respond to hotkeys.

After a graphics driver restart, NT is left a mess, but all other open applications re-render graphics correctly and operate normally. There appears to be no way to restore NT graphics except to kill the NinjaTrader.exe process and restart NinjaTrader, which is a big interruption. Any ideas why NT graphics do not survive a graphics driver restart, but all other applications do? Any ideas how to restore graphics other than to kill the NT process and restart NT?

[NinjaTrader_Clayton]

Hello Lancer,

Thank you for writing in.

When I tested this for myself, everything loaded back in and kept working as expected.

I even had a few of my colleagues try the keyboard combination on their computers and they said it blinked, and then everything kept working.

Here is a video demonstration I recorded of me testing this on my computer:

• https://www.screencast.com/t/xlsdT2anXi

Since my colleagues and I didn't experience any of the same behaviors that you're describing and we tested this on at least 3 different computers with NinjaTrader 8 installed, it sounds more like the behavior you are experiencing is unique to something within your local setup.

To look into this further I suggest:

• Make sure that all available Windows updates have been installed
• Make sure that the most recent Graphics Drivers are installed
• If you have a dedicated Graphics Card like Nvidia or AMD, make sure that it has been set to use High-Performance settings with NinjaTrader and that the Dedicated Graphics card is handling all of the processing for the displays
• If you have multiple monitors plugged in, unplug any that are not directly plugged into the ports on the Graphics card and then restart NinjaTrader and see if the behavior continues

Open NinjaTrader in Safe Mode by closing the platform and then hold Ctrl on the keyboard and keep Ctrl held down while you click to open NinjaTrader.

• Once you see the Splash Screen say "Safe Mode" you can let go of Ctrl.
• Control Center > Workspaces > new > Call it "Test"
• Set up a small workspace using default NinjaTrader items only
• Then, test the Windows Shortcut and see if resetting the Graphics Driver still causes things to stop working
  • If everything keeps working, go to the Workspaces menu > Save the "Test workspace > Restart NinjaTrader > Click No if it asks to save
• Reopen NinjaTrader like normal and see if the Windows Shortcut still causes things to stop working. It should open to the "Test" workspace
  • Did it work?
• If yes, try opening the Old/Original Workspace and test the Windows Shortcut again.
  • Did it work?

For me to provide a more in-depth and educated response, I would need to take a look at the Log and Trace files from your computer in case there are any messages or further information on what could be causing this behavior.

• Go to the Control Center > Help > Email Support
• Enter your email
• Enter the Subject as "Clayton ATTN 3648958 "
• Expand the "Other files" section
• Check the following boxes:

• Log and Trace files
• Workspace and UI Settings
• Templates

• Send the message

[Lancer]

Clayton, thanks for the information and test video. Very interesting that you are not seeing the same behavior. What is your graphics setup?

Here I am running Windows 10 (latest updates), with dedicated graphics (AMD Radeon, latest driver and software, 6 GB graphics memory), with six 27" displays (2560x1440 each). Four displays are connected directly to AMD graphics card mini-DisplayPorts, with two extended displays daisy-chained from two of those directly-connected monitors using DisplayPort Out ports. AMD Eyefinity is used to create one 5120 x 2880 desktop, plus the two extended displays (2560 x 1440 each). The six-monitor array is 2x3.

[bltdavid]

Clayton, thanks for the information and test video. Very interesting that you are not seeing the same behavior. What is your graphics setup?

Here I am running Windows 10 (latest updates), with dedicated graphics (AMD Radeon, latest driver and software, 6 GB graphics memory), with six 27" displays (2560x1440 each). Four displays are connected directly to AMD graphics card mini-DisplayPorts, with two extended displays daisy-chained from two of those directly-connected monitors using DisplayPort Out ports. AMD Eyefinity is used to create one 5120 x 2880 desktop, plus the two extended displays (2560 x 1440 each). The six-monitor array is 2x3.

Maybe those two extra displays are messing things up.

To get all 6 monitors connected directly to the card,
I'd suggest this AMD Radeon 7750 video card.

[NinjaTrader_Clayton]

Hello Lancer,

Thank you for the follow-up message.

Please know this is by no means a suggestion of what graphics card to get or one that is "better" for use with NinjaTrader vs. the next. As well, I have no idea why this one is in the computer vs. the next one. So, I will not be able to provide any further information in that department, this is just what happens to be in my computer:

• Nvidia Quadro P2000 with 4gb video memory on the latest Windows 10 operating system and drivers and the native laptop monitor only
• I do not know what computers and system setups my colleagues are using as we do not all use the same hardware

As bltdavid suggests, the two monitors that are being daisy-chained could be causing this behavior.

• One of the steps we take when looking for odd display behaviors is looking to see if there are any USB display adapters or daisy-chained monitors as these are known to have issues.
  • So, I suggest unplugging the daisy-chained monitors to where only monitors are plugged directly into the Graphics card. Then restart the computer and then open NinjaTrader and see if using the Graphics Reset shortcut still causes the odd behaviors in NinjaTrader.

In short, you will want to make sure that all of the monitors in use are plugged directly into the ports on the Graphics card/s.

• Do not use the video ports on your Motherboard
• Do not use any kind of USB or another type of visual splitter to add additional monitors

Some graphics cards can only handle the graphics processing for the monitors that are plugged directly into its ports.

• So, if you have additional monitors plugged into something like the Motherboard or a USB Display adapter, the graphics processing for the monitors plugged into those ports could be handled by those devices on their own causing the information needed to update the different interfaces to have issues
• So, when the platform has multiple threads processing across the different graphics adapters, it can cause a variety of unwanted visual issues/behaviors

If you find that everything is working as expected when only having monitors plugged directly into the Graphics card, then you may need to look for a Graphics card with more ports directly on the graphics card.

[Lancer]

To clarify what DisplayPort daisy-chaining is . . It is not some USB adapter or video splitter hack, or other workaround to run monitors beyond the port capability of the graphics card. DisplayPort daisy-chaining is technically referred to as Multi-Stream Transport (MST) and is a design feature of the DisplayPort 1.2 and higher protocol. DP MST is a standard VESA interface and is fully supported by Windows 10 and VESA compliant hardware. Graphics cards supporting DP 1.2 or higher, like mine, are designed to run up to 6 monitors using only 4 DP ports. Monitors supporting DP 1.2 or higher, like mine, are designed with both DP input ports and DP output ports for MST applications. This is VESA standardized design functionality.

Does the response focus on disconnecting monitors connected via DP MST indicate that NinjaTrader does not fully support the VESA DisplayPort 1.2 and higher protocol?

[NinjaTrader_Clayton]

Hello Lancer,

Thank you for the message.

Before diving too deep into a Rabbit hole that may have nothing to do with this behavior, I would like to perform a few more tests:

As a very simple test, just unplug the two monitors that are currently Daisy-chained > Restart the computer > Open NinjaTrader and test if Reloading the Graphics card still causes the same behavior.

• This may not even be related to why the NinjaTrader windows are distorted.
• If removing the Daisy chained monitors from the setup fixes things, then we know it's related.
  • If you remove the Daisy-chained monitors and the behavior continues, we know it is coming from something else
• I just mentioned this as just one of the few things that could be related/causing it.

If Forcing the Graphics Card to Reload is still causing the NinjaTrader charts and windows to break, perform the following test to really narrow in on if it has to do with the additional monitors or possibly the "extended desktop" software.

• Unplug all but one monitor
• Restart the PC
• Open NinjaTrader and then use the Shortcut to Reload the Graphics Card.
  • Do the windows still break?
  • If not, plug in an additional monitor, restart the computer, and try again.
  • Keep adding monitors and settings back in until forcing the Reload causes things to break again.

[Lancer]

Thanks Clayton, will test on the weekend.