Troubleshooting Thread: Black Menu Bar When 2 Monitors Connected

I am creating this thread for a VERY specific issue that many of us are having.

Can I respectfully request that NO OTHER posts be made except about this very specific situation.

The situation is as follows:

Notice that the title bar is all black, including the buttons in the upper right to minimize, maximize, and close Logos.

Answer the following questions:

1. Do you notice this when you have 2 monitors plugged in and active?

2. Do you see it when you only have 1 monitor plugged in.

3. What video card do you use?

4. What version of Windows do you use (including whether 32 or 64 bit)

5. What version of Logos are you using (4.0 SRX or 4.0a BETAX

PLEASE POST ONLY IF YOU HAVE THIS ISSUE!!

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Comments

Rich DeRuiter

1. Do you notice this when you have 2 monitors plugged in and active?

2. Do you see it when you only have 1 monitor plugged in.

3. What video card do you use?

4. What version of Windows do you use (including whether 32 or 64 bit)

5. What version of Logos are you using (4.0 SRX or 4.0a BETAX

1. I always have 2 monitors plugged in.

2. N/A

3. ATI Radeon 4850

4. Win7 64bit

5. 4.0a B5

Kevin, I'm pretty sure this is restricted to Win7 64bit with 2 monitors. But we'll see.

Kevin A. Purcell

1. Do you notice this when you have 2 monitors plugged in and active?

YES

2. Do you see it when you only have 1 monitor plugged in.

3. What video card do you use?

nVidia Geforce 9400 GT 512 MB Video Memory

4. What version of Windows do you use (including whether 32 or 64 bit)

Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

5. What version of Logos are you using (4.0 SRX or 4.0a BETAX

Logos 4.0a Beta 5

Damian McGrath

1. Yes

2. Don't know

3. Nvidia GeForce G210

4. Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit

5. 4.0aB5

J. Morris

PLEASE POST ONLY IF YOU HAVE THIS ISSUE!!

I don't have the issue, but always use 2 mon. so while you did state not to, I'm going to post so you have some comparisons.

1. NO

2. N/A

3. NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150 (64MB dedicated, 735 shared)

4. Vista 32 bit

5. 4.0 SR7

Joseph Turner

1. Yes, I get the black bar, but only when maximized. When I take the window out of full screen the options show up.

2. Don't know, haven't tried

3. NVidia 9800 GT

4. Windows 7 x64

5. 4.0 SR-7

I use ultra-mon to add a second task bar for the second monitor. With the Logos moved from Monitor 1 to Monitor 2 the bar is blacked out, but if I minimize it to the task bar on monitor 2, and then re-maximize it, then everything shows up normally. Strange.

Jacob Hantla

1. Do you notice this when you have 2 monitors plugged in and active?

2. Do you see it when you only have 1 monitor plugged in.

3. What video card do you use?

nVidea GeForce 8800M GTS

4. What version of Windows do you use (including whether 32 or 64 bit)

Vista 64B

5. What version of Logos are you using (4.0 SRX or 4.0a BETAX

4.0 SR7

PLEASE POST ONLY IF YOU HAVE THIS ISSUE!!

oops

Rich DeRuiter

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/57503#Comment_57503

1. Do you notice this when you have 2 monitors plugged in and active?

No

2. Do you see it when you only have 1 monitor plugged in.

No

Just to confirm Jacob, you don't have the black-bar-of-annoyance issue?

Michael Birney

(2 computers both with 2 monitors)

1. Yes / yes

2. Yes / yes

3. NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GXS+ / not sure, nvidia 5600 i think

4. Windows 7 Home premium / same

5. 4.0 sr-7 / 4.0 beta

It as little annoying, it would be nice to see the the title bar.

1. Do you notice this when you have 2 monitors plugged in and active?

2. Do you see it when you only have 1 monitor plugged in.

3. What video card do you use?

4. What version of Windows do you use (including whether 32 or 64 bit)

5. What version of Logos are you using (4.0 SRX or 4.0a BETAX

PLEASE POST ONLY IF YOU HAVE THIS ISSUE!!

Rich DeRuiter

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/57545#Comment_57545

4. Windows 7 Home premium / same

Michael, is this 32 or 64bit Win7?

Michael Birney

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/57546#Comment_57546

4. Windows 7 Home premium / same

Michael, is this 32 or 64bit Win7?

opps: home 64, work 32.

Francis Jeffries

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/57546#Comment_57546

(1 computers 3 monitors)

1. NO

2. NO

3. NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GXS+ / not sure, nvidia 9600

4. Windows 7 Ultimate

5. 4.0 sr-7 (4.0.3.3272)

Seems to be a problem with your windows 7 or vista themes. My quess is with Aero. Try the Aero themes.

Go to personalization > Window Color make sure enable transparency is enabled. If that does not work try the advanced appearance setting and change the window color and appearnace for the active and inactive title bar. Might fix it, might not.

Michael Birney

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/57569#Comment_57569

changing the advance appearance color did fix it so it is not black, but it is the wrong color (picked some awful yellow just to see if a lighter color worked,but it's blue in L4), but I can see the items on the bar now.

Jacob Hantla

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/57506#Comment_57506

1. Do you notice this when you have 2 monitors plugged in and active?

No

2. Do you see it when you only have 1 monitor plugged in.

No

Just to confirm Jacob, you don't have the black-bar-of-annoyance issue?

no black bar

Rich DeRuiter

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/57569#Comment_57569

Seems to be a problem with your windows 7 or vista themes. My quess is with Aero. Try the Aero themes.

Do you have Win7 64 or 32 bit?

Aero themes are working properly for other program windows on my machine. But with Win7 64bit, there is a problem with a black bar replacing the Aero theme transparency. That's the issue. Changing the windows color scheme doesn't change this.

Except for one report here, the issue is unique to Win7 64bit when using more than 1 monitor. Maybe we'll have to add Win7 32 bit with more than one monitor as well.

Rich DeRuiter

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/57577#Comment_57577

changing the advance appearance color did fix it so it is not black, but it is the wrong color (picked some awful yellow just to see if a lighter color worked,but it's blue in L4), but I can see the items on the bar now.

Michael, could you post a screen shot of your 32bit system with the black bar issue. Thanks.

This is the first time I've heard of this issue on anything other than Win7 64bit with more than one monitor.

Francis Jeffries

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/57585#Comment_57585

I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit with 3 monitors and no problems. If other programs run fine, then there may be a corruption of Logos 4 files during install. I think the new API is Windows Presentation Foundation (or WPF). That maybe a issue to be addresed by logos in an update.

Rich DeRuiter

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/57593#Comment_57593

I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit with 3 monitors and no problems. If other programs run fine, then there may be a corruption of Logos 4 files during install. I think the new API is Windows Presentation Foundation (or WPF). That maybe a issue to be addresed by logos in an update.

Curious: what happens if you run it with only two monitors? (shut down, remove a monitor, restart and start L4 - if you have the time to aid with the diagnosis of the issue.)

Sure the problem is likely with an interaction between WPF, .NET, DX11, and Win7. But where?

The issue has existed since the days of the pre-release beta.

Allen Browne

A1: Yes: I see this problem when using dual monitors on both laptop and desktop.

A2: No: I don't see the probelm when using a single monitor.

A3: nVidia 8600M (laptop) and nVidia 250 GTS (desktop.)

A4. Windows 7 64-bit (laptop), and Windows XP 32-bit SP3 (desktop)

A5. Logos 4 SR-7 (4.0.3.3272)

FWIW, I run Logos 4 on Monitor #1, which also has the Windows Taskbar on it.

Additionally, if I restore the main Logos window (so it's no longer maximized), the title bar is off the top of the screen.

Michael Birney

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/57585#Comment_57585

I'm at home, it's my work machine, so I will try and post pic tomorrow - although I have never posted any pic on this forum, nor have I ever used the screen shot software I have, so what I am saying, I'll do my best.

changing the advance appearance color did fix it so it is not black, but it is the wrong color (picked some awful yellow just to see if a lighter color worked,but it's blue in L4), but I can see the items on the bar now.

Michael, could you post a screen shot of your 32bit system with the black bar issue. Thanks.

This is the first time I've heard of this issue on anything other than Win7 64bit with more than one monitor.

Michael Birney

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/57753#Comment_57753

Top one is picasa, just to see how other programs look, bottom is L4.

Win 7home premium, 32 bit, intel dual core at 1.8 gz, 4.0 gb memory, I was wrong about the video card on this one nvidia geforce 9400 gt

It really hasn't bothered me enough to mess with or mention it.

Scott H. Clark

1. 2 montiors - - Yes

2. 1 monitor - - No

3. nVidia 9200M GS w/256 dedicated

4. Win 7 Home premium 64bit

5. Logos 4aB5

Eric Ruhnow

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/57985#Comment_57985

Yes - ION nettop with Win7 Home Premium x64, dual display (32" 720P and 1440x900). nVidia 9400 graphics. L4SR-7

No - Acer laptop with Vista Home Premium x32, no dual display. nVidia 7000m graphics. L4SR-7

LaRosa Johnson

1. yes

2. no

3. integrated laptop video card (Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100)

4. Win 7 Professional 64-bit

5. 4.0aB5 (was happening in SR7 too and just about any other prior release)

Keith Larson

1. Yes

2. No

3. ATI Radeon HD 3200 and HD 3400 in Hybrid Crossfire

4. Window 7 (64)

5. 4.0 SR7

Allen Browne

Two months later, this bug still persists.

As well as the right-end of the title bar going black (not displaying max/min/close buttons), I've noticed that sometimes:

a) The buttons are shown on the title bar, but really scrunched down small, and the top of the title bar is chopped of, and

b) The bottom of the Logos window is hidden behind the Windows taskbar.

This would seem to hint that Logos 4 is having difficulties in calculating the screen metrics and drawing the window appropriately on a dual-monitor machine. The fact that this occurs with different versions of Windows suggests that it's not tied to WPF or GDI. This should help to narrow the problem down.

FWIW, here's a screenshot demonstrating (a) above -- just the top-center-and-right of the Logos 4 window:

Michael Birney

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/95657#Comment_95657

There is a fix for this, something about setting a chrome setting, let me look more, I can't find it at the moment.

Michael Birney

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/95692#Comment_95692

http://community.logos.com/forums/p/7997/63464.aspx#63464

That thread discusses it (type set custom chrome to no), but is not the one where the original fix is found.

Allen Browne

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/95699#Comment_95699

Thanks, Michael. The command Set Custom Chrome to No seems to have addressed the issue. Appreciated.