Ongoing NT7/barchart issues

[pkmurphys]

Been using NT7 with the barchart non realtime feed for a few weeks now and it has been super buggy for me.

Running Windows 7, AVG antivirus, Comodo firewall. AVG resident shield exceptions added to NT folders in program files and in users/documents. Ninjatrader.exe given permission by Comodo to access internet.

Current problem is the one I've been experiencing the most: open a contract and immediately get the 'Ninjatrader needs to shut down...' dialogue box. Today is was the ZL 03-11 contract that caused the shutdown.

Note: I am using NT to keep track of futures mostly, and I am new to futures, so I'm sure some of my issues are newb related. I hope having a public thread about my travails will help someone down the road cuz it is uber-frustrating right now.

Any thoughts on why I keep getting the '...need to shutdown' dialogue box?

[NinjaTrader_Chip]

Hello

Thank you for your post.

So that I can see what might be taking place in the background, please send us your log & trace files for one of the effected dates. You can send a note to support & include your Log & Trace files by going to Help > Mail to Support > include files > click “Send”

Please include a reference to this forum thread.

Thank you,

[pkmurphys]

Log and trace files sent.

[NinjaTrader_Chip]

Hello pkmurphys

We just received the files. We will evaluate & try to understand what is going on.

Thank you,

[pkmurphys]

thanks for your reply chip, i will paste it below for others to reference. yes, i am using custom chart templates. my workspace has 3 charts -- daily, hourly, 15m -- and each of them has its own template, basically EMAs. i will send the workspace and templates to you via the support email in hopes that you can recreate the issue.



After reviewing the diagnostic files, I noticed the following error messages:

2011-02-01 15:05:37:746 ********* exception trapped *********
2011-02-01 15:05:37:746 The added or subtracted value results in an un-representable DateTime.
Parameter name: value
2011-02-01 15:05:37:746 at System.DateTime.AddTicks(Int64 value)
at System.DateTime.Add(Double value, Int32 scale)

Are you applying any custom chart templates or custom indicators on these same charts? I tried to recreate the ‘crash’ on my end using BarChart, ZL 03-11, & several minute-based chart. let me know if there are any specific steps that can be used to recreate the issue.

Please also remove, repair, and recreate the connection to BarChart:
• Go to the Tools menu--> select Account Connections--> highlight the connection--> click Remove
• Then go to the Tools menu--> select Options--> select the Data tab--> click Repair DB
• Restart NinjaTrader
• Go to the Tools menu--> select Account Connections and recreate the account connection.

Recreate the connection. For convenience, this link includes the instructions:
http://www.ninjatrader.com/ConnectionGuides/Barchart-Connection-Guide.php

[pkmurphys]

thanks for your reply. i repaired the barchart connection last night and was able to work bugfree for a couple hours.

upon starting up NT this morning though, i immediately got the 'needs to shut down' dialogue box. my workspace from the previous night was my 3chart setup with the ZF 03-11 contract. i tried to send these log and trace files to you but NT wouldn't allow anything to be done before it was shut down, and when i would shut down and restart it immediately gave me the 'needs to shut down' dialogue box. note: during all of this i am on a public network, at a coffee shop.

so i shut down my comp and reboot at home a couple hours later and my workspace loads with the ZF 03-11 contract with no problem.

so i'm starting to think it must the chart templates that it doesn't like. i haven't tried starting over with new, empty charts because i have s/r lines and text drawn on my workspace charts -- i'm going to lose all of that if i close down these charts and start over right?

[pkmurphys]

oh wow. another update: scrolling through the 15 contracts that i follow all of my s/r lines drawn on these charts are gone. i haven't changed anything. same workspace. same template. i switch instruments using the dropdown menu in the upper left of the window and somehow the daily chart has reverted back to its original state. SOS mayday we need a bigger boat....

[NinjaTrader_Chip]

Hello pkmurphys

If these s/r lines are located on the chart that you are using to scroll through these 15 contracts, there will most likely be some instances where the price scale will not plot these in the viewable range. If these s/r lines are drawing objects then you can set them to auto-scale so y-axis is adjusted to keep these in the viewable area.

If you are concerned about losing charts annotations, text, etc. you can right-click on the drawing objects in the chart & select ‘Lock’.

[pkmurphys]

hmmmm .....now i'm confused. i drew s/r lines on my 15 contracts a couple weeks ago (using the rectangle function). i didn't lock any of the objects. and when i would flip through them using the dropdown menu my lines for each of the contracts were there -- NT remembered them.

until today. now they're gone. on all 15 contracts. why would they disappear?

[NinjaTrader_Kyle]

Hi pkmurphys,

Can you think of any changes which occurred between when the charts were last showing these objects and now?

Do you recall saving these drawing objects as part of a workspace?
Is it possible that you'd saved over your existing settings?

[pkmurphys]

hi kyle, i repaired my barchart connection the previous night. and everytime i shut down NT when i get the 'do you want to save your workspace?' i always say yes.

basically my workspace is a 3chart layout that pops up when i open NT -- a daily chart, an hourly chart, and a 15m chart. they are linked together so that when i change the contract on one it changes on all. i draw s/r lines on the daily chart -- do i really need to lock every s/r line i draw on a chart? shouldn't it be saved as part of the workspace?

[NinjaTrader_Kyle]

Hi pkmurphys,

Can you clarify for me what you mean by when you say that you repaired the BarChart connection? What specific steps did you take?

[pkmurphys]

hi kyle, i followed the steps that chip outlined in the post above us. i deleted the barchart connection in the accounts section, then i repaired the database, then i recreated the barchart connection.

[NinjaTrader_Kyle]

pkmurphys,

Thank you for the clarification.

This procedure should not have resulted in the deletion of the drawing objects. That said, there have been a few crashes and I suppose it's possible that this may have resulted in the drawing objects not being available.

Are you totally sure that the s/r lines aren't just out of view in the scale of the chart? As a simple test, what I'd suggest is that you load the 'Remove Drawing Objects' menu. If all of the boxes in that menu are grayed-out, we can be sure that no drawing objects remain on the chart. If some of the boxes remain selectable, this would indicate that the drawing objects do still exist but are not in view.

[pkmurphys]

hi kyle, i have loaded the 'remove drawing objects' menu and like you predicted all the boxes are grayed out. i have no objects on any of my charts. so frustrating -- 15 charts with s/r lines and text annotations have been wiped clean. please help me understand how this is possible so that i can prevent it in the future.