Revit 2014 Workspace unresponsive and screen tearing over ribbon

[steezzen]

I and several others in my office have had this problem for awhile now, and I have not been able to find a fix. We're running Revit 2014 on Windows 7 Professional. About 3-4 times a day, the workspace window will become unresponsive and overtake most of the Revit window, overlaying itself over the ribbon and tabs. When I mouse over the ribbon, the buttons reappear one at a time, and they still work when I click. So I can save my project and exit Revit, bringing it back to normal, or I can switch to a different view, then close all views to fix the problem as well. But then anywhere from 10 minutes to a few hours later, it happens again. It seems to be related to switching views when I have multiple views open at once, but it doesn't happen often enough for me to be sure what exactly causes this graphical glitch. I've uploaded a few screenshots to show exactly what's happening. Thank you in advance for any help you have to offer!

[pendean]

System details?
Windows OS?
Video card details?

[steezzen]

OS: Windows 7 Professional, (Service Pack 1 installed) 64-bit (6.1, build 7601)

DirectX version 11

Manufacturer: Dell

Model: Precision T5600

Processor: Intel Xeon CPU e5-2620 0 @ 2.00GHz (2 processors)

RAM: 32 GB

Video card: NVIDIA Quadro 4000

DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC

Memory: 1706 MB

Let me know if you need any more specific information. Thanks.

[rosskirby]

Is there any chance you (and your coworkers) have your Revit window stretched across 2 monitors, or possibly have you Properties Palette and Project Browser detached and placed on a secondary monitor?

If so, that could be the culprit.

[steezzen]

Yes, I and most people in the office fill one screen with the workspace, then use the other screen for the detached properties and project browser windows. However, there are also a number of people that use this screen setup as well and have never encountered this problem. One coworker that hasn't experienced the issue has the same graphics card as I do, though it has about 6 more GB of memory. I also checked one coworker that is experiencing the issue, and he had the same card and amount of memory as I do.

Also, I should note that one of my coworkers that was experiencing this issue did a full uninstall then install of Revit 2014 and still encounters the issue on a regular basis. Sounds to me like an issue with graphics cards... just a guess.

[MichaelBussiere2]

Thank you for your post.  In this case there are a few identified issues when attempting to use Revit with multiple monitors.  Revit can respond more favorably with it stretched across two monitors (starting in the main monitor, and with the palettes docked).  The palettes, when placed on a different screen, have been known to cause communication issues between the interface of Revit and the system (in the way of performance).  Revit responds the best when placed in the primary monitor.  To test overall stability, please place the interface of Revit on your primary monitor, with your palettes docked, and then test for the day.  Additionally, once you have confirmed stability, you could attempt to drag the corner of the interface across both screens to enable more real estate fro drafting.

One user on another blog has found some external tool to help enable this environment.  I cannot speak to it, but it could be worth looking into if you require this visual setup (not recommended to have it setup in this fashion, but again if needed, here is one option possible).

http://therevitkid.blogspot.com/2014/01/tutorial-using-revit-on-multiple.html?_sm_au_=iVVNSH1jZN6WR0...

[steezzen]

Michael, thank you for your help. However I still encounter the glitch even when Revit is placed only within the primary monitor with all windows docked, and also stretched across both monitors with windows docked.

I haven't yet tried the solution from the blog you mentioned. It looks like it has more to do with positioning windows on the screen. I'll give it a shot over the next week or so and see if there's any improvement.

[Eduardo2012]

That happens to me and I use a single screen. I've learned to live with it as I've found that all it takes is changing the application window size. I don't need to close and reopen. Try it while you find the solution

[steezzen]

Eduardo, thanks for the tip- it works quite well. Should be a better bandaid fix for now while I try to find a solution.

As a general update, I'm still encountering this glitch after trying these various solutions. And, thanks to Eduardo, it looks like I have someone else to confirm that this problem is not unique to dual screen setups. Thanks for everyone's help thus far, though.