signal indicator (S8.5 and X1) - no movement unless playing back or recording ??

Hi,
 
Been living with this for a while (and*learned* to live with it...) However, after installing PT9 I see this DAW does not do it on my system.
 
When I arm a track and route everything, normally I can watch and adjust signal everywhere including the meter in Sonar (8.5 or X1 does the same...), left of track pane.
 
Then say I start playbing back or recording. As soon as I stop, I get no more visual signal on teh meter.  It is *just* a visual problem, since if I continue recording and as soon as the project is moving, the signal is there and start moving again.  But again when stopped, don't even think about using this view to make further adjustements. In other words, the only way (from then) I have to make adjustments and rely on this meter will be to put project under playback (with or without recording).
 
Is this related to a bug in Sonar ? To graphic card issues ? Have no clue...
 
I had same problem on my previous computer, this is not new... And it happens on both Sonar 8.5.3 and X1b (and I believe it was also happening in all previous versions).
 
Under Pro Tools 9, I do not have this issue (oh... I have many other ones, but not this one...)