The refresh is delayed, so when you first open a intraday chart, the first few bars won't show for a awhile. This is on new symbols. Once the symbol is on your quote page it works ok. Also, after a new quote has been up for a while, just hit "refresh" and it will update.
The backfill data for IB/Ensign comes from IQFeed, not IB. Only the real time data comes from IB. As such, the backfill data can go back years (the Ensign max setting is 10 yr.). Exactly how far back you receive depends on the symbol. http://www.dacharts.com/faq/Ensign-refresh-changes.htm IQFeed/DTN are considered reliable services by most who have used them. Hope this helps. s