In my Monogame (XNA) Windowed App, compiled for Windows PC, running on Windows 7, I have

```
public RenderTarget2D renderTarget = null;

```

In the Inititate() function I have

```
renderTarget = new RenderTarget2D(graphicsDevice, 200, 200, false,
                           graphicsDevice.PresentationParameters.BackBufferFormat,
                           graphicsDevice.PresentationParameters.DepthStencilFormat);

```

My drawing is as follows

```
public override void Draw(GameTime gameTime)
{
    base.Draw(gameTime);

    // POSITION A

    // draw some stuff to the back buffer
    graphicsDevice.Clear(ClearOptions.Target | ClearOptions.DepthBuffer,
                         backgroundColor, 1, 0);

    SceneRoot.Draw(gameTime);    // draw some 3d primitives

    spriteBatch.Begin();
    spriteBatch.Draw(...some things...);
    spriteBatch.End();

    // POSITION B

    spriteBatch.Begin();
    spriteBatch.Draw((Texture2D)renderTarget, new Vector2(5f, 200f),
                     new Rectangle(0, 0, renderTarget.Width, renderTarget.Height),
                     Color.White);
    spriteBatch.End();
}

```

If I put the following code to draw to the renderTarget in POSITION A then I can see the stuff drawn between POSITION A and POSITION B, with the stuff drawn to the renderTarget on top, as expected.

If I put the following code in POSITION B then I can't see anything drawn between POSITION A and POSITION B, just the stuff drawn to the renderTarget.

```
graphicsDevice.SetRenderTarget(renderTarget);
graphicsDevice.Clear(Color.Red);
spriteBatch.Begin();
spriteBatch.Draw(...some things...);
spriteBatch.End();
graphicsDevice.SetRenderTarget(null);

```

With the above code for insertion, I can even reduce it to 

```
graphicsDevice.SetRenderTarget(renderTarget);
graphicsDevice.SetRenderTarget(null);

```

and still get the same result (only see what is drawn to the renderTarget, which is now nothing, ie a blank screen). I've tested, and it's the `SetRenderTarget(renderTarget)` that's causing the problem, seemingly by wiping the backbuffer.

Oh, and none of the sprites drawn cover the whole display, so it's not the sprites displaying wrong, I don't think, as I should still see the 3d stuff.

I've looked and I don't see anything in SetRenderTarget about wiping the backbuffer. Can anyone help? Is it something else, like something to do with the RenderState or the Effects? I can provide more of my code if need be.