Second monitor keeps on temporarily going black at random

I experienced the same problem and found out it is my fridge in the next room that causes the screen to go black for a few seconds.

See potential solutions:

https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/6193/my-monitor-turns-off-when-fridge-starts-how-can-i-stop-this

I am working off of a laptop and have a second monitor to extend my displays. I have been using this set up for two years now and have not had a problem until last night. It seems that my attached monitor only (main monitor on laptop is not affected) will go black for a few seconds before turning back on and showing my screen. It should be noted that my laptop does not reset the display to place the windows back onto the main screen when this happens but the extended monitor goes black at random. Note that I am running Windows 10 and unable to upgrade to Windows 11 as of now.

So far, I have tried the following solutions but still cannot figure this out.

1. Bought brand new chords (HDMI + Adapter)
2. Bought a brand new second monitor (issues happening with both old and new monitor)
3. Checked for updates on all drivers
4. Reinstalled both graphics drivers
5. Rolled back graphics drivers
6. Checked basic settings (sleep/power/screen saver settings)
7. Disabled all services in background apps in "System Configuration"
8. Restarted Windows explorer

This means I have spent time replacing and even buying new equipment to get around this issue but cannot seem to figure it out! This is very important since I work at home as well. Please let me know if there is anything else I can possibly do outside of hard resetting the computer (which I cannot do for a few reasons). Thank you!

Hi,

I had the exact same issue where my external monitor used to flash black for 2-3 seconds and then come back! I have the external monitor connected to my laptop using a VGA cable. But this fix should work for both VGA and HDMI cables and connectors. This started happening after I reinstalled windows 10 and had to reinstall all the graphics and other drivers manually as windows update was not able to do it as usual.

The way I fixed it was by going to Settings > System > Display, then select the 2nd monitor and click on "Advanced display settings", next click on "Display adapter properties for Display <display number>" select "Properties" and go to the "Driver" tab then select "Update driver", next "Search automatically for drivers". While updating both your screens will flash black and then return.

Even though I had the latest graphics drivers installed as mentioned by the Intel Driver and Support Assistant, for some reason the driver installation must've been broken or something but updating it as mentioned seemed to have fixed the issue. Hope this helps!

System Specs: -

Processor: Intel(R) Core (TM) i7-7500U CPU @ 2.70GHz 2.90 GHz

OS: Windows 10 Home 22H2

Memory: 12GB

Dedicated GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 940MX 2gb VRAM

Integrated GPU: Intel(R) HD Graphics 620 6gb shared VRAM

This is insane. I need to be able to use dual monitors for work and one of my screens keeps going black every few minutes. Someone needs to address this. I have a MSI laptop using brand new Koorui monitors, brand new HDMI cables, a brand new HDMI to USB dock. I've tried switching cables, lowering the refresh rate for all 3 to 60 Hz, lowered the screen brightness to 10, brand new power supply, switched power outlets, turned off Nvidia graphics, changed processor power management power settings to 99%, and turned off sleep and screensavers. All drivers say they are up to date. What am I supposed to do?

edited to add I'm on Windows 10

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10750H CPU @ 2.60GHz 2.59 GHz

I think, for me on my system, this is a definitely a Windows 11 issue and a combination of non-standard resolutions such in 1920 x1200 resolution and the fact that on that setting, Windows doesn't allow me to force the refresh rate to a standard 60hz, instead it's auto reading the monitor's default rate of 59.5hz for the second monitor and the other 2 monitors are on 60hz. I have 4 monitors on 2 different PC systems attached with a KVM USB switcher for mouse and keyboard and the monitor in question works fine on the Windows 10 box connection and only has the issue when working from the Windows 11 laptop. BTW, the monitors do not run through the KVM, I manually change inputs through monitor settings. I had this setup for 2 years and was working fine till this week after a new Windows 11 update. I've been Window's 11 for about 6 months and the monitor issue just happened after the new update.

In previous Windows version, you could force the refresh rate of what you wanted but in Windows 11 (Piece of !@$! OS) for the resolution of 1920 x 1200 won't me let change the refresh rate, it's fixed at 59.5hz. I can open the older adapter settings menu and set it to 60hz but it does nothing, stays at 59.5hz on the main display settings page. Furthermore, if I set the resolution to 1920 x 1080 it does allow me to select 60hz as a resh rate and the problem goes away, BUT then my resolution looks terrible on this monitor. This is not a fix, it's a less-than-optimal work around. This is 100% a Windows 11 issue and started from recent update. Win 11 is garbage.

Just a note about 11, they changed too many things for stylistic reasons and didn't realize they gutted functionality on a couple things. For example, the right click is now a mess for functionally. The whole purpose was to have extra options right there for the selection, but the style changes moved or altered a lot of the options for no other reason than to look more modern. It used to have WinZip on it WITH the option to unzip files multiple selected files at once and create the individual file names automatically with 1 click. Now, can't do it on Windows 11, option just gone. It has the option to unzip multiple selected files natively, but it just dumps them all into 1 file does not create the unzipped version of each file named properly. This may sound like a minor annoyance, but this greatly increases my work time when working with 60+ zips like I do. And now this monitor issue after Update. I do NOT like Windows 11 at all, but the company updated to it 6 months ago, so I'm stuck using it.

i've got 4 screens with the same problem (since windows 11, no problem win 10) :

Hardware :

R9 5950x

RTX 3080 Ti ( 3 Display port, 3 HDMI)

DP 1 : (Principal) Asus XG32UQ, resolution : 4K @ 144Hz / HDR / Gsync

DP2 : Asus VP28U, resolution : 4K @ 60Hz

HDMI 2 : Asus VP28U, resolution : 4K @ 60Hz

HDMI 3 : Denon 3500H, resolution : 4K @ 60Hz (For Audio & TV Philips 65PML9008/12

sometimes when screen goes black and normal i can lost audio (need turn off/on my Denon)

when screen goes black i've got the "windows 11 Zoom Out/In"

i've got no sleep mode, i've got last version Win11 & nvidia drivers

no trace in windows events logs.

sorry for my english (french)