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. Bought brand new chords (HDMI + Adapter) Bought a brand new second monitor (issues happening with both old and new monitor) Checked for updates on all drivers Reinstalled both graphics drivers Rolled back graphics drivers Checked basic settings (sleep/power/screen saver settings) Disabled all services in background apps in "System Configuration" 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!

V, Thank you for the suggestion. Just turned that off and waiting to see how things go. Thanks again! jim

This problem has evidently been caused by a Windows or nVidia driver update (or combination of the two) as my three-monitor setup had been working perfectly for five years, until recently. After changing the refresh rates back from the bizarre 59.940 Hz to 60 Hz, the problem did not go away. I'd open an app and Windows would have a 5-10 second brainstorm trying to work out how to re-layout all open apps - usually by moving them to the wrong screens - with all monitors flashing on and off several times before settling. The fix that has now cured the issue is by changing a monitor setting. On my three identical Dell monitors and most other brands, there should be an option buried in the monitor's menu called DDC/CI (or similar, like E-DDC). I set this to Off on all three monitors, and after a Windows restart I have not seen any "monitor fits". Clearly Windows and/or nVidia drivers need another update to cure the error introduced in negotiating/communicating with multiple monitors. I'm not sure what effect this will have on people using customized color/brightness calibrations configured inside Windows, but for my WFH business use I can't see any changes in my monitors' images.

Win 11 you have to scroll down to advanced display (I'm sure 10 is similar) then A.) select your monitor; B.) select your refresh rate.

Hi, How do you change the rate to 60hz exactly? I don't see that as a dropdown option and it won't let me enter a number... Thanks! jim

Been having the same issue with my second monitor, on 2 separate laptops. It's still early, but so far this fix is holding. Try reducing your refresh rate in Windows for this monitor, I dropped mine from 60 to 50, and it hasn't done the "reset" since. Thanks, Michael. Something to try. I appreciate it!

Second monitor keeps on temporarily going black at random

Anonymous

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.

Bought brand new chords (HDMI + Adapter)
Bought a brand new second monitor (issues happening with both old and new monitor)
Checked for updates on all drivers
Reinstalled both graphics drivers
Rolled back graphics drivers
Checked basic settings (sleep/power/screen saver settings)
Disabled all services in background apps in "System Configuration"
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!

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157 answers

Anonymous

2025-06-24T11:32:55+00:00

V,

Thank you for the suggestion.

Just turned that off and waiting to see how things go.

Thanks again!

jim
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Anonymous

2025-06-24T07:38:07+00:00

This problem has evidently been caused by a Windows or nVidia driver update (or combination of the two) as my three-monitor setup had been working perfectly for five years, until recently. After changing the refresh rates back from the bizarre 59.940 Hz to 60 Hz, the problem did not go away. I'd open an app and Windows would have a 5-10 second brainstorm trying to work out how to re-layout all open apps - usually by moving them to the wrong screens - with all monitors flashing on and off several times before settling. The fix that has now cured the issue is by changing a monitor setting. On my three identical Dell monitors and most other brands, there should be an option buried in the monitor's menu called DDC/CI (or similar, like E-DDC). I set this to Off on all three monitors, and after a Windows restart I have not seen any "monitor fits". Clearly Windows and/or nVidia drivers need another update to cure the error introduced in negotiating/communicating with multiple monitors. I'm not sure what effect this will have on people using customized color/brightness calibrations configured inside Windows, but for my WFH business use I can't see any changes in my monitors' images.
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Anonymous

2025-06-23T21:04:35+00:00

Win 11 you have to scroll down to advanced display (I'm sure 10 is similar) then A.) select your monitor; B.) select your refresh rate.
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Anonymous

2025-06-23T17:26:53+00:00

Hi,

How do you change the rate to 60hz exactly?

I don't see that as a dropdown option and it won't let me enter a number...

Thanks!

jim
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Anonymous

2025-06-23T17:13:51+00:00

Been having the same issue with my second monitor, on 2 separate laptops.

It's still early, but so far this fix is holding.

Try reducing your refresh rate in Windows for this monitor, I dropped mine from 60 to 50, and it hasn't done the "reset" since.

Thanks, Michael. Something to try. I appreciate it!
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments