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!

I have had the same problem described in this thread and the same degree of frustration as other people. I've tried a lot of the things suggested and not had any luck. I agree with what you said in a previous post, Bill, that based on the number of variables involved, and their variance across cases, it might seem to be a Microsoft issue. I am running Windows 11. You mention event logs. One thing that stood out to me was when the problem first began occurring I noticed an unusual occurrence in the events log of the external monitor affected by the issue. (The log in question is located here: Settings > System > Display > Advanced Display > Display Adaptor Properties [for the external monitor] > Monitor > Properties > Events) On the exact same day the problem began occuring, there was an instance of the device being 'configured', and then a separate instance of it being 'started'. About a month and a half prior to that, the device had been 'deleted'. It won't let me take a screenshot to illustrate this, but I wonder if anyone else had noticed any kind of similar pattern? I'm not technical enough to appreciate exactly what the information in the events log means - but it seems to be relating to uninstalling/reinstalling drivers for the monitor, perhaps as a result of an update? It's not something I knowingly initiated, anyway. In my case the change is from a driver version 10.0.22621.2506 to a version 10.0.22621.3235, and the driver provider in both cases is Microsoft. Perhaps it is not the cause, or perhaps so only in a limited number of cases, but it certainly seemed a correlation worth remarking on.

I have had the same issues. I tried multiple things to troubleshoot the issue. My setup has a docking station from Targus. Three monitors come out of it. The docking station is connected to my laptop with a USB-C cable. I tried connecting each monitor with an HDMI cable. I tested one by one. I had no issues. I reconnected the docking station. Then I started noting what software programs I had open when the monitors flashed and went black. I then isolated it to Microsoft products, especially Excel. I stopped using them for a period of time, and I had no issues at the time. Now, I am only keeping the Microsoft products open on my laptop's main computer screen to see if I can avoid the problem. Update: Today, I only kept the Microsoft products on my main laptop screen. I had no issues at all.

Unfortunately, It started again for me this afternoon. It at least lasted for almost 2 days. I pulled the TP Link dongle and went back to the built in Bluetooth. So far nothing yet and I have not lost Bluetooth connections either. I am sure there is something going on, however I scoured all the event logs I could think of and nothing stood out as being a direct cause.

I tried it disabling the Bluetooth driver and it didn't work for me either. I still get my second display refreshing randomly every few minutes when I move the mouse. I started looking into the event log to see if I could find anything to help. There's a warning logged that says that the "display driver NVLDDMKM has stopped responding and has successfully recovered" but there is no error logged that I can find. That would explain the resetting of the displays but not why its happening. It is so frustrating.

I tried this, but it didn't work for me. I'm curious if it is still working for you.

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!

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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157 answers

Anonymous

2024-04-10T09:09:20+00:00

I have had the same problem described in this thread and the same degree of frustration as other people. I've tried a lot of the things suggested and not had any luck. I agree with what you said in a previous post, Bill, that based on the number of variables involved, and their variance across cases, it might seem to be a Microsoft issue. I am running Windows 11.

You mention event logs. One thing that stood out to me was when the problem first began occurring I noticed an unusual occurrence in the events log of the external monitor affected by the issue.

(The log in question is located here:

Settings > System > Display > Advanced Display > Display Adaptor Properties [for the external monitor] > Monitor > Properties > Events)

On the exact same day the problem began occuring, there was an instance of the device being 'configured', and then a separate instance of it being 'started'. About a month and a half prior to that, the device had been 'deleted'.

It won't let me take a screenshot to illustrate this, but I wonder if anyone else had noticed any kind of similar pattern? I'm not technical enough to appreciate exactly what the information in the events log means - but it seems to be relating to uninstalling/reinstalling drivers for the monitor, perhaps as a result of an update? It's not something I knowingly initiated, anyway.

In my case the change is from a driver version 10.0.22621.2506 to a version 10.0.22621.3235, and the driver provider in both cases is Microsoft.

Perhaps it is not the cause, or perhaps so only in a limited number of cases, but it certainly seemed a correlation worth remarking on.
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Anonymous

2024-04-09T18:17:40+00:00

I have had the same issues. I tried multiple things to troubleshoot the issue. My setup has a docking station from Targus. Three monitors come out of it. The docking station is connected to my laptop with a USB-C cable. I tried connecting each monitor with an HDMI cable. I tested one by one. I had no issues. I reconnected the docking station. Then I started noting what software programs I had open when the monitors flashed and went black. I then isolated it to Microsoft products, especially Excel. I stopped using them for a period of time, and I had no issues at the time. Now, I am only keeping the Microsoft products open on my laptop's main computer screen to see if I can avoid the problem.

Update: Today, I only kept the Microsoft products on my main laptop screen. I had no issues at all.
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Anonymous

2024-04-09T01:04:52+00:00

Unfortunately,

It started again for me this afternoon. It at least lasted for almost 2 days. I pulled the TP Link dongle and went back to the built in Bluetooth. So far nothing yet and I have not lost Bluetooth connections either.

I am sure there is something going on, however I scoured all the event logs I could think of and nothing stood out as being a direct cause.
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Anonymous

2024-04-08T12:21:53+00:00

I tried it disabling the Bluetooth driver and it didn't work for me either. I still get my second display refreshing randomly every few minutes when I move the mouse. I started looking into the event log to see if I could find anything to help. There's a warning logged that says that the "display driver NVLDDMKM has stopped responding and has successfully recovered" but there is no error logged that I can find. That would explain the resetting of the displays but not why its happening. It is so frustrating.
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Anonymous

2024-04-08T11:53:02+00:00

I tried this, but it didn't work for me. I'm curious if it is still working for you.
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