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 the sane probkem but I have now fixed this. Thank you for everyone who helped with this problem.

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.

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!

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

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.

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

2025-05-13T22:03:07+00:00

I have the sane probkem but I have now fixed this. Thank you for everyone who helped with this problem.
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Anonymous

2025-06-23T03:45:25+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.
Was this answer helpful?

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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!
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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

2025-06-23T21:04:35+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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1 person found this answer helpful.

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