Second monitor keeps on temporarily going black at random

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.

V,

Thank you for the suggestion.

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

Thanks again!

jim

Came on here to say I've been getting the same issue with regular occurence, for a few years now. In the intervening time I've upgraded (almost) every bit of hardware - from the motherboard up - and still getting it happening to me. The only thing that's not changed is the power supply, which is a very good one (hence why I've kept it) and I'm doubtful that's the source of the problem. I'd be more than willing to try a new one but don't really want to stump up several hundred quid on the off chance.

For reference, I've done absolutely everything mentioned in this thread. Lowering the refresh rate, switching off G-sync, putting the monitors on their own separate power sockets, changing out every cable several times, checking all the internal connections.

What's strange is that I can apparently trigger this loss of signal by just moving near my pc. Sometimes I'll pull back my chair, without even touching anything else, and it'll just go. Or, for example, if I lightly tap the top of my KVM switch, monitor 2 will go blank (no, it's not the switch, this problem pre-dates the KVM). Unplugging and plugging the monitor cable back in will usually restore it, but sometimes it takes several tries to get the signal stable again, and usually it'll happen again eventually after a while.

What I have noticed in the last few days is that it's been happening near-constantly, to the point where I've just had to unplug my second monitor. It's been very hot the last few days and I'm wondering if that might be something to do with it. Thinking about getting some new fans to see if that helps.

Otherwise, I've no clue and this is an incredibly frustrating and stubborn problem that I would dearly love to have a proper fix for.

All,

The feedback from Chris prompted me to provide an update.

What I thought was a fix by updating the Nividia drivers was not a permanent fix.

The problem continues to occur even after regularly updating my laptop with the latest drivers.

I am at a loss for why this happens and what to do about it.

Someone mentioned they were able to look at the Event Monitor and see something that was failing at the same time a monitor went black.

I've been unable to figure out what to look at to see if something similar is happening that I could try to shut off...

jim

The set of Dell monitors at home had this setting and I turned it off but still get black monitors randomly.

The set of Dell monitors at work do not have this setting...