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!

Any ideas for when we’ll get this fixed? Having same issue and this is the only forum that has described my exact issue.

This solution helped my situation and fixed other issue I was having for months: Changing of the Refresh Rate on Windows 10 and also Windows 11, fixed my problems. And Also fixed on both computers my OLD problem with unresponsive mice, before the change I had to click several times on selected items but now the mouse single click works like a charm. I went to the lowest Refresh Rate on Windows 10, but on Windows 11 and selected one rate before the lowest because the screen was showing a thin tiny line on the top of the screen, But both computers with different Operating Systems versions now are working FINE. My Equipment: Windows 10 is a very old Dell-XPS-8700 with 16 GB/RAM; Intel Core i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz. Windows 11 is a very new MeLE-Quiter3Q with 8.00 GB/RAM, Intel Celeron N5105 @ 2.00GHz. Thanks for providing this solution, It was driving me crazy!!!

Ditto to all the above, including switching out docks; the only 'solution' of lowering refresh rates seems less than ideal...

Hi Welcome to Microsoft community. I'm glad to help you. From your description, it seems that your second monitor resolution and other parameters appear to be abnormal resulting in. To more accurately determine your problem, does your computer have two different graphics cards, such as an intel and an Nvidia? You can first lower the resolution of the extended screen, then re-insert the hdmi connection and check if the problem disappears. You can also go into the intel or nvidia control panel to reduce the resolution size of the extended screen. If anything is unclear, please do not hesitate to let me know. Best regards Derrick Qian | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

I should have updated this as I was able to resolve this issue in the same manner as you. Lowering the refresh rate to match my laptop eliminated all of my issues.

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.

0 comments

157 answers

Anonymous

2023-06-30T15:14:03+00:00

Any ideas for when we’ll get this fixed? Having same issue and this is the only forum that has described my exact issue.
Was this answer helpful?

20+ people found this answer helpful.

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2023-06-09T11:51:32+00:00

This solution helped my situation and fixed other issue I was having for months:

Changing of the Refresh Rate on Windows 10 and also Windows 11, fixed my problems.

And Also fixed on both computers my OLD problem with unresponsive mice, before the change I had to click several times on selected items but now the mouse single click works like a charm.

I went to the lowest Refresh Rate on Windows 10, but on Windows 11 and selected one rate before the lowest because the screen was showing a thin tiny line on the top of the screen, But both computers with different Operating Systems versions now are working FINE.

My Equipment:

Windows 10 is a very old Dell-XPS-8700 with 16 GB/RAM; Intel Core i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz.

Windows 11 is a very new MeLE-Quiter3Q with 8.00 GB/RAM, Intel Celeron N5105 @ 2.00GHz.

Thanks for providing this solution, It was driving me crazy!!!
Was this answer helpful?

20+ people found this answer helpful.

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2023-05-29T15:01:26+00:00

Ditto to all the above, including switching out docks; the only 'solution' of lowering refresh rates seems less than ideal...
Was this answer helpful?

20+ people found this answer helpful.

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2023-01-08T13:54:51+00:00

Hi

Welcome to Microsoft community.

I'm glad to help you.

From your description, it seems that your second monitor resolution and other parameters appear to be abnormal resulting in.

To more accurately determine your problem, does your computer have two different graphics cards, such as an intel and an Nvidia?

You can first lower the resolution of the extended screen, then re-insert the hdmi connection and check if the problem disappears. You can also go into the intel or nvidia control panel to reduce the resolution size of the extended screen.

If anything is unclear, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Best regards

Derrick Qian | Microsoft Community Support Specialist
Was this answer helpful?

10+ people found this answer helpful.

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2023-06-02T16:35:54+00:00

I should have updated this as I was able to resolve this issue in the same manner as you. Lowering the refresh rate to match my laptop eliminated all of my issues.
Was this answer helpful?

10+ people found this answer helpful.

0 comments No comments