Second monitor keeps on temporarily going black at random

Anonymous
2023-01-08T02:47:33+00:00

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.

  1. Bought brand new chords (HDMI + Adapter)
  2. Bought a brand new second monitor (issues happening with both old and new monitor)
  3. Checked for updates on all drivers
  4. Reinstalled both graphics drivers
  5. Rolled back graphics drivers
  6. Checked basic settings (sleep/power/screen saver settings)
  7. Disabled all services in background apps in "System Configuration"
  8. 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!

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Devices and drivers

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  1. 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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  2. 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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  3. 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.

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  4. 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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  5. Anonymous
    2025-05-13T05:34:25+00:00

    I have this issue with my second screen and I am using an AMD custom built machine running Windows 10. If this is a Windows issue, I'd need for it to be fixed so I can have both my screens running at their maximum refresh rates (180Hz and 165Hz respectively). I am also thinking of getting another 2 more screens (because why not, since my GFX card supports up to 4 screens) and regardless of their resolutions and display rates, the OS should not interfere with what the GFX card can support.

    Also, I have seen Windows 11 on my work laptop (which has a very low spec GFX card that is only capable of doing 60Hz on both screens) and I am not impressed by the way the OS is going.

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