I've been having an issue where my monitor occasionally goes completely black for about 2 to 3 seconds. This has been happening over the past two months. It doesn't happen very often, and I can't pinpoint a specific cause. The first two instances occurred while I was idling on the desktop, but the third instance happened while I was playing a game just a few hours ago. After checking the event viewer, I didn't find any errors or warnings that would indicate a potential GPU driver crash. Do you think the problem is my monitor or HDMI cable?
2 Answers
This kind of issue can sometimes happen if the screen resolution changes unexpectedly. However, it’s pretty rare for that to occur without some sort of action on your part. While games often adjust the resolution when they start, it’s unusual to see that in the middle of gameplay.
Some things you could check: make sure your HDMI cable is securely connected and not damaged. Try physically moving it around to see if that triggers the issue. If you have another HDMI cable, consider swapping it out. Additionally, you could test your monitor with a different device, like a gaming console or streaming box, to see if the problem persists.
Also, adjusting your computer’s resolution and refresh rate might reveal whether it's the monitor struggling to keep up. In some cases, the graphics card itself could also be the culprit.
If the monitor is completely off, that does sound more like a hardware issue rather than a resolution change. Testing with different cables or ports would definitely help narrow it down.
Are you using a hub to connect everything? Also, ensure your monitor is getting enough power. Sometimes, insufficient power can cause issues like this when the monitor is under load.
I’m using a UPS for both my PC and monitor, and it seems to provide more than enough power based on my tests.
I haven't changed the resolution during any of those times. When it goes black, it's like the monitor completely shuts off, not showing any backlight. If my GPU driver were crashing, wouldn’t that show up in the event viewer? I’m just trying to figure out if it's the GPU, HDMI cable, or the monitor—really hoping it’s not the GPU!
I ordered a new HDMI cable since I don't have a spare right now. My GPU has one HDMI port and three display ports, and my monitor only supports DVI and HDMI.