Help! (one monitor randomly blacks out for 1 second at a time)
Rtx 3080 10 GB
Ryzen 7 5800x
32 GB Ram

Hey all, I dont think this is a hardware issue, but I could be wrong, and if it is a hardware issue, then I'm pretty sure its just the monitor.

As of last night, my main monitor (Acer xv272u W2 240 hz 2560x1440) will sometimes go black for 1 second if I open an application or press the windows key, or tab out, or move a window from one screen to the other. I always play in fullscreen borderless modes. The other monitor is completely fine (Acer xv272u 144 hz) and doesnt seem to be having issues. Ive only had the problematic monitor for 2 years and this just started last night so I really don't want to accept that its dying or something.

The behavior is almost as if any time it interacts with my other monitor it's like refreshing or re-setting or something. I want to say I was gaming last night and maybe held a weird combo of keys down and turned this setting on. I've rolled back nvidia drivers, changed refresh rates and resolutions around, it still seems to just happen randomly to varying frequencies. I've unplugged the power and display port cords and checked everything in that department.

Another behavior i'm seeing is when im playing a game like Halo or something, when I go to queue up a match, the screen will go black for just a second between leaving the main menu and the loading screen for the match and it will happen again when returning to the main menu.

I'm not sure if theres a way to set up my monitors again or reset the settings on the one that's having issues but it really feels like i just turned on something stupid or I did something weird while i was tabbed over to the other screen last night and it just made my main monitor learn the wrong behavior and I don't know how to correct it back.

If anyone has had this happen or knows what i'm talking about please save my day.
Originally posted by _I_:
are you using vrr?
gsync or freesync can sometimes cause it to do that


or if its doing that at desktop/browser, its more likely a bad led in the monitors backlighting
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Hmm...that happened to my dad's pc he has
A 3060ti 8gb
32gb ram
Amd 5 5600x or something.

It was when playing a game and it did that I changed the resolution and it seemed to fix it.
But I think it might be a refreshing thing on the monitor.
What if you play games on the other monitor.
Oh and what cord do you have plugged in HDMI or Display.
Both set to the correct native screen res + refresh rate?

I had that issue before but only on a PC with 3 Displays for some reason. This always solved the issue. After a clean boot (make sure Hibernation + Fast Startup is disabled fully); once your Desktop + Apps are all loaded up, go to Task Manager > Details > End Process for Explorer, then end for DWM, then wait a sec and end DWM again a 2nd time. Now end for SIHOST and explorer + dwm should be refreshed properly and not cause this issue anymore this session.
Originally posted by PowerOf *AI*:
What if you play games on the other monitor.
Oh and what cord do you have plugged in HDMI or Display.


yes the other monitor has no trouble playing games, and both monitors are hooked into the GPU with Display port cables
Last time I had a problem like this, turned out it was the cable. I bought a certified cable and it sorted everything out.
Cables that come with Monitors always gets tossed into my junk box. I give those to others as emergency spares. Not to be trusted long term. I always buy quality cables like CableMatters and others and they've all lasted longer then the life of the Display.
Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:
Cables that come with Monitors always gets tossed into my junk box. I give those to others as emergency spares. Not to be trusted long term. I always buy quality cables like CableMatters and others and they've all lasted longer then the life of the Display.


worth a shot, i have mainly used the cables that have been included
No spare cables that are latest spec?

If it flickers on the 240Hz Monitor for example; try shut down the PC, swap the cables between Monitors and see. Or if one is HDMI and one is DP, after shutdown try the DP cable on the other monitor and use that by itself, if the flicker is your cable, it will happen on that Display as well.
Last edited by Bad 💀 Motha; 28 Jun @ 8:28pm
The author of this thread has indicated that this post answers the original topic.
_I_ 28 Jun @ 8:48pm 
are you using vrr?
gsync or freesync can sometimes cause it to do that


or if its doing that at desktop/browser, its more likely a bad led in the monitors backlighting
Originally posted by _I_:
are you using vrr?
gsync or freesync can sometimes cause it to do that


or if its doing that at desktop/browser, its more likely a bad led in the monitors backlighting


!!!!!! I do use VRR and my 240 hz comes with built in free sync. I disabled free sync and the issue stopped!!!! Very odd because I've always had it on and this was only a problem recently.

Anyways thank you everyone!!!
DDU wipe your GPU Drivers & Software out via Safe Mode.
Check the options in DDU and ensure it's set to wipe out everything; such as removing all Displays and wiping everything for NVIDIA App / GFE / etc.

Reboot when done and try a clean install of either latest Game Ready Driver or Studio Driver from NVIDIA website.
C1REX 30 Jun @ 2:05am 
Originally posted by A Friend of Ours:
Originally posted by _I_:
are you using vrr?
gsync or freesync can sometimes cause it to do that


or if its doing that at desktop/browser, its more likely a bad led in the monitors backlighting


!!!!!! I do use VRR and my 240 hz comes with built in free sync. I disabled free sync and the issue stopped!!!! Very odd because I've always had it on and this was only a problem recently.

Anyways thank you everyone!!!
VRR requires more data bandwidth = faster cable.
Check if it's VRR only or a cable being too slow by reducing to 120Hz and turning HDR off but enabling FreeSync. Also disconnecting other monitor.
Such black screen often happens with slow cables and VRR, HDR, more Hz, higher res add to cable bandwidth requirements.

In some cases it can be also the GPU limitation and how many fast monitors at once it can handle.
Last edited by C1REX; 30 Jun @ 2:10am
Originally posted by C1REX:
Originally posted by A Friend of Ours:


!!!!!! I do use VRR and my 240 hz comes with built in free sync. I disabled free sync and the issue stopped!!!! Very odd because I've always had it on and this was only a problem recently.

Anyways thank you everyone!!!
VRR requires more data bandwidth = faster cable.
Check if it's VRR only or a cable being too slow by reducing to 120Hz and turning HDR off but enabling FreeSync. Also disconnecting other monitor.
Such black screen often happens with slow cables and VRR, HDR, more Hz, higher res add to cable bandwidth requirements.

In some cases it can be also the GPU limitation and how many fast monitors at once it can handle.


Hmm I hope the GPU isn't degraded that heavily. I usually keep the secondary monitor at 60 hz.

I dont use HDR and I did try running my primary monitor on lower refresh rates and resolutions and the issue persisted. The VRR setting disappeared when I disabled freesync on the monitor and when I re-enabled freesync the problem came back.

I do plan on ordering some higher quality DP cables
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