Main Screen Goes Black for 3 seconds

Starkerz · 11 Nov 2021 at 10:50

Hi all,

I've recently been having some issues with my main monitor. To begin my MSI 1080p 144hz monitor was flickering on start up and was getting increasingly worse (Flickering for longer) each time i started the PC after it had been off all night. I read up a little and the most common causes was that the monitor was warming up and or starting to fail. I swapped this monitor with a basic HP 1080p 60hz and the flickering has indeed stopped however..

Now that i have swapped to the HP monitor and the flickering has stopped i'm now facing issues where the screen will go black for about 2-3 seconds before the image comes back - this has only happened on World of Warcraft although i don't play many other games so i can't say for sure that it's WoW that's the issue. It wont happen very often maybe once every day or every other day. I am also using a 2nd Monitor and this stays on all the time without issues.

Steps i have done already:

Changed monitor from MSI (Flickering) to HP (Going black for 2-3 seconds)
Changed the cable going from the monitor to the GPU.
A fresh install of GPU drivers. My GPU is a 1660 Super.
Switched my power mode to performance.

Coincidences or possible causes?

Issues with both screens
Recent GPU driver updates (updated twice within a month)
All issues have happened back to back within the last 2 weeks.

If anyone could share the same experiences or a fix for this i would be most grateful.

mickyflinn · 11 Nov 2021 at 10:52

Have you tried older gpu drivers?

Starkerz · 11 Nov 2021 at 10:55

mickyflinn said:
Have you tried older gpu drivers?

Hi Micky,

Thanks for the response. I have not tried older driver versions - Do you think this could cause my MSI screen to flicker on start up or is this indeed naffed?

mickyflinn · 11 Nov 2021 at 11:12

Starkerz said:
Hi Micky,

Thanks for the response. I have not tried older driver versions - Do you think this could cause my MSI screen to flicker on start up or is this indeed naffed?

Not sure to be honest but it may be due to 2 driver updates you mentioned, worth a try.

Starkerz · 11 Nov 2021 at 13:54

mickyflinn said:
Not sure to be honest but it may be due to 2 driver updates you mentioned, worth a try.

I've rolled back to a September driver - i guess i'll update once i have one.

Starkerz · 11 Nov 2021 at 15:03

mickyflinn said:
Not sure to be honest but it may be due to 2 driver updates you mentioned, worth a try.

Well i just plugged my MSI monitor in again (It had been sitting under my desk for about a week) and no flickering at all. I guess will see how it is tomorrow morning.

mickyflinn · 11 Nov 2021 at 15:29

Starkerz said:
Well i just plugged my MSI monitor in again (It had been sitting under my desk for about a week) and no flickering at all. I guess will see how it is tomorrow morning.

Intresting keep us informed.

Starkerz · 12 Nov 2021 at 07:58

mickyflinn said:
Intresting keep us informed.

Ok so, MSI monitor was flickering when i turned it on this morning. So it's not the driver that is causing it to flicker. I will continue to use this monitor for a little while to see if it goes black for 2-3 seconds like the HP monitor did.

mickyflinn · 12 Nov 2021 at 08:20

Starkerz said:
Ok so, MSI monitor was flickering when i turned it on this morning. So it's not the driver that is causing it to flicker. I will continue to use this monitor for a little while to see if it goes black for 2-3 seconds like the HP monitor did.

See if theres any firmware update for your monitor.

Starkerz · 12 Nov 2021 at 08:51

mickyflinn said:
See if theres any firmware update for your monitor.

Doesn't seem that there is any updates

mickyflinn · 12 Nov 2021 at 09:12

Starkerz said:
Doesn't seem that there is any updates

Did you try a different port on the gpu ?