Weird output to monitors issue

JEB · 30 Aug 2020 at 12:03

I have some strange behaviour with my dual monitors.

Monitor 1 – Phillips 40” 4K – connected with DP cable.

Monitor 2 – Dell 27” – connected with HDM cable.

GFX is a GeForce RTX 2070 super with latest Gforce drivers.

5 time out of 10 when I turn the PC on the light on the Phillips monitor flashes and I don’t get signal to either monitor. Sometimes a re-boot of the PC puts the light on solid on the Philips monitor and I then get display on both monitors, but normally I have to power the Philips monitor off and on, and then display works on both.

I don’t have power sleep settings set on in XP, and nothing like that is turned on in the monitor settings.

This all worked fine on an old PC I have just upgraded from that had a vintage GFX in it, only started since going to this new rig recently.

I’ve bought brand new cables for both monitors to try to rule that out, no difference.

Anyone got any ideas on what I can try to look at next please?

JEB · 31 Aug 2020 at 21:47

Anyone got any ideas on this one please, it's driving me bonkers.

mickyflinn · 31 Aug 2020 at 22:20

Which is your primary display ? Maybe switch them

Are you mirroring the desktop on both monitors or extended ?

JEB · 2 Sep 2020 at 12:15

The monitors are extended. Have tried swapping primary and secondary, same isssue. It's driving me bonkers.

My cables are 2m long as have on a long desk, but this wasnt an issue on my old rig with the same set-up, just on this new one.

Plec · 2 Sep 2020 at 12:37

Motherboard?

I used to get this problem using DP with 980/1070 - on older motherboards. It was a well catalogued issue with the 980Ti and some 1070s and DP cable - but my issues resolved with a newer chipset.

I use to sometimes have to switch the monitor off at the wall for 10 minutes for a fix - made no sense but worked.

Is your motherboard BIOS up to date (this can be a simple fix) and is there a BIOS update available for your 2070 (the 980TI and some 1070s had updates for this)?

The other option is trying HDMI on both monitors - as this will resolve the issue if the DP is the cause.

*Note - i'm not implying your card is faulty - merely an annoying quirk.