Here I am with another stupid computer problem.

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  • Sheepdog Gear

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    Jan 2, 2014
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    Jasper County
    Setup: (Always on due to business)

    - Windows 10 64 bit
    - Custom HP Pavilion 17t laptop (bought new a couple months back)
    - New LG 27UD58-B secondary monitor connected via HDMI

    Problem: (Only started happening after I restarted the laptop this morning. NEVER happened before.)

    - LAPTOP monitor intermittently goes black, but Windows is still running as I can still hear Pandora playing. That, and after about 3 - 5 seconds, it all comes back. Happens every few minutes.
    - If I pull the HDMI on the secondary monitor and just use my laptop monitor, everything is fine. I've typed this post this far and have not had any issues.

    Tried the following:

    - Worked the hinge on the laptop repetitively and vigorously and couldn't force the problem to happen, which makes me think it's not a hardware issue.
    - I noticed that it's not a simple, "go black", then "back to normal". It "goes black", then comes back and starts populating my icons back where they go in the task bar.

    I'm at a loss. Any help would be appreciated! Dual monitors make my job WAY more streamlined.
     

    Hop

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    Next time you reboot enter into the BIOS setup (you might have the fancy EUFI type BIOS). Look for diagnostics. Both internal display a extends monitors will probably be cloned. Watch and see if you get a dropout.

    If you want to get fancy, go to pendrivelinux and build yourself a USB Linux boot stick and use it to test dual monitors.

    This is how I would isolate the problem to Win10 or hardware.
     

    Outlaw

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    If it's repopulating your icons it sounds like a software issue. If it was a hardware issue it would simply flicker on or off and wouldn't affect your "desktop". I'm not very good with Windows 10 but maybe try a new video driver?
     

    Sheepdog Gear

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    Ok thanks guys. I'll check BIOS and see if I can update video drivers in a bit. I can't restart for another few hours as I have a 3D print tethered to the laptop.

    Just for the heck of it, I plugged the monitor back in. It started happening again. I then went into the display settings an found that I had the "text / apps / other items" size set to 200% on the main (laptop) monitor, and 150% on the secondary. I changed them both to 200%. Hasn't gone nuts yet and it's been a few minutes. Could that be it?
     

    TheMachine

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    If you're serious about needing to be always on, I would replace that laptop with a small-form-factor desktop asap, as laptops are not designed to take those kind of loads (their cooling specifically can be troublesome). It's unlikely the scaling was the issue unless it's a bug in your video drivers. You'll need to reboot to finish installing new video drivers so I'd wait until your 3d print is done then start with that.
     

    Sheepdog Gear

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    If you're serious about needing to be always on, I would replace that laptop with a small-form-factor desktop asap, as laptops are not designed to take those kind of loads (their cooling specifically can be troublesome). It's unlikely the scaling was the issue unless it's a bug in your video drivers. You'll need to reboot to finish installing new video drivers so I'd wait until your 3d print is done then start with that.

    Well, the scaling wasn't it. Still doing it. So I'll be checking drivers after this print is done.

    I should've clarified. Yes, it's always on, (and monitors are off most of the time). But it's never really under load. I typically keep them on so I can remotely connect to them throughout the day.
     

    T.Lex

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    Thought I posted in this earlier - check your sleep and power supply settings. Sounds like its going to sleep/suspended animation?
     

    jkaetz

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    Most likely the video driver is crashing and getting restarted. If you look at the logs in the event viewer you'll probably see errors indicating this. I've used laptops as desktops for the last five years and they can most certainly handle it from a hardware standpoint.
     

    gopher

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    If you're serious about needing to be always on, I would replace that laptop with a small-form-factor desktop asap, as laptops are not designed to take those kind of loads (their cooling specifically can be troublesome).

    This! I wouldn't use a laptop for ANYTHING that needs to be on 24/7 due to borderline cooling capacity of most laptops.
     

    Sheepdog Gear

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    I'm by no means a computer person. But I found the issue on the 7th word of the OP

    "Windows"
    Ha! Other than for video editing, I simply just don't like Apple.

    So just a quick update....

    3D print finished up this morning, so I was able to start messing with stuff.

    - Swapped HDMI cables, issues kept happening as I expected.
    - Updated the NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 960M display driver. Restarted. Still same problem.
    - Deleted the NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 960M display driver with the intent of reinstalling it after a restart. Restarted. Went to the Device Manager. NVIDIA driver must have self reinstalled as it is there.

    So far, no issues. It's been about 10 minutes. Keeping my fingers crossed. :)
     
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    Sheepdog Gear

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    Could it be the Intel HD Graphics 530 driver, or does the NVIDIA driver override that one?

    I'm about ready to elbow drop this thing. I shouldn't be having problems with a system this expensive.
     

    Hop

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    I fix puters fer a livin.

    You haven't isolated hardware from software yet and it's real easy. Enter BIOS, watch both monitors, wait to see if it drops out.
    Building a Linux USB boot stick is easy too and will also help isolate the issue as hardware or software (Windows).
    https://www.pendrivelinux.com/
     

    oldpink

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    Ha! Other than for video editing, I simply just don't like Apple.

    So just a quick update....

    3D print finished up this morning, so I was able to start messing with stuff.

    - Swapped HDMI cables, issues kept happening as I expected.
    - Updated the NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 960M display driver. Restarted. Still same problem.
    - Deleted the NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 960M display driver with the intent of reinstalling it after a restart. Restarted. Went to the Device Manager. NVIDIA driver must have self reinstalled as it is there.

    So far, no issues. It's been about 10 minutes. Keeping my fingers crossed. :)

    What is this Apple and Windows of which you speak?
    Slackware64 Linux smokes them both.
     
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