Blanking monitor

Topic

New Reply

Has anyone noticed any issues with blanking monitors, since perhaps Wednesday, August 3, 2022?

 

I’ve been experiencing some odd behavior with a dell monitor that has been working flawlessly on HDMI since 2020 and all a sudden began to blank out. Switched HDMI cables and ports and still blanks out. Tried LCD conditioning and still blanks out. If disconnecting the HDMI or any other video connection I still get the no input message and stay on, but blanks out when connected with a video cable.

Additionally, I have another monitor that I am now using instead of the ‘bad’ dell monitor is also just starting to blank out but a different brand. Began blanking a day after using it but if I disconnect the HDMI and plug it back in it works.

Either way, I have a brand new dell monitor on the way and we’ll find out any information about that one too.

Just wondering if perhaps this is an EMI thing, solar interference from the last few sun events, or perhaps a Windows update that came out.

Reply | Quote

Replies

Haven’t heard of any widespread monitor issues or related recent Windows updates issues.

When you say “blanking” while connected to HDMI are you referring to the monitor going into standby mode, but the power light remains lit? Like when your computer is shut down, but the monitor is still powered.

What are your Windows power & sleep settings for the display? Are you using an integrated graphics adapter, or an add-on GPU?

Please post the computer’s make and model.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

Reply | Quote

I cannot say if its going into “standby” mode, similarly yes. Dell does not believe it is going into standby either, which is why they replaced it under warranty and overnight a new monitor, still waiting. Certainly is not either of the HDMI cables or a single port.

It’s like this, no issues until a few days ago and I go out to the shop for a few minutes and come back into the office and notice the monitor turning off and on. I think nothing of it and go back into the shop and a few hours later returned to the office and the monitor is still turning off and on, unplugged the hdmi and plugged back in and everything seemed fine for a few minutes. Then again, started to turn off and on. Reset the monitor to factory and worked fine for a few minutes without an issue, then off and on again, after that worked fine for several hours. The next morning off and on like no ones business called dell. It’s more elaborate than this paragraph.

All settings are set to maximum and never sleep.

inspiron 13 7368, no system settings, drivers, applications, were changed. The system is used for email, researching, writing documents.

Reply | Quote

Desktop Asus TUF X299 Mark 1, CPU: Intel Core i7-7820X Skylake-X 8-Core 3.6 GHz, RAM: 32GB, GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti 4GB. Display: Four 27" 1080p screens 2 over 2 quad.

Reply | Quote

Did you ever get this solved?  I bought a new Dell Inspiron i3020 desktop.  In the System power settings, I have it set to “turn off screen after 5 minutes.”  The screen never goes off, but it does the blanking thing about every minute, on off very quickly.

Tried switching to a different monitor with a different HDMI cable and it does the exact same thing with the different monitor and cable.  So it has to be something in the new desktop.  I am running Window 11 Home, Version 22H2, OS Build 22621.1992 (have Windows updates on pause.)

Interestingly enough, after I did the HDMI/monitor swap and then back again, it was “fine” for a short period, and then started blanking again, just like you described in your 8-10-22 post.

Reply | Quote

Eman wrote:

Certainly is not either of the HDMI cables or a single port.

I looked up the Inspiron 13 7368, and it appears to only have 1 HDMI port.

It sounds like Dell is working with you, and hopefully it is the monitor at fault. But how did you rule out the HDMI port on the Inspiron?

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

Reply | Quote

displays have multiple ports. an hdmi issue isn’t ruled out yet but is highly unlikely to be a hardware issue with the laptop. so far not had any connection issues with the new display. I never experienced this type of issue but have seen multiple display failures before, retired sysadmin over a decade.

blanking is a long-used IT term and has absolutely nothing to do with the power setting you’re referring to. blanking is referred to as a loss of power signal between the system, term has been used by microsoft, ibm, dell, hp for generations. please remove the power plans and other settings from your mind. this is all gone over. if it were a power management setting it would have been discovered. thanks though.

the issue/question i have is whether the fault was caused by a surge,  a type of other interference, or a system update microsoft pushed out causing such mess.

2 users thanked author for this post.

TechTango, geekdom

Reply | Quote

Are you plugged into a surge protector or outlet? Try changing to another surge protector or outlet.

On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1992 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox116.0b3 MicrosoftDefender

Reply | Quote

Eman wrote:

an hdmi issue isn’t ruled out yet but is highly unlikely to be a hardware issue with the laptop.

Yet, if this turns out to not be the monitor or HDMI cable, then it is related to something (either hardware or software) in the laptop. Assuming that you have already excluded the power outlet used for the monitor, as geekdom suggested. Video driver?

And since that laptop is about 6 years old, there’s not a zero chance that hardware could be failing.

You have been asking about Microsoft updates being a possible cause. That’s unlikely, IMO…

I’m sure that as a retired IT sysadmin, you are aware of the difference between an isolated incident report, and a widespread common issue. If this monitor “blanking” was due to a recent Microsoft update, there would surely be a loud chorus of complaints from many Microsoft users, pointing to a common cause.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

Reply | Quote

Which OS are you using, please?

Reply | Quote

Whoops, I forgot: In your original post you wrote “Tried LCD conditioning and still blanks out.”

What, please, is LCD conditioning?

Thanks.

Reply | Quote

JoeG wrote:

What, please, is LCD conditioning?

Way too lengthy to cover in a post so here’s a link that explains it.

• What is LCD Conditioning?

Reply | Quote

It could be the heat, literally.

When it’s “blank” shine a torch on what should be a “Light” area of the screen (an intense LED beam torch is better..) and see if there’s an image lurking in the gloom. If there is then its plausible the LED supply has overheated  and shut off (as LEDs don’t last long if you run them at elevated temperatures.).

The other give away would be if you can turn down the actual backlight intensity in the menu and compensate by increasing brightness(rather than just changing the brightness, which largely works on the TFT matrix) the fault should be less prevalent.

That said if you dig in the menu the Dell monitors have a test facility, though it’s a fair button mash to get it working – it’s in the manual. Failure in that rules out all the interfaces and the PC..

 

 

 

Reply | Quote