Infuriating computer monitor issue

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I have a 27" Acer monitor. 1920x1080, 165Hz refresh rate. I just got a new GPU, I upgraded to a Gigabyte RTX 4070 from an EVGA GTX 1080.

Anyways, I switch out the cards, button up the case, plug it in, plug in my monitor to the new card via Display Port cord, turn it on, and I get a 98% black screen, with like a 1/4" of scrunched up image along the top of the screen.

I turn the monitor on and off and restart the machine. Same thing.

I switch DP cords. Same thing.

I try multiple HDMI cords, same thing.

So I grab another monitor I have, a 21" ASUS with 60Hz refresh rate, and that displays just fine via HDMI. I plug in the Acer monitor via the DP cord, enable multiple displays, and they BOTH display just fine. Checking the Settings, Control Panel, and Nvidia Control Panel, they’re both at 60Hz refresh rate when both are plugged in to the PC.

But when I unplug the ASUS, the Acer automatically switches itself back to 165Hz and I get the black screen with the scrunched up image along the top of the screen. I can’t go into the settings to change the refresh rate, because I can’t see anything. If I plug in the ASUS so I can see what I’m doing, the problem magically vanishes.

Changing the PC’s output to 165Hz didn’t do anything either.

It’s a weird Catch-22 and I’m out of ideas. I’m shopping for another 27" monitor is really the best I can come up with at this point. If dual screens are the only way it’s going to work, then dual screens it shall be.

This was mostly just a rant, but if you have any ideas, I’m open to advice.

2

Did you look to update the drivers for the new graphics board? This does fix so many problems like this.

Can you adjust the monitor’s refresh settings via its settings? Seems a lot less likely, but worth a shot.

Did you try a different HDMI cord?

That’s all I’ve got.

3

Updated the drivers very first thing I did. Even rolled it back just in case it was the new driver. Same thing.

Monitor’s own settings doesn’t have refresh rate setting.

Tried every combination of cords and plugs I could imagine. Same thing.

Hard reset on monitor didn’t do anything.

Thanks for trying, anyways.

4

You did mention multiple HDMI cords, some about that last one.
Sounds like a very weird one.

5

I’d go a step further by doing a full DDU uninstall of the previous version of the video card driver before installing the newest version of the Nvidia driver for the new GPU. (I would download that new driver first.)

Also, monitors sometimes come with “driver” files (mostly device description metadata) to hard-set the characteristics of the new monitor, rather than having Windows guess.

6

Is there anything in the settings for the monitor itself? That is, bring up the monitor’s settings with the buttons on the monitor case. You may have to do this with the video cables unplugged so you can see the screen. See if there are any settings for video modes or refresh rates you can set.

7

Nothing like that in the settings. Closest thing in the settings is just a toggle for [some abbreviation] that the on-screen info describes as “let PC control settings” but turning it on or off doesn’t appear to make any difference. Or I can make it display the refresh rate in the corner of the screen, but that’s about it.

8

You could try setting the resolution of the Acer monitor to something lower. Hook it back up in dual monitor support so you can see it and then change the resolution on the Acer monitor to one of the lower resolutions (e.g. 640x480). Maybe it’s something specific about the 1920x1080 resolution.

9

Maybe you can boot up in safe mode and see if it still happens? I think there’s a version that doesn’t even load video drivers and you end up with really low-res settings.

Edit: I assume you can see the boot screen, and the BIOS screen if you press the right buttons, right?

10

Tried that. Same result.

Same result in Safe Mode.

Even tried putting it into recovery, but that just makes the strip at the top blue.

Boot and BIOS screen still the same thing; I just get a broken line of different colored pixels at the top of the screen.

11

When you plug in two monitors, are you using the same output on the card for the monitor with the problems? That is, you’re leaving the bad acting monitor plugged into the same place, hooking up a second monitor, and now the bad monitor works?

12

Assuming the cabling or the monitor hardware* isn’t the issue, what does Googling your monitor’s model number and a description of the problem return? In this big internet, there’s always a strong chance someone else has encountered what you are working through and their experience might be illuminating.

*BTW, I wouldn’t assume this. It’s quite possible the monitor is defective under the conditions you intend to use it with (your graphics card, your DisplayPort and your cables, plugged in by itself without the other monitor making Windows downrate its outputs to 60Hz).

13

The card has 1 HDMI and 3 Display Port outputs. The ASUS is plugged into the HDMI because that’s the only input it has, and I’ve switched the Acer around between the 3 DP outputs (and the HDMI) with the same results from all.

Google has been zero help.

I’m currently researching how to change the refresh rate via the Command Prompt. Hopefully there’s a single command I can enter into the CP, unplug the ASUS, then hit Enter to run the command.

I’ve considered that possibility. But even if that’s the case, the solution is to get another monitor, which I’ve already ordered, along with a dual-monitor VESA mount, because I figure as long as I’m paying for two monitors and at least one of them only works in dual monitor mode, I may as well use them both.

14

You know the really weird thing is just out of curiosity I stuck my old GPU back in the machine which was working perfectly fine hours earlier, and the monitor was still doing the same shit with the old GPU. I don’t understand. :confused:

15

This is really weird. So, I guess your monitor is telling the computer to go ahead and set the scan rate to 160Hz or whatever, but can’t really take that. It’s not the drivers, because the drivers aren’t loaded yet when the BIOS screen and boot screen come up. So weird.

16

The resolution of that monitor can’t accommodate the UHD output of your video card. Treat yourself to a 32" UHD monitor and see the difference! You deserve it! :slight_smile:

17

Problem solved.

I got pissed off dealing with it so I took that piece of shit Acer monitor and I literally threw it out the fucking window, and I’m never buying anything from that shit company ever again.

Thanks for all the help, everyone.

18

I think that’s what it recommends in the manual.

19

I have a strange problem with a Samsung 32" monitor.

This is for a second home office set up, away from my home. Anyway. It will just shut it self off out of the blue. NOTHING I do with the monitors on off switch will get it to recover. I have to unplug it and plug it back in.

It only happens every couple of days so it’s not that big of a deal, just a :sigh: and hard boot the monitor.

20

So, the Putin solution?

You may be onto something about Acer monitors. I have a 23" Acer as a second monitor on my main system and it has the weird habit of desyncing and going black for a few seconds at a time at random intervals. As a second monitor, it’s not always the one I’m paying the most attention to, but it can be slightly distracting to have it cut out and back on. And it is quite annoying when it happens while I am actively viewing content on it.

Not bad enough to defenestrate (yet) but I will probably avoid the brand in the future.