[SOLVED] issues with dual monitors

[wastedwishes]

OS: windows 10 home 64 bit version 1903
Monitors: Dell S2417DG
CPU: Intel - Core i7-9700K Octa-Core 3.6 GHz Desktop Processor
CPU Fan: Noctua NH-U14S - Premium CPU Cooler with NF-A15 140mm Fan (Brown)
GPU: GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1660 Ti OC 6G 192-bit GDDR6 DisplayPort 1.4 HDMI 2.0B with Windforce 2X Cooling System Graphic Cards- Gv-N166TOC-6GD
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3200MHz C16 Desktop Memory Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B3200C16)
HDD: Samsung 970 EVO 500GB - NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSD (MZ-V7E500BW) currently 100gb free space
Motherboard: MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Plus LGA1151 (Intel 8th and 9th Gen) M.2 USB 3.1 Gen 2 DDR4 HDMI DVI CFX ATX Z390 Gaming Motherboard
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G3, 80 Plus Gold 650W, Fully Modular, Eco Mode with New HDB Fan

monitors are individually connected to the graphics card using displayport. everything is just under a year old and in great condition. hard drive has 100gb of free space

some of the issues i'm having:

1. when my pc wakes up from sleep, all of my open programs get moved over to the primary monitor
2. sometimes the primary monitor will stay in power saving mode and the secondary monitor will take over as the primary. even if i reboot with just the original primary monitor connected it will stay in power saving mode. i haven't figured out exactly how to get it working again but some combination of turning the pc/monitor on/off and mashing the monitor's menu buttons repeatedly eventually works
3. turning off one monitor causes everything that's open to be moved to the monitor that's still on. turning off a monitor might also cause my system to lag/freeze

 

[Ralston18]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and Windows 10 version.

Make and model PSU: wattage, age, condition?

Disk drives: make, model, capacity, how full?

Look in Reliability History and Event Viewer for any error codes, warnings, and even informational events that correspond to the monitor issues.

Start by downloading the GPU drivers via the manufacturer's website. Reinstall and reconfigure.

If there are specific monitor drivers then likewise manually download, reinstall, and reconfigure.

Next try running Window's built in troubleshooters. The troubleshooters may find and fix something.

Failing that then run "sfc /scannow" via the Command Prompt.

"dism" commands are the next option.

 

[InvalidError]

If both monitors are the same, try swapping display cables. My guess from you saying you need to mess with your primary monitor to turn on is that your primary monitor may be failing so Windows ends up dumping everything on the secondary monitor because your primary is failing detection.

 

[wastedwishes]

i've edited my original post to include my computer specs

btw, the 1st and 3rd problem happened as soon as i got the second monitor. the 2nd problem is more recent

reliability history and event viewer have a ton of errors and informational events but i don't understand a lot of them. should i copy/paste them here?

sfc /scannow found some corrupt files and fixed them

i used dism /online /cleanup-image /checkhealth and dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth, no corruption detected for either

 

[InvalidError]

btw, the 1st and 3rd problem happened as soon as i got the second monitor. the 2nd problem is more recent

Seems consistent with a defective/dying monitor: at first, the primary monitor was waking up too slow to get detected before Windows decided to use your secondary as the new primary, then your primary monitor quit turning on with any sort of reliability. Give it a few more weeks or months and it probably won't turn on at all anymore.