Question Monitor(s) inexplicably not connecting to HDMI

[DahMainahGaimah]

Not sure if this belongs under Displays, but frankly, I have no idea what the problem component is at this point, so this section seems most apt.

As of a week ago, I have been experiencing an issue where my PC successfully boots to Windows 10, but the monitor cannot connect to HDMI. I tried switching cables - didn't work. I got new cables - didn't work. I tested three separate monitors, also didn't work. I tried multiple ports on the GPU and monitors in case one was dead - didn't work. I tried to connect using the iGPU - didn't work. I have only been able to fix the issue once, by unplugging the PC. Afterwards, the monitor recognized the HDMI cable. I have been running this driver version long enough that I know it to be stable, and have had this PC and GPU for a fairly long time, but not long enough to expect issues like this.

The problem has popped up again, and unplugging no longer produces results. Uhh... help, please. I'm at a loss, I've tried literally everything I can think of, save for using a DVI cable, since I don't have one. If this is some HDCP issue, I'm swearing off HDMI forever, because what the hell is this.

 

[DSzymborski]

It would be extremely helpful to give us a full rundown of your specs, for both the monitor and the PC. Remember, we're not at your PC so you have to be our eyes and ears and all I know from your post is some random monitor is having trouble connecting with some random PC.

 

[DahMainahGaimah]

As I stated in the first post, three monitors had the same issue, making it nigh useless to list individual monitor specs. Regardless, here you go. It will be slightly incomplete, as it's from memory.

Monitor 1: ASUS MX239H, 1080p60 IPS
Monitor 2: Old Dell, no product code on monitor, 1080p60 TN
Monitor 3: ASUS VS247H-P, 1080p60 TN


PC:

CPU: i7 3770
Motherboard: mATX Gigabyte LGA1155 B-series chipset (Can't find the product code, and not really important. It's fairly old, as I said.)
GPU: EVGA GTX 980 SC
RAM: 32GB Crucial DDR3 1333MHz (Yes, I know.)
SSD: 500GB Samsung 860 EVO
HDD: Western Digital Blue 1TB 7200RPM
PSU: SeaSonic ~600W 80Plus Bronze
OS: Windows 10

 

[DahMainahGaimah]

Update: my PC is now working properly again, after using the same method. (Unplugging.)

This seems to be the only fix for the problem, and it's essentially random whether or not it will work. I have a bad back, so I can't be spending 10/30+ minutes under my desk every time I want to start up my PC. Does anyone have any insights as to what could be causing this?