[SOLVED] PC freezes up when playing videos/scrolling on second monitor ?

[NightShade_7]

I just got myself an MSI Optix G241 24" 1080p monitor, upgrading from a 19" 1360x768 VGA monitor. I had planned to keep using the old monitor as a secondary display and set it to extend the displays. The MSI monitor is running at 120Hz atm (HDMI) with freesync on, while the other monitor can only do 60Hz. I have also set the ICC profile for the MSI monitor as the current one. The displays are powered by my igpu, intel UHD 730 (waiting for next gen).

The problem is that I encounter random freezes when playing videos on the VGA monitor, or scrolling down a browser page on it as I do some work on the first. The freezes consistently seem to happen when I interact with the second monitor. But altho both screens seem to be unresponsive, I'm able to move the cursor around and applications that had been running in the background like a video or a discord call all seem to be running fine, I was also able to speak in the call. But I couldnt click on anything in the screen, the start menu, buttons in the browser, or any keyboard shortcuts. I've tried driver updates and rollbacks, uninstalls and reinstalls but none seem to fix the problem. I've yet to try the newest beta driver from intel, but a beta driver from intel is a scary prospect. Is this more of a problem with the displays being of different resolutions/ refresh rates? or is there a software level fix for this?

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

What resolution is the second monitor running at?

 

[NightShade_7]

What resolution is the second monitor running at?

1360x768 @60Hz , mentioned in the post above. And it's an ancient monitor with a VGA port.

 

[hang-the-9]

You can keep the resolution different, but set both screens to 60hz and turn off any newer video options like freesync. See if the system does not lock up after that.

 

[PsychoPsyops]

Make sure your graphics drivers are correct and up-to-date. A co-worker of mine had the same problem and this resolved the issue. Be sure that the hdmi cable you are using is certified and actually supports the 120hz + freesync, as some will not work properly because they are not made to support all that.

 

[NightShade_7]

You can keep the resolution different, but set both screens to 60hz and turn off any newer video options like freesync. See if the system does not lock up after that.

I tried, it solves the issue for the most part but the screen still locked up once after an hour plus of multitasking. Haven't been able to reproduce it for now.

 

[NightShade_7]

I kept the MSI monitor at 60Hz for a week and there were no lock ups since. The second monitor didnt seem to like it when the newer monitor flexes it's high refresh rate. Freesync/ Anti Motion Blur do not seem to cause any issues tho, so I only up the refresh rate when I go to play esports titles and revert back once I'm done. Is this a known issue with multi monitor setups? Like having different refresh rates causes issues?