Second display blinks on then stays off

[kenod44]

I've been using this second display with my desktop computer for a couple of years now and I've had no issues with it. One day the second screen blinked on for a split second and then off again. The monitor isn't saying there's no signal, it's just not displaying anything. I have plugged and unplugged the VGA cable to my PC and sometimes the screen comes back on but more often it doesn't. I've unplugged and plugged in the monitor and it does the same as well as restarting my PC. I've tested this monitor with another laptop and it works flawlessly so I'm pretty sure its my PC. I've tried uninstalling the drivers for the monitors and reinstalling them with no success. Nothing I've found online matches my description and no solutions have worked. Its an LG Flatron monitor running off an ASUS PC with a 32" TV as my main display. My computer has had no problem running the monitors in the past so I don't know whats changed. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[Ralston18]

Verify setup:

Main display, 32" TV (how connected)?

Second display, LG Flatron monitor, VGA connection to PC? Graphics card or motherboard?

Have you tried another known working VGA cable?

GPU (if used) fully and firmly seated?

Are you able to swap the main and second display to see if the problem follows the hardware or the "position".

 

[kenod44]

Verify setup:

Main display, 32" TV (how connected)?

Second display, LG Flatron monitor, VGA connection to PC? Graphics card or motherboard?

Have you tried another known working VGA cable?

GPU (if used) fully and firmly seated?

Are you able to swap the main and second display to see if the problem follows the hardware or the "position".

(UPDATE) I found another thread on this forum where someones monitor wasn't working in a similar way I described. They said "If a window isn't 'active' on the screen, it will turn on, then instantly turn off after the screen flashes for 1 second. Turn off as in, the whole monitor turns off.
Initially, if I opened something like say, my browser, dragged it across to the 2nd monitor and powered it on, it would stay on perfectly until I dragged the window back to my 1st monitor. Now it has about a 1/4 chance of doing this every reboot. Most of the time it just flashes 1 frame on and off constantly."

I then tested to see if my PC was the same and I turned off the monitor, moved a window over to the monitor and turned the monitor back on to see if it would stay on and it did. I did try turning on and off the monitor before that but something about moving a window over to the monitor had something to do with it. The monitor seems to be working fine now at the moment after shutting my PC down and starting up again to see if it would work normally again and it seems so. I'm assuming it's just a technical bug in Windows.

For future reference I'll reply to the questions you asked.

Answers to your questions while my monitor wasn't working:
The TV is connected via HDMI
Second display is VGA cable to PC. I don't have a graphics card. It was a pre-built PC with integrated graphics.
I have tested another cable and I've the same result.
I've tried using each display individually and they work fine separately along with switching my main display in the display settings
Thank you for your help!

 

[Ralston18]

Not sure what to suggest.

But as a finer point of reference: what version of Windows 10 are you using and what release?

 

[kenod44]

Not sure what to suggest.

But as a finer point of reference: what version of Windows 10 are you using and what release?

Tried it again today and it isn't working again. Trying what I did yesterday isn't working now either.

OS Name: Microsoft Windows 10 Home
Version: 10.0.17134 Build 17134

 

[Ralston18]

Boot as normal and work as normal. Hopefully the screen will come on/go off at least a couple of times.

Then open Reliability History and look for error codes and warnings that correspond with the screen issues.

The objective is to discover what Windows is noting in its' logs. May be some useful clue therein.

 

[kenod44]

Boot as normal and work as normal. Hopefully the screen will come on/go off at least a couple of times.

Then open Reliability History and look for error codes and warnings that correspond with the screen issues.

The objective is to discover what Windows is noting in its' logs. May be some useful clue therein.

I think I forgot to mention that this only happens when I boot up the computer or when I press the power button on the monitor to turn it off and when I press it again to turn it on, once the monitor turns on then the screen blinks and then goes black. Not back lit black, just as if the monitor isn't turned on yet the power button light is green to indicate it is on. I checked Reliability History and nothing seems to pop out at me. There is several "Windows was not properly shut down" events but unless the power goes I always close all tabs then click shut down in the start menu. Everything else is information about updates.

I'll link the tread I was talking about yesterday since our issues were similar but I don't use NVIDIA. (http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-3697206/monitor-turns-instantly-turns-screen-displays.html)

Just an additional observation, if I take a screenshot of the screen, the screen for the second monitor does show up. I would be lead to believe that it is the monitor but from the tread linked above being so similar and also using an LG monitor I don't know anymore.

 

[Ralston18]

Not sure about what to suggest at this time.

I happen to have a couple of LG TV's (HDMI connections) that exhibit similar behavior. The screen goes "grey" and may come back on its' own.

If not, all I need to do is wiggle and push in the serving HDMI cable. Picture comes back and all is well for awhile.

My thinking is leading towards some issue with LG products in general. Unfortunately not able to offer more at this time.

Hopefully there will be some other comments and suggestions. Fine with me.

 

[kenod44]

Not sure about what to suggest at this time.

I happen to have a couple of LG TV's (HDMI connections) that exhibit similar behavior. The screen goes "grey" and may come back on its' own.

If not, all I need to do is wiggle and push in the serving HDMI cable. Picture comes back and all is well for awhile.

My thinking is leading towards some issue with LG products in general. Unfortunately not able to offer more at this time.

Hopefully there will be some other comments and suggestions. Fine with me.

Ok thank you for your help! I'll update the tread if I've any updates.