Secondary display suddenly goes black for a few seconds

[RJoubert93]

This has happened maybe a dozen times over the last few months. I have a 3-monitor setup and the oldest monitor will suddenly go black for 2-3 seconds and then come back on. It's so random and corrects itself so quickly that I don't have the first idea what is triggering it, but I know the display isn't going to sleep because I don't have to touch anything for it to come back on and neither of my primary displays are effected. The monitor configuration doesn't change so it's safe to say the display isn't becoming disconnected (which is why I'm fairly confident it's not an input issue). The display drivers have been through at least 3 updates since this started, including a clean installation. This is strictly a work machine, ran several virus scan, no performance issues, and obviously no video games. I generally run low-demand design software (Adobe Photoshop CC, Illustrator, etc.) and chrome. My system resources rarely reach 50% in anything and I'd swear it's cooler inside the tower than it is in the room sometimes. My build is as follows:

Displays:
Primary Displays: QNIX QX2710LED (x2)
*Connected via DVI-D
Third display: ASUS VH242H
*Connected via Active Display Port to DVI-D (GPU > Active DP > DVI-D)

Build:
Windows 10 (x64)
ASUS 990FX Sabertooth R2.0 Motherboard
AMD FX-9590 CPU
ASUS AMD HD7770 2GB (GHz Edition)
Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3 1066MHz
850W PSU
124GB Corsair SSD Boot Drive
1TB HDD (x2)

My thought is after 8 years of running strong this ASUS monitor is finally going to see the end of its days soon, but I'd like to get some opinions from some smarter/more experience geeks than myself.

 

[thejackal85]

If nothing else is happening with any of the monitors and you've been through driver updates, it's safe to assume the GPU is not the issue. However, what I would try is a different video cable if you haven't done so yet. These cables go bad over time, so it could very well be the cable itself. If you have a GPU with multiples of the same port type, can you switch monitor cables and see if the behavior repeats?

 

[RJoubert93]

If nothing else is happening with any of the monitors and you've been through driver updates, it's safe to assume the GPU is not the issue. However, what I would try is a different video cable if you haven't done so yet. These cables go bad over time, so it could very well be the cable itself. If you have a GPU with multiples of the same port type, can you switch monitor cables and see if the behavior repeats?

I (somewhat) recently changed the DVI-D cable from a 6ft to a 10ft, but I don't remember if it was before or after this started. Unfortunately it will be some time before I can test this theory because I have to test it with another 10ft+ cable, because a 6ft cable no longer reaches and this doesn't happen often enough to temporarily rearrange my setup. lol

So while this could totally be the answer, I'm still open for other ideas.

 

[thejackal85]

Well, I'm thinking its either the cable/ports or the monitor itself. The only way to test this theory, though, is to go along with this idea. No worries, when you're able to test, hit me up.