[SOLVED] PS3 + ASUS monitor stopped working, black screen

[iCanHazTier3]

TL;DR is at the bottom.

Hey folks. Long time lurker, first time poster. I'd like to ask for some help with this issue, if anyone has anything they think might be useful it would be much appreciated.

I've been using my Asus VX238H monitor as an alternate screen for my PS3 when our TV was in use. They've been playing nicely together, and having it at my PC was a treat (swapping items between characters in Destiny was a breeze)... until last night, when the screen went black during a routine gameplay session - the PS3 kept running as though nothing was wrong. I was still able to talk to my team, there was still a video signal, but the screen was completely black.

After trying different cables, doing a manual A/V reset, connecting to a different screen to verify that the output settings were correct, using different ports and cables, and even waiting overnight to see if maybe the GPU was overheated, I can no longer get the PS3 to work with my ASUS monitor. I've tried changing every display-related setting I can think of on both pieces of hardware. I've even tried turning the monitor on both before and after turning on the PS3, with no other inputs connected, and achieved no positive results. It still works fine with my Vizio TV, and my PC still works fine on both ports of the ASUS monitor with either HDMI cable.

I've never encountered this problem before, and every thread on the internet that I can find is either dead or suggests hardware failure, which is not the case here since both pieces of hardware still work fine independently of each other. I also know it's not the PS3 firmware, the latest update was in February and it's worked fine until now. By the way, I've been out of warranty on both the PS3 and the monitor for almost a year now so that's not an option.

Thank you for your time

TL;DR: PS3 + ASUS monitor = infinite black screen. Worked fine for past month. All troubleshooting has failed. Out of warranty. What do?

 

[iCanHazTier3]

What gen is your PS3? Fat, Slim, Super Slim? Sounds like the GPU overheated or something else to do with the GPU.

Super slim, sorry. Alas, it still works fine with my TV so I doubt it's the GPU, and I let it cool off for a few hours before trying again so I don't think it's overheating.

 

[iCanHazTier3]

Hmm. Sounds like something with the monitor, since it works on your other TV. My brother had the same problem before, but he made it break by dropping it. Any kind of damage done to the PS3?

No, no damage whatsoever.

 

[iCanHazTier3]

Did you try the steps I told you?

I wanted to know what that sequence did before trying it, so I Google'd the entire thing and found this Playstation Community thread.

On page 4 of that thread, there is the suggestion to unplug the monitor's power, turn on the PS3, and then plug in and turn on the monitor. Now, I had already tried that, but some sleep apparently helped and, after looking at this, I got the idea to modify that advice to include a step from power cycling modems and routers (I have Comcast so I have to do that a lot). To keep things clean for others who have this problem I'm going to make another post for the solution.

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction, had you not posted that I'd probably have given up and eventually bought a new screen.

 

[iCanHazTier3]

Solution:

1. Unplug only the monitor power cable.
2. Turn on PS3.
3. Wait a bit. //very important, apparently/
4. Reconnect monitor power cable and turn it on.

Now, while I'm certain that unplugging my monitor worked, it may have also helped that I had changed my video output to strictly 480p last night before giving up, as the other night when I had tried unplugging it I achieved no results. That said I think waiting about 45 seconds did the trick.