Seems like the bot don't like the MS Word bullet points.
#[FIXED - DP issue] Three monitors setup, one monitor disconnects when waking computer from sleep
hard briar
Hi guys,
- I’ll give a quick overview of the problem.
- I’ll give some specs.
- I’ll explain in details.
Point #1: most of the times (not always), Windows will stop detecting my left-most monitor when I wake my computer from sleep. The other two monitors are fine. To resolve this, I disconnect the Display Port cable, then reconnect it. The monitor is then immediately detected and working again.
Point #2: let’s get some specs out of the way.
Speccy Summary ---------------------
Operating System
Windows 11 Pro 64-bit
CPU
AMD Ryzen 5600X
RAM
32,0GB Dual-Channel Unknown @ 1759MHz (16-18-18-38)
Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. B550M DS3H (AM4) 34 °C
Graphics
ASUS VG249 (1920x1080@60Hz)
24G2W1G5 (1920x1080@60Hz)
24G2W1G5 (1920x1080@60Hz)
4095MB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (HP) 35 °C
Storage
931GB Crucial CT1000MX500SSD1 (SATA (SSD))
2794GB Seagate ST3000DM008-2DM166 (SATA) 39 °C
2794GB TOSHIBA DT01ACA300 (SATA) 40 °C
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST BDDVDRW UH12NS30
Audio
Realtek High-Definition Audio
Point #3: detailed information.
Alright, here’s the setup:
Left most monitor is the one causing problems. It’s one of the two AOC 24G2W1G5. It’s connected to the RTX 3060 using a Display Port cable.
What happens:
- Screen #1 is fully functional and everything is fine.
- I lock my computer and/or walk away.
- The three screens will go into sleep mode.
- I come back to the computer and wake my computer up.
- I estimate around 5% of the time, Screen #1 will wake and everything is fine. The other 95% of the time, the rest of this list will happen.
- I will hear the Windows 11 disconnect chime (tu-du) to indicate a device has been disconnected.
- Screen #1 will not wake from sleep. Screen 2 and 3 will.
- Windows will rearrange icons and shuffle windows around to accommodate the lack of a third screen.
- I go in the back of my desk, unplug the DP cable from the GFX card. Windows do not indicate any additional behavior. Windows really think Screen #1 is unplugged!
- I will plug the DP cable right back in the same slot on the GFX card.
- I will hear the Windows 11 connection chime (bee-boo) to indicate a device has been connected and is recognized.
- Screen #1 will proceed to wake from sleep.
- Windows will rearrange icons and shuffle windows around to accommodate a third screen.
- Screen #1 will work totally fine until the next time my computer goes to sleep.
What I tried: - Windows is fully updated.
- Nvidia graphic drivers are up to date. It’s been a problem for months now over several versions of the drivers.
- A couple weeks ago, I did use DDU and installed an older driver in hope of identifying the issue, it did not help.
- I used a couple different DP cables. New in box and used ones.
- I used 2 different DP to HDMI adapters with new and used HDMI cables.
- I changed the slot in which the DP cable is plugged on the back of the GFX card.
Anyone has any advice on this issue?
dreamy jetty
i suspect the display disconnects when it goes to sleep
and then it doesn't know when the computer is working and does not turn on
hollow pier
It's a driver issue and an issue with the card. When you use two different kinds of ports and cables for multi-monitors, issues like this always creep up. For instance: I have two of the exact same kind of monitor: the HDMI cable allows me to have 75hz refresh, while the DP only allows me to have up to 60Hz. The issue is most likely that I need to buy a better quality DP cable (HBR3 or above). I am cheap and don't care and have yet to buy a higher quality cable out of sheer spite.
Why did I bring this up?
Check the version of DP cable, check the DP ports and what's supported on both the monitor and the card, try higher quality DP cable, complain to NVIDIA for putting lower end DP ports but high end HDMI ports on their GPUs, cry, repeat, profit.
Also, I love that you made a flow chart so very much.
Ultimately, it's probably a driver, windows, and monitor issue combination. Will the manufacturers care to fix it? Probably not.
hard briar
Alright so here's what I got from this exchange : I might not do anything wrong and besides buying a "higher quality DP cable", there's not much I can do.
I checked that my monitor is compatible with DP 1.2. Upon checking for DP 1.2 cables, I discovered that they are rare. I see that DP goes up to 2.0 and checking for DP 2.0 cables return more results.
Now, how to know which cables are "high quality" versus others ? I could select reputable brands and hope that the price is an actual indicator, but based on experience it's not a direct correlation.
In the mean time, I think I will cut and file the retention brackets to make the cable easier to pop in and out of the GFX card. 🤣
hollow pier
By higher quality, I meant higher version, so 2.0 vs 1.2 or lower. It may make a difference, but probably not. You can try adjusting your power options (high performance) and prevent the computer from entering suspended mode and only just turn the monitors off as sleep/suspend mode with windows has had issues since Windows 98.
The issue is that either the card is not sending a signal or the monitor is not detecting it, and is it most likely just an issue with the card and the drivers being better setup with hdmi than displayport.
hard briar
My biggest problem is that there is only 1 HDMI port in the back and 3 DP ports in the back. Given I have three screens, I need to use two of those 3 DP ports.
late lantern
I regularly had this issue with switched HDMI signals. It sucks.
hard briar
Switched HDMI signal ? You mean with screens attached to an HDMI switch ?
late lantern
Yep
spare ruin
check your cables and update all video drivers. you might also want to check on your motherboard drivers.
hard briar
check your cables and update all video drivers. you might also want to check on ...
I wrote a HUGE block of text up there. This is addressed.
hollow pier
I thought of a few other things that I previously did not consider. Sorry for that.
Is the input on the DisplayPort monitor set to automatic or to DisplayPort? If it's set to automatic, try setting to DisplayPort, and visa versa.
You can also do a factory reset of the settings for that monitor, or check the settings for any "wake" options and adjust those.
Another thing to experiment with is to plug the DisplayPort into the other monitors and see if they behave the same way. That would rule out it being a specific monitor issue and would further narrow down the root cause.
Anyway, just some more ideas, the nighttime musings of a madman.
hard briar
Hey, thanks for exploring new ideas. I did fiddle with the monitor settings. It WAS as "auto" and I did set the OSD to be specifically on the DP option. I did do a reset of the monitor settings (which cleared my input configuration, which I redid -- so the reset worked). I also disabled DDC/CI in case it was causing troubles.
I also reordered the cables behind the GFX card. Switching into which input the problematic monitor was plugged. No matter what, it's always the left monitor causing the trouble.
I will try to find yet another DP cable. I'm looking to get new monitor arms, the ones I have are a little limiting and my wife want to have a dual screens setup. So I'll probably give her my dual monitor arm and get two single monitor arms for more flexibility. In the same order, I'll throw a DP 2.0 cable (one WITHOUT retention brackets) and see how it goes from there.
hard briar
Update : I changed the DP cable. No improvement. Next test is to interchange the leftmost monitor with the rightmost one in order to plug the problematic monitor with the work PC and check if the work PC can wake it correctly. If so, it would rule out the possibility that the monitor is the problem and point toward my PC / GFX card.
hard briar
Update : Monitors exchanged. Left monitor (now referred as #1) is now at the right, plugged in HDMI and will be used with the work PC. Right monitor (now referred as #2) is now on the left, plugged in DP and will be used with the home PC.
hard briar
Alright. That was quick. Monitor #2 has the same problem Monitor #1 had. It's the DP situation that is the problem. Next test : remove RTX 3060 and put in my rescue GFX card. 😐
hard briar
Update : problem persists. Which seem to point to Windows. Steps : Booted in safe mode. Used DDU to clean drivers then turn PC off. Swap GFX card (with a 660 Ti). Installed drivers. Locked PC and waited around 30 mins. Came back, hit the spacebar. Center and rightmost screen turned on. Leftmost screen did not. SO, new screen, new cable, new GFX card, problem persists ? Looks like it's a Windows problem.
I'm VERY happy it looks like it's not my screen or my GFX card. I'll try to use the integrated "Reset my PC" option in W11. I have little faith it will do squat. I much prefer nuking the C: drive and reinstalling from scratch. That's a weekend project. I'll come back with a progress report.
hard briar
🤔 I think I'll try to install Windows on a spare hard drive. Just to keep my current Windows installation intact in case that's not the problem. I have my streaming setup on there, wouldn't want to lose it all...
hard briar
CRAZY THOUGHT. I started messing with Hyper-V recently in an attempt to speed up some virtualization tasks. Seems like it's causing random problems to people in the sphere I'm hanging around, to a point where they flat out recommend to turn it off. IIRC, problems started around-ish that time.
I disabled Hyper-V, resumed my virtualization tasks and see no drop in performance there. So I'll try to see if, by a complete random occurrence, this problem will also resolve itself.
Will report back.
hollow pier
OK. Thank you for the updates. Resetting all power options, and/or doing a Windows reset will hopefully take care of it, as it looks like you ruled out everything else with process of elimination, which is sometimes what you need to do.
HyperV somwhow causing this would be very interesting.
hard briar
Agreed.
hard briar
Update : Hyper-V, as expected, is not the cause. Problem persists after disabling it. I will install Windows on a spare disk to continue testing.
hard briar
So. Found a 2TB mechanical HDD in my stash to install Windows to. The plan is to unplug all current hard drives, plug only this one in then install W11 on this thing and garner all the patience in the world to use an actual HDD as the main drive. 😐
Creating the Windows Media USB key right now.
hard briar
Omg guys, I might die of old age before this install finishes. 😩
I can CONFIDENTLY say it's been more than a moment Windows!
WE'RE IN BOIS!
Oh. Wait.
Oh, I know...
hard briar
Update : Windows 11 pro got installed. Installed GFX drivers. It was so long I went to brush my teeth. Came back to sleeping screens. Pushed space bar and ... problem persists!
I'm not sure what I can try anymore...
hard briar
Update : I've been thinking AND I've slept on it. What hasn't change yet is that both working monitors end up in HDMI. Rightmost monitor is plugged in the sole HDMI port on the GFX card. Center monitor's cable starts in a DP port with an adapter to HDMI. Leftmost monitor is plugged in pure DP. I have two DP to HDMI adapters. So for now, what I've done is plug the three monitors in the DP ports, so the GFX card's HDMI port is not used anymore. I will need to buy a third DP to HDMI adapter if the problem persists. Will report back.
hard briar
Nope, problem persists. I'll need to get another adapter to continue testing. Will report back.
hard briar
Ok, we got a breakthrough here. I decided to see if it was a conflict between my multiple screens. So I disconnected all of them but the leftmost one.
Turns out that even ALONE, the monitor disconnects when I wake the screens.
I started to suspect the only thing that was different with THAT monitor VS the other was G-Sync. So I opened the Nvidia Control Panel and disabled G-Sync (by unchecking the box). It did not solve the problem.
I wasn't convinced. The monitor was still using a DP cable and "identified" as a G-Sync **capable **monitor. So I used one of my DP -> HDMI adapter and plugged the monitor via HDMI.
AND IT WOKE UP! No disconnection, it worked!
So there it is folks. G-Sync is the culprit.
civic crystal
this is like a question they give to college students
hard briar
It sure feels like a dissertation. 😐
hard briar
I'm not sure how to make it clearer than how it's presented in the diagram. 🙂
civic crystal
is screen 3 the only screen you have connected to the Work pc
hard briar
I share 2 screens between my home and work PC and my home PC have 3 screens.
2 and 3 are usable on the work PC.
hard briar
Yes.
I'll continue testing some stuff with DP and G-Sync because I have a "AMD Freesync" setting in the monitor OSD that is ON. Maybe the screen can be plugged via DP with this setting off.
civic crystal
I lean more toward hardware issue then software
There are a few failure points to consider
hard briar
Even with the AMD Freesync mode off in the monitor OSD, when plugged in DP, the monitor disconnects instead of waking up.
civic crystal
was this a sudden issue? or has it always been present?
hard briar
Just to be sure we're on the same page here @civic crystal , the issue IS FIXED. It's linked to the fact that the monitor is being detected as G-Sync compatible when connected via DP. I will not debug how G-Sync is implemented in the Nvidia driver or Windows. I will use the monitor via HDMI with a DP -> HDMI dongle and go on with my life. 🙂 I've been at it for weeks now. I'm just glad I have a fix.
hard briar
Thanks for the thought! Appreciated!
[FIXED - G-Sync issue] Three monitors setup, one monitor disconnects when waking computer from sleep
Pretty sure the issue popped up when I initially plugged the leftmost monitor in DP directly because I needed the adapter for another use. Not sure. 🙂
CONCLUSION : My problematic monitor was plugged into the GFX card with a DisplayPort cable. This enabled Windows/Nvidia to see that the monitor was G-SYNC capable. This (somehow) caused the monitor to disconnect when waking up from sleep. Disabling G-SYNC in the driver was NOT enough to fix the issue. Disabling "AMD Freesync" in the monitor OSD was NOT enough to fix the issue. Plugging the same monitor in the same GFX card's DP port using a DP to HDMI adapter and plugging it in HDMI instead made it so that Windows/Nvidia are incapable of detecting it as G-SYNC capable, thus fixing the issue.
https://tenor.com/view/christmas-is-over-after-christmas-phew-squidward-glad-thats-over-gif-13152032
hollow pier
Unbelievable. I was still thinking it was driver or software related, but not freakin G-sync. Solid find and good fix. Sleep easy. ✊✌️
Btw, that facepalm is for NVIDIA, not you.
It still ultimately is a driver issue and lack of proper support for DP...maybe if you report this as a bug, we'll see it buried in an update log for new drivers? 🤞😂
late lantern
It's not lack of support for DP. It's just an inherent issue with display switching and negotiation.
hard briar
I'm not sure about that. I unplugged all displays except one via DP and it still had the problem. It's just not normal at all.
There seems to be a real issue with G-Sync here.
hollow pier
It's not lack of support for DP. It's just an inherent issue with display switch...
Hard disagree. It's inherently a driver issue with the burden being on NVIDIA to resolve, especially if G-sync is somehow the root cause (I'm still skeptical). It could still be an issue with the monitor if he had to switch to a different port, but HDMI getting preferential treatment over displayport is nothing new.
That's why I was intially leaning towards monitor input settings, monitor power settings, and windows power settings. If it's a step above that, then it's ultimately a card/driver or firmware issue.
I was almost going to suggest a flash of a newer bios for the card, but I didn't want him to run the risk of bricking it, if an incompatible BIOS was accidentally used.
This sometimes needs to be done, though, when you buy a used GPU that was used for crypto mining as they'll mod the firmware or sometimes even use custom firmware, but that is a whole other rabbit hole.
It's actually worse than that: often they'll put newer HDMI ports on the cards but older DP headers (ports). Some monitors (and many other devices) don't even come with displayport input. So...yeah, HDMI has sort of reigned supreme.
hard briar
G-Sync is probably NOT the root cause. But disabling it fixed my issue so I'll take it. 🙂 If it's a problem of the monitor, I have two monitors with the same exact issue. I did search for an updated firmware, but the RTX 3060 that I have is an HP branded one and I never found an update. 😐 It's not a used GPU.
Not looking to be contrarian, just talking facts. 🙂
next barn
most DP monitors disconnect when they turn off because they're basically a glorified USB video device... so it's equivalent of pulling a usb drive out...
forgot which pins but they need to return a sense signal so that the computer knows it's still plugged in which for most monitors only happens when it's on, which they turn off when they receive no video signal from the computer
if you switched over to hdmi for the dp monitor you should have no issues either
hard briar
if you switched over to hdmi for the dp monitor you should have no issues either
Well ... that's exactly what I ended up doing.
hard briar
Update : Alright, I wasn't satisfied with my solution. APPARENTLY, this is an issue with the DP specification. My monitor works as designed while plugged into DP because ... THAT'S HOW DP WORKS! When DP monitors go to sleep, they disconnect from the system. When you couple that with a multi monitor setup, my situation is what you get : monitor is gone, stays gone. The problem is that some advanced functionalities, like G-Sync, apparently requires the monitor to be plugged in DP to work. (Anyway, I can't see any hints that G-Sync works in HDMI, the reason why I thought it was G-Sync related at first.)
When you have a single monitor, things seems to be less hectic. The computer will still do the "disconnection/reconnection" sound since it IS being disconnected by the DP spec, but will come back online. Or so it seems, I can't / won't test this.
So the solution is either : use advanced features and unplug-plug your monitors every time it goes to sleep, never let your monitors go to sleep or plug the monitors in HDMI and don't use the features you paid for.
The issue has been going on for over 12 years from the forum threads I could see. So ... for as long as DP has been around ? Talk about a trash specification .... Oof...
Or a trash implementation by every monitor manufacturers. Seems like there is a way for monitors to NOT disconnect from the OS but it would require an additional pin and/or software implementation that seemingly NO manufacturer do, whatever price you pay for the monitor.
[FIXED - DP issue] Three monitors setup, one monitor disconnects when waking computer from sleep
next barn
That's.... what I said but cool