Solved Dual Monitor setup 2nd Monitor black screen

[Mikaa]

I've been using a second monitor for over a year and used it for streaming with OBS with no problems. I decided to record my gameplay instead and changed my OBS settings from Encoding: x264 to NvidiaVSENC for better quality. Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet
During that time I noticed every now and then my second monitor would quickly flicker black or just a strange color at least once a day. It never really did anything more than that so I didn't pay much attention
A week or so later the monitor just went black. Things I tried:
-Unplugging everything
-Reinstalling graphics drivers
-Updating drivers
-Trying monitor on different comp. (it works)
-Reseating graphics card
-Changing VGA cord
-Tried another monitor and it did the same thing??
-Also changed the OBS settings back to x264 and nothing happened
-Booting in safe mode but couldn't detect the second monitor. (It's detected normally, just black though)

This was a little over a month ago and I gave up. Today I tried plugging the second monitor back in and it worked for about a minute then went black again. My main monitor works fine.

There is no backlight on in the monitor either. Anyone have ideas? Thanks in advance!

CPU: AMD FX 6300
GPU: NVidia Geforce GTX 950
Motherboard: MSI 970A-G43 PLUS (MS-7974)

 

[johnhoh]

can you post your monitor brand/model, cable type (e.g. vga/dvi/hdmi/displayport), and exact model of video card. And when you used it on the other computer was that with a different cable or the same cable? Same question for when you had a second monitor fail on the main computer, same cable or different cable? When you said "my second monitor would quickly flicker black or just a strange color at least once a day.", that can be due to an imperfect connection with either the display cable or power cable.

 

[Mikaa]

The monitor is Dynex DX-LCD19-09 19" 720p, it's a VGA. Graphics card is NVidia GeForce GTX 950.
I used the same cord and it worked on a different computer, and a different cord when I tried another monitor on my computer.
Yeah I thought it might of been something along the lines of the wires failing but it seems like it's something with my computer since I can't dual monitor with anything now. Also when I turn off/on the second monitor it turns on for around 2 seconds then goes black again. It seems to make a very little static noise from its built in speakers just before it goes black too.

 

[johnhoh]

Just to make sure here, are you saying that the Dynex monitor works perfectly when attached to the other computer, even after an hour of usage? And that a different monitor, when attached to your main computer, produces the same symptoms as does the Dynex? To me your symptoms sound like failing hardware somewhere, and by process of elimination it should be possible to find the bad part. So if all of the preceding is true, the bad part is either your main computer's video card or the power (not video) cord. Also, I'd like to know your exact video card - there's a lot of nvidia geforce gtx 950 cards, different brands, different video ports. I also suggest you try using the Dynex in safe mode and see how that goes. And also, try switching the video ports of the video card with your main monitor.

 

[Mikaa]

Yes the Dynex works on a different computer just not mine, and correct no monitors work on my computer when set up as the second monitor. They work if they are only a single monitor though.
EVGA GeForce GTX 950 02G-P4-2957-KR 2GB SSC GAMING, Silent Cooling Gaming Graphics Card - Newegg.com is the video card sorry.
Maybe it could be the power cord, I haven't thought of that. When I go into safe mode it doesnt detect the Dynex as a second monitor. I will try switching the ports and get back to you as soon as I can thanks!

 

[johnhoh]

Don't mean to keeping harping you for details but we really need to be precise as to how you have these hooked up, as this could be the whole problem. Or not, lol.

You said your dynex uses a vga port. Yet your video card link shows a card that has the following ports: three displayport, one hdmi, and one dvi-i. Please say exactly what is hooked up - what monitor port is hooked to what video card port, and how you are connecting them, that is, are you using adapters or direct cables, and what are the cables. As an example, here is my own setup with on-board graphics

motherboard video port1: hdmi, which is connected to an hdmi monitor using an hdmi to hdmi cable

motherboard video port2: displayport, which is connected to a dvi-d monitor using a displayport to dvi-i cable.

To cut to the chase, using your dvi-i output and converting it to vga to connect your vga dynex should work, but there are some caveats. A vga signal is analogue, which means it gets weaker over distance, and gets weaker over distance more quickly when using a thin cable. Your symptoms point to the possibility that your vga signal is just barely strong enough on your main computer sometimes, and just a little too weak to power the monitor at other times. This can be the adapters fault, or because the cable is too long, or because the cable is too thin, or even because the card's output is just too weak. If your dynex happens to have an hdmi port you can avoid the whole issue by using an hdmi cable to connect to one of your video card hdmi ports.

Here's some bedtime reading on just dvi ports. Its kind of a complex area.

Digital Visual Interface - Wikipedia

 

[Mikaa]

Oh I seem to have forgotten a major part of these questions so sorry lol so it goes like this
-main monitor: HDMI
-Dynex: VGA but it has a dvi-i adapter.
I tried a whole new vga and dvi-i adapter cord and it still didn't work. The Dynex does have a hdmi port but since my main monitor doesn't have a VGA/dvi port I can't really swap them around to check. Although like I said previously if I do connect the Dynex as my main monitor with the hdmi cord it does work. I just can't seem to get 2 monitors running at once.

 

[johnhoh]

So you are saying that connecting your dynex vga to the dvi video port using an adapter just does not work anymore. Given the vga signal drama I mentioned earlier, I'm thinking you are best off by eliminating the video-card-dvi-to-dynex-vga connection from your setup, and going hdmi-to-hdmi to one monitor and displayport-to-hdmi to the other monitor. Since you already have one hdmi-to-hdmi cable for monitor1, you just need to add a displayport-to-hdmi cable for monitor2...

https://www.amazon.com/Rankie-Plate...703&sr=8-3&keywords=displayport+to+hdmi+cable