Monitor Goes Black in Dual Monitor Configuration

[Sunyb36]

I have been running a dual monitor setup for several years without issue. I was using a 28" Hanns G 16:10 1920x1200 via HDMI & an ASUS 27" via DVI. They were connected to a Zotac GTX 570 and then later to a Gigabyte GTX 770 4GB graphics card.

About a month ago I substituted a 30 Inch Monoprice 16:10 2560x 1600 monitor connected via DVI for the Asus monitor (both MP & HG still connected to GTX 770). In the last two days, the Monoprice monitor has gone black twice. When this happens, all programs that were visible on the now black monitor combine with the programs on the visible monitor. When I open up the control panel, it only lists the Hanns G (still visible) monitor as detected and the Monoprice (black) monitor has to be re-detected. After clicking on "Detect" the monitor returns to normal. This happened once while gaming (Left 4 Dead 2) and once when I wasn't gaming...can't remember exactly what programs were open at that time.

I updated my graphics driver between the time it first happened and the second time it happened. I also used device manager to see if there was an available monitor driver update available, but windows claims that the most current driver is installed and that the graphics card and both monitors are working properly.

I would really appreciate any assistance that can be offered. The 30 inch monitor wasn't cheap and I am hoping that the monitor is not the issue. I have not yet done any trial and error measures such as reversing the connections on the graphics card or substituting different monitors and/or different cables. I know that doing so might eventually reveal the source of the problem but I was hoping that if someone knows of a fix for this, it would save a lot of time and energy.

The computer specs are:

Intel i7 2700k processor
Corsair Vengeance Memory 8GB 1600 DDR3 Dual Channel
Gigabyte GTX 770 OC Version 4GB DDR5
Samsung EVO 500GB SSD
Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black HDD
Gigabyte Z68-AP-D3 Motherboard
Coolermaster Silent Pro 850W PSU
Monoprice 30" LCD Monitor (DVI)
Hanns G 28" Monitor (HDMI)
Windows 7 64 bit

If you need any additional information please ask & Thank You in advance for your help.

Rick

 

[Sunyb36]

No thoughts or ideas at all folks?

 

[mommu]

Switch monitor cables and check the sleeping time on monitors via display settings

 

[Sunyb36]

Thank you for your reply.

I did switch the cable so I do not think that could be it. I am now going to another cable which is DVI on the monitor end and HDMI on the graphics card end.

The monitor sleep mode is set on "never" so that can't be it.

Any additional thoughts and suggestions would be great!

Rick

 

[ganjiry]

Hi Sunyb36 and welcome to Seven Forum.
It's not advisable to install gpu drivers via Windows update but manually download and install them yourself.

Have a look at this tutorial by Essenbe http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/327414-nvidia-drivers-avoid-problems.html