Monitors turning off when idle?

[NormAtHome]

I've got two Windows 8.1 computers and on one I've had the same monitors for years and on the other, one monitor is 4 months old and the other 3-4 years old.

I've noticed recently that I'll leave for 5-20 minutes and I'll come back and my monitors have blanked. Prior to a month or so ago this never happened. I've gone through all the standard and advanced power settings and as usual for any of my desktop computers and made sure:
Turn Off Display is set to Never
Put The Computer to Sleep is Never

In Advanced:
Turn off hard drive when plugged in is set to Never
Sleep After when plugged in is set to Never
Allow Hybrid Sleep when plugged in is set to Off
Hibernate After when plugged in is set to Never
Turn Display Off when plugged in is set to Never

And I haven't changed any settings on my monitors that would cause them to do this, so why are my monitors blanking when idle when I have all settings set to not do that?

 

[NormAtHome]

Also I should mention that on my one computer with due displayport monitors, when the monitors blank all the program windows on the secondary monitor are moved to the primary display when the monitors come back on.

Anyone have any idea's here?

 

[NormAtHome]

Eight months and no answers, still have this problem and it's really annoying.

Anyone?

 

[mrjimphelps]

There are a few things you could try:
1. Go into the settings on your monitors, and make sure that the monitors are set to not go blank. I know you didn't change any settings on the monitors, but you still need to check, just in case.
2. Try switching your monitors around. In other words, switch the ports that they are plugged into. Let monitor 1 become monitor 2, etc.
3. Download Speedfan (SpeedFan - Access temperature sensor in your computer) and run it. See if your video card is running hot. If so, it may be bad; or it might be covered with dust, which you should remove.

 

[NormAtHome]

There are a few things you could try:
1. Go into the settings on your monitors, and make sure that the monitors are set to not go blank. I know you didn't change any settings on the monitors, but you still need to check, just in case.
2. Try switching your monitors around. In other words, switch the ports that they are plugged into. Let monitor 1 become monitor 2, etc.
3. Download Speedfan (SpeedFan - Access temperature sensor in your computer) and run it. See if your video card is running hot. If so, it may be bad; or it might be covered with dust, which you should remove.

I've checked one of my monitors and iterated through all the OSD settings and there is no setting for the monitor to blank itself or any power saving functions that would account for this behavior. I switched the monitors and changed them in the control panel to be in the correct relation to each other but still the same problem; I also bought new displayport cables and swapped them and still the same problem. My video card, a Geforce 1080 is not that old and I have my own compressor and dust my computers out twice a year and trust me there's no overheating problem; I'm using the CAM software that came along with my Kraken closed loop cooler and it says my video card it running at a normal temperature. Whatever is going on is happening because of something on the computer side, I'm not necessarily ruling out the video card but I'm saying it's not dust clogged and overheating.

 

[wiganken]

Just to totally discount monitor issues have you tried connecting a totally different monitor to see if the problem happens with that one as well? See if you can borrow a monitor from a friend perhaps? If it happens with the totally new monitor then it is definitely computer related rather than monitor related and it won't cost you anything.

 

[mrjimphelps]

If you have a different video card available, swap it with your current video card. If the problem stops, then the problem is likely with your video card. Put the original card back into the computer. If the problem returns, then it is definitely the video card.

Sometimes the only way you can figure this stuff out is to start swapping one thing at a time, to see if an indication shows up as to where the problem might be.

 

[NormAtHome]

Just to totally discount monitor issues have you tried connecting a totally different monitor to see if the problem happens with that one as well? See if you can borrow a monitor from a friend perhaps? If it happens with the totally new monitor then it is definitely computer related rather than monitor related and it won't cost you anything.

First, two different Windows 8.1 computers and two different monitors with the same problems. My main computer has dual monitors and both monitors on my main computer and the monitor on my aux computer have the same problem. The fact that this problem started on both computers at around the same time is very suspicious (I'm thinking it's something introduced in a Windows update patch or an nVidia driver update) and I sincerely doubt that it's a monitor or video card issue because three monitors and two separate video cards would all have had to start having problems at almost the exact same time. My main computer has a Geforce 1080 and my aux computer has a 980; those are rather expensive video cards to be buying spares just to swap in. Also my main computer has a 27 inch WQHD and a 28 inch 4K UHD monitor, again expensive equipment to just start swapping and fyi I already bought brand new Displayport cables for my main computer and new DVI cables for my aux computer.

There've been a slew of nVidia driver updates this year but it's hard to tell because some days I think the problem is better and then I walk away for 20 minutes and come back and my monitors are blanked and I have to move my mouse and hit keys to get the screens to come back on. And it's usually never both computers at the same time, it's either one or the other.