So first off, forgive the ignorance, and dumb questions. But i seem to have a problem, i can’t fully understand ?
I bought this HP Omen desktop about 18 months ago. It was about year old at the time, and i got it for a good price.
But being HP, it was pre-installed… Never really got around to re-installing it at the time, due to real life reasons.
So today, i finally got convinced to return to Linux again, for the first time in 15 years… And things have changed, but never mind that…
My problem is… When i got the PC, it had this… “Wierd” thing it did, where it would deactivate my new 240hz monitor for no apparent reason, and activate it again after a second… Often times, when i would play games… Annoying as ■■■■■
But as the next few months passed by, it did it less and less… So i stopped paying attention too it…
Now, after i’ve installed Tumbleweed, and FINALLY got the drivers (Nvidia, for my 3080 Ti) working, it started doing it again…
I’ve reinstalled a couple times during the day, where it didn’t do it once… After i got the drivers working, it started doing it again…
I’m thinking, maybe it’s the driver ? But i’m not smart enough to make such a determination…
Also, in the past, under windows - It would sometimes “fix” the issue with a simple reboot… Could it maybe be a PSU that’s not up for the task ?
I’m merely speculating… Hoping there’s someone far wiser than i, out there, that can offer some suggestions, or maybe even have had similar issue, and fixed it ?!
I’ve checked as much of those issues, as i could…
All the cables seem to be fine.
Could be a hardware issue, i can’t really tell. I’m not an electro engineer.
Could be a temp issue, yes. I’ve considered that many times. But the behavior, is a little… “Off”… You know? Given that it kinda “went away” until today. Only thing that changed, was me installing Tumbleweed… And i know it’s not a question of OS, as it also did so under windows…
It might be the monitor. Sure, we live in an age where quantity trumps quality. So there’s that…
But why would a fresh install “re-ignite” old ailments, when cleaning and moving of the monitor did nothing ?
But, these are valid arguments, and definitely things to consider…
My machine is a HP Omen, as i said. The PSU is a HP 800W PSU… Logically, it should be sufficiant… In my mind… But i honestly don’t know what a gaming rig pulls these days ?
Has to feed a 3080 Ti, and the rest of the machine ?
Another thing, i’ve started to notice in this regard, is that it seems to “black out” for a second, when ever i start an application. A browser, a program, anything really. But not when i, let’s say “minimize” and “maximize” a window.
But if i watch Netflix, and decide to go “full screen” - It does it. But not when i exit full screen…
A bit more consistent, but still baffeling…
But it’ll still “black out” every once in a while, when i do nothing… On it’s own…
How old? PSUs are common victims of poor electrolytic capacitors that leak and/or bulge after several years. If yours has any like that, it most likely is your problem. Usually replacement of the caps is possible by anyone with decent soldering talent who knows how to locate suitable replacements.
That “blacking out” also could be a PSU instability.
You mentioned the PC model, but that means nothing to most of us. I’m principally interested in the PSU specs, but the CPU specs are also relevant with respect to nominal power draw. Ideally, this includes some headroom beyond what might be considered minimally adequate. The 800W PSU might be ok (eg with Intel Core i7-12700K processor) depending on its condition as well, but if using an i9-*** processor, considerably more power would likely be needed, depending on the system load. Let’s see what others can add here.
HP Omen 30L GT13-1884no (As far as i’ve been able to gather)
CPU : Ryzen 7 5800X, 8 core.
1tb primary SSD, plus a 4 Tb SSD secondary.
32 Gb of RAM (Extra Ram put in by a mate. 16 Gb originally)
GPU : GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. 12 Gb.
PSU : 800W HP.
I’m a gamer, not a coder, so forgive my lack of knowledge here…
If there are more info you need, please let me know… Thank you…
Does the monitor deactivation occur at random times, or just when the machine is under load (eg intensive graphics)? You might also want to monitor the GPU temperature, as perhaps it is happening when the card gets too hot momentarily. Here is a useful guide: https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/check-cpu-temperature-in-opensuse-linux/
Thank you for the guide. I’ll be delving into it momentarily…
As for the deactivations… Yes, they appear to be random, yet maybe not fully… And they also happened during windows…
I can sit here, watch netflix, or be on X, and it happens… Other times, i start a program, app, or some such, and poof gone…
Sometimes it’s random, some time it’s not… Hence the baffling part…
Question in regards to Tumbleweed. I seem to have read, somewhere, that the default power setting for TW is “Power saving”… Given it’s not a laptop, but a desktop, wouldn’t it be wise to change that ?
And if so… How would i go about doing that ?
I have the same problem. On my desktop I have a two monitors (configuration ‘joined’), one attached to the HDMI and the other to the VGA port of my graphics card. The VGA monitor often goes blank for about 3 seconds and then reactivates.
It got so annoying, that I bought a new monitor in an attempt to assess whether it was hardware or SW. But it has returned. And the old monitor works without that issue when attached to the HDMI slot of my laptop.
My desktop configuration:
Dell Inc. OptiPlex GX620 / AMD Caicos
openSUSE Leap 15.5 (64 bit)
Gnome Version 41.8
Windowing System X11
I’m still trying to diagnose my computer, and haven’t really gotten to an answer. I thought i had, and was happy… 2 hours un-interupted… Yet two minutes after my initial “success”, it did it again…
I’m looking into, the idea, that maybe when ever steam, or my browser (Chrome Unstable) gives me a notification, then it seems to happen… But i think i’ve also, maybe seen it without the notifications… But it certainly does happen when something happens, those apps wanna tell me about… “So-and-so just started whatever-game” - BLACK SCREEN… Often times it doesn’t come back on until after the notification has disappeared again… I only noticed it, because of the audio notification…
I saw similar behaviour.
I think it is caused by low voltage power cable between monitor and monitor’s PSU. It is rigid and has thin cable cores. So, possibly, cable cores have internal breakaways. I hang this cable at the back of monitor to exclude bendings. It s better to replace it - monitor’s PSU or that cable, but it works somehow.
If monitor has builtin PSU, then this problem cannot exist.
Didn’t even think the cables could be the issue… But rationally, with my limited knowledge of how electricity works, i guess it makes sense ? I’ll look into that aspect. Thanks…
When this occurs, does anything get logged? You can check the journal at around the time of the occurrence:
sudo journalctl --boot
It would be surprising if nothing got logged.
You could swap bits:
If you have spare external cables, it would be an easy test to swap out your existing cables. Just because they look OK, doesn’t mean they are OK. You could also switch to a different ports on the card and monitor. A DisplayPort to DisplayPort connection would be the best bet for reliability.
You say this is a new monitor. Does the old one work more reliably? Maybe the new monitor has a fault.
You could reseat the internal connectors and the card too - but you have to be comfortable with working inside you PC.
Well, i have straightened out the wires. But it’s a newer 240hz monitor, and yes, external PSU. It does seem like it’s been doing it less, since i straightened out the wires, but still does it.
It doesn’t really seem that “random” anymore, given the past few days, and me paying attention.
It usually happens when i start an application (80% of the time)
It usually happens when i put netflix in fullscreen. (80% of the time)
It always happens, when i get a notification on Steam (Someone joining a game, or otherwise)
It often happens, when i close something. (About 40% of the time.)
But never in the middle of a game, watching a video, or multitasking. Only when it has to launch something, or terminate something… (I think going fullscreen goes into that category?)
So less Random than i initially thought. And the reason, i think, why i thought it was random in the beginning was because when ever i would get a notification on steam, or browser, it would be gone, by the time the picture came back…
So not entirely sure it was the wires, but deserves checking for sure… Though they seem to be custom wires for this monitor…
A Samsung Odyssey G7, or G9… I forget which one… Curved 240 Hz…
