Dual monitor setup, one monitor blinking

dunroving

As per title, I've had a dual monitor set up for many years without trouble. Just recently, after waking my laptop from sleep, monitor 2 would blink on and off (5 seconds on, 1 second off) for 1-5 minutes and then would stabilise (stay "on"). This has been going on for maybe a couple of weeks but I tolerated it because it would always auto-correct after a couple of minutes.

However, now it is blinking all the time.

I've done some searching, but most results are about flickering monitors, not this on/off blinking pattern. Suggested solutions include changing the refresh rate, which I have tried without success.

Details: 1-year old Dell laptop running W10, both monitors are Dell (2209WA and U2311H). It's the latter that is causing the problem. They are both over 5 years old.

No software updates installed prior to problem starting.

I ran the Troubleshooter and it said no problems found. The properties window shows both monitors are working fine.

I have tried restarting, and closing down and restarting. My next thought was to connect the two monitors using each other's cable (one is a VGA cable, the other is I think a DVI cable. I figured if the other monitor started acting up, it would be either the cable or the laptop video output that was the issue.

Before I spend a lot more time sorting this, does anyone have any suggestions or quick fixes? It's come at a bad time as I've been AWOL for a week following surgery and need to catch up on lost work time, not figure out monitor issues!

stator

Look on gumtree for cheap monitors, you can usually get one for £10. If it does it with a different screen, then you know it's the laptop.


Does your laptop only have one VGA and one DVI connector?

dunroving

stator wrote: »

Look on gumtree for cheap monitors, you can usually get one for £10. If it does it with a different screen, then you know it's the laptop.


Does your laptop only have one VGA and one DVI connector?

The laptop is connected via a docking station, which only has one VGA and one DVI connector (the laptop itself has neither).

I thought to try connecting via either HDMI, or USB, but the docking station doesn't have an HDMI port as far as I can tell. I only set up my office after moving home 8 weeks ago and everything is a tight fit so I haven't found the energy yet to take everything apart and look carefully at what ports are available on the monitors and docking station (plus my recent surgery was an elbow reconstruction so only have one arm available - and it's my left one!).

I'd rather not connect a monitor directly to the laptop as that then loses the whole point of having a docking station.

(Should also have added that I checked for driver updates and the latest/most appropriate driver is currently installed)

bengalknights

Have you tried swapping the power leads around just to ensure its not a power issue

dunroving

bengalknights wrote: »

Have you tried swapping the power leads around just to ensure its not a power issue

I tried this and it doesn't seem to make a difference.

Interestingly, it seems to have spontaneously resolved itself again ... not counting my chickens as it seems fairly random. I can handle it doing it for a couple of minutes after start-up, but yesterday it was "permanent".