Acer Predator XB271HU issues

[Schoolofmonkey]

Ok I'm going out of my brain here.

Over the last week I've been having issues where the screen will go black for a split second then turn back on, this originally started just on the desktop, there is no Windows disconnect/reconnect sound when it happens, just the blue led goes on then off (I have it set to power saving).
At first it wasn't happening in games, the last 2 days it's happening when gaming, at least 6 – 10 times a day.
https://youtu.be/S5uD0zGKh0Q
https://youtu.be/HJfTM3tfkBg

 

I did the usual, brand new DP cable, rolled back drivers, reset monitor settings, lowered the frame rate to 120Hz from 144Hhz, disabled G-SYNC, all still the same thing.
Wiggling the cables DP or Power won't recreate the issues, it's just intermittent, pretty much happens when it wants.

 

I tried another monitor (27" Benq 1080p 144Hz), no problems, but oddly enough none for my sons 7700k/GTX 1050ti which I connected the Predator to using the same settings as I was 144Hz@1440p, G-Sync enabled.
I'm running a RTX 2080 ti.

He had been using it for a good 5 hours, I just switched it back to my PC and within 10 minutes of it being used the same black screen happened.

 

I still have 6 months of warranty left (July), but I highly doubt they'll use the monitor all day waiting for the problem to appear.
I had zero issues until about a week or so ago.

[Spotty]

Does it do it if you use the 1.5M length DisplayPort cable that came with the monitor? How long are the cables that you are using?

I've got the same monitor (the IPS one at least) and I had the same issue with the 2nd and 3rd displayport cables I used with it. The first cable I used (cable that came with it) was fine but it wasn't quite long enough to reach the monitor on my desk.

This video was with the 2nd cable I tried using, a 3M generic displayport cable which was particularly bad.

Spoiler

The 3rd cable I switched to was a 2M length cable and it had the same issue but not as severe, like you it only happened a couple of times per day intermittently (meaning it was really frustrating trying to diagnose)

The 4th cable I tried was an AmazonBasics 2M DisplayPort cable and that was actually a lot better and no longer blinking but every now and then there would be a horizontal line that would appear across the screen for a split second, really really hard to spot and didn't happen very often but if I was reading something on the screen where it popped up it was noticeable.
Now on to my 5th DisplayPort cable today.

 

51 minutes ago, Schoolofmonkey said:

At first it wasn't happening in games, the last 2 days it's happening when gaming, at least 6 – 10 times a day.

Funnily enough I never noticed it while gaming either. Usually happened when I was on the desktop or in a web browser.

[Schoolofmonkey]

Just now, Spotty said:

 

Funnily enough I never noticed it while gaming either. Usually happened when I was on the desktop or in a web browser.

 

Ok so I'm not going crazy.

I have tried the cable it came with that does the same, a new 1.5m cable, which honestly had been working fine since I picked it up in August.

 

It wasn't like I plugged in a cable and it happened straight away, only really started just before Christmas.

 

When I plugged it into my sons GTX 1050ti, that was using the cable the monitor came with, but the moment I swapped back to my RTX 2080 ti rig (cable and monitor) it happened within a few seconds.

 

I also had a vertical line down the left hand side of the screen that completely threw off the screens layout, but turning off the monitor fixed it.

 

I even went to the extent of plugging in a 250GB SSD installing Ubuntu Mate to see if it was a Windows 10 problem, but nope, as soon as I installed the NVIDIA drivers and ran the card at a higher refresh rate it split seconded black screen there.

So that points to hardware for sure.

If it was the RTX I wouldn't be able to play anything, but it's smashing all the benchmarks and stress tests, so kind of ruled that out.

 

Currently running Windows 10 with no NVIDIA drivers at 59Hz and there's no black screen, so it seems to be higher refresh rates causing it.

 

Guess I can try another cable for now.

 

I've already decided to get a 32" 1440p Asus or Benq monitor in April (won't have the money until then), but if there's a monitor fault I'd like to get it replaced before warranty runs out.

[Spotty]

3 minutes ago, Schoolofmonkey said:

I also had a vertical line down the left hand side of the screen that completely threw off the screens layout, but turning off the monitor fixed it.

This has happened to me a few times as well, and turning the monitor off and on again has fixed it.

 

8 minutes ago, Schoolofmonkey said:

When I plugged it into my sons GTX 1050ti, that was using the cable the monitor came with, but the moment I swapped back to my RTX 2080 ti rig (cable and monitor) it happened within a few seconds.

Was the display running at 144-165Hz when you had it connected to the GTX1050Ti? It might have still been set to 60hz in the Nvidia panel which might be why it didn't have the same issue.

 

If you do reach out to Acer Support let me know what they say since I've experienced the same issues with my monitor. Changing DisplayPort cables fixed the black flickering for me, though it took me a few different cables until I found cables that worked. So far this new cable I got today has been working fine.

[Schoolofmonkey]

Just now, Spotty said:

Was the display running at 144-165Hz when you had it connected to the GTX1050Ti? It might have still been set to 60hz in the Nvidia panel which might be why it didn't have the same issue.

 

If you do reach out to Acer Support let me know what they say since I've experienced the same issues with my monitor. Changing DisplayPort cables fixed the black flickering for me, though it took me a few different cables until I found cables that worked. So far this new cable I got today has been working fine.

Nah I went in a personally set it to 144Hz@1440p, 5 hours it never black screened once for him, being seven and playing Fortnite he would of yelled out..lol..

The moment it was back on my system, within a few minutes black screen.

 

It's just so odd that it's been running fine from new, (July 2017) but now develops a problem, pretty much out of nowhere.

Been doing IT repair for like 20+ years (I'm 42), and this one has stumped me.

 

When you swapped cables, did it work for a bit then stop, or just didn't work from the moment you plugged it in?

[Spotty]

7 minutes ago, Schoolofmonkey said:

It's just so odd that it's been running fine from new, (July 2017) but now develops a problem, pretty much out of nowhere.

Been doing IT repair for like 20+ years (I'm 42), and this one has stumped me.

 

When you swapped cables, did it work for a bit then stop, or just didn't work from the moment you plugged it in?

The video I posted above with the 3M long cable presented issues immediately. I didn't even get to log in to Windows because it was flickering on and off so much it was essentially unusable. I can't really remember but I think the third cable was fine for a couple of days before I started noticing it, but it happened so infrequently with that cable that it may have just gone a day or two without doing it or possibly did it when I wasn't sitting in front of the monitor... The flicker was so fast that sometimes I was second guessing whether I even saw anything or not so it was a few days maybe weeks before I realised it was still doing it.

[Schoolofmonkey]

8 minutes ago, Spotty said:

The video I posted above with the 3M long cable presented issues immediately. I didn't even get to log in to Windows because it was flickering on and off so much it was essentially unusable. I can't really remember but I think the third cable was fine for a couple of days before I started noticing it, but it happened so infrequently with that cable that it may have just gone a day or two without doing it or possibly did it when I wasn't sitting in front of the monitor... The flicker was so fast that sometimes I was second guessing whether I even saw anything or not so it was a few days maybe weeks before I realised it was still doing it.

 

Yeah the flickering you got in the video is like mine, usually I'll get one flash here and there like in my video's, but I have had a couple of times a wicked flash like yours.

 

Here's a funny thing, I let Windows install their 432.00 driver, I'm yet to see a issue in the last 40 minutes, usually I would of got something by now...

 

I first noticed my flickering when I got up from the PC to grab a drink or something, thought I'd bumped the desk too hard, but when it started happening just sitting here doing nothing and then in games I figured it wasn't me doing anything wrong.

At first it wasn't doing it in games at all, but now after a week of desktop flashes it does.

 

Didn't have a single problem using the Benq, but that was only 1080p, but it shouldn't of mattered if it was a GPU fault because it was pounded with Furmark, RDR 2, Unigine Superposition, Firestrike Extreme etc.

 

I even removed my vertical GPU mount which used a ribbon cable.

 

The only thing I can remember doing a day or 2 prior to the problem showing up is updating Intel's Management Engine firmware to the latest, but surely that wouldn't of caused a problem, this is on a z390 Apex XI/9900k system.

[Schoolofmonkey]

Ok so I go my first flicker/blackscreen since my last post.

It was dead silent, what I heard was a electrical click through the speakers.

 

What I have is a S.M.S.L M6 USB Dac and Audioengine 5+ speakers.

The click happened at exactly the same time as the black screen flick.

[Schoolofmonkey]

I love the fact this stumped people, shows I'm not alone.

 

Just ordered a Ugreen DP 1.4 cable, just to be sure, overkill I know.,

 

Replaced the USB cable on my DAC, still using the one I got with it from 3 years ago.

The screen did flicker when I unplugged the DAC's USB cable, but not since.

So far I've been using my PC for 2 hours, no black screen flicker....Yet....

 

I know it's not gone completely, but I just got to hold out until April, looking at getting a BenQ EX3203R or ASUS XG32VQR.

Was wanting a bigger screen anyway since I'm sitting further back with the new desk/chair setup, but still wanted to stick with 1440p.

From what I've see these freesync monitors worth fine with G-Sync.

[Schoolofmonkey]

Ok, I think I nailed it.

If I unplug the Dac, screen flicker, plug it back in, screen flicker, just doing anything with the USB on the DAC causes screen flicker.

Now my DAC is a good 4 years old, so I'd say it might be on the way out.

 

I've removed the usb cable completely, got it plugged in through spdif, so lets see what happens now.

 

Still strange it didn't happen with the Benq tohugh, but maybe the Acer is more sensitive to power or interference 

 

Update:

 

Nevermind, flashed again with no DAC, bare things plugged in, it has to be the monitor or cable for sure, did it on my sons machine the moment I plugged it in too.

 

I'll try the new cable when it shows, and if not just get the new monitor in April.

It's turned me off Acer for sure, had my concerns before buying a Predator in the first place, well learnt my lesson now.

[Schoolofmonkey]

Just so you don't think I'm imagining this, here's 2 videos recorded one after another of me sitting down.

 

 

 

[Schoolofmonkey]

Just to close off the thread, turned out to be ESD from my new chair.

By sticking a mat under my chair, the black flicking stopped, verified by removing the mat, black screen again.

 

Seems I'm not the only one who's seen this in monitors: