Twinkle Tray causing Dell monitor to become unresponsive

Techo238 · March 22, 2023

I'm having this issue with Twinkle Tray where my monitor becomes unresponsive once the screen has timed out.

The monitor is a Dell S2721DGF connected to my Dell XPS 15 9510 via an RTX 3070 in a thunderbolt eGPU enclosure. I have a secondary display connected, an Acer S241HL which manages to behave normally when twinkle tray is active. Basically when i return to the computer i wake shake the mouse to turn the displays back on and I can see that both monitors turn back on and the panel on the acer monitor lights up but the Dell monitor does not, the power light shows as though it's on and the lighting on the back of the monitor also lights up but the panel is totally black.

I have read that some dell monitors have some power saving sleep features that can cause similar issues to arise but this monitor appears to not have them (since its a gaming monitor I imagine its more performance oriented than the office monitors that are more likely to be deployed in professional settings and therefor lacks these options) I also have gone through the twinkle tray app and prevented it from modifying any settings on the monitor other than the ability to alter the display brightness but no luck. I also tried disabling the automatic input switching feature on the monitor as some people had issues with this montitor and other dell gaming monitors becoming unresponsive with that but again it hasnt helped. I have tried a different display control method via the "Monitorian" app and while its able to control the brightness of the dell monitor and not cause it to freak out, it for some reason is unable to see my secondary acer monitor, and generally the look of the twinkle tray app is alot more polished. I also tried the Dell monitor control app but its bloaty and generally annoying.

Any input is welcomed

GoodBytes · March 22, 2023

Your explanation doesn't point that there is a problem with Twinkle Tray.

To me it sounds it's not related, and your problem is that your monitor doesn't wake up.

Removing Twinkle Tray solves the problem?

All I know, working with DDC/CI protocol myself, most monitors have crap or incomplete implementation of the protocol.

Dell Ultrasharp series are the best, probably because Dell provides a program that control the monitor, and sale a solution for companies. So, they put effort in it. As for the rest of industry/models, basically follows: "Do reviewers test this? No... so why bother?"