2nd monitor blinks every few seconds when GPU under load

[snjfyak]

I have used external monitors in the past with my laptop and had no issues, however this one keeps going black for a second pretty constantly when I'm playing Fortnite. I've overclocked it to 75hz (did that in the past as well without issues) and it works fine on the desktop but in game I hear some sort of buzz from the laptop and the image is unstable and it does that regardless of the refresh rate, so even at stock. To note that I use a hdmi to vga adapter since it's an older monior (which I've used before as well). Any idea why/how to fix?

[DarkWaterSong]

48 minutes ago, snjfyak said:

I have used external monitors in the past with my laptop and had no issues, however this one keeps going black for a second pretty constantly when I'm playing Fortnite. I've overclocked it to 75hz (did that in the past as well without issues) and it works fine on the desktop but in game I hear some sort of buzz from the laptop and the image is unstable and it does that regardless of the refresh rate, so even at stock. To note that I use a hdmi to vga adapter since it's an older monior (which I've used before as well). Any idea why/how to fix?

Check if the buzz is coming from the fans in your laptop.  I have had the bearing start going out in one and make a noise.  Thing is if one is making a noise, it may not be turning at the correct RPM and could be dying.  Also something, like dust, could be interfering with the fans.

 

Next, see if you can get a better monitor like my https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16824028006 or borrow one from a friend.   Just an old VGA monitor could also be dying as those panels only last so long.

[snjfyak]

4 hours ago, DarkWaterSong said:

Check if the buzz is coming from the fans in your laptop.  I have had the bearing start going out in one and make a noise.  Thing is if one is making a noise, it may not be turning at the correct RPM and could be dying.  Also something, like dust, could be interfering with the fans.

 

Next, see if you can get a better monitor like my https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16824028006 or borrow one from a friend.   Just an old VGA monitor could also be dying as those panels only last so long.

it was coming from the laptop but it varied based on the framerate, interestingly. The HDMI port is routed directly to the 1650 and this doesn't happen playing on the iGPU. I think in the end the problem was either a bad cable or most likely the overclock wasn't stable bc on stock it fared much better, almost no hiccups

[Edgar R. Zakarian]

12 minutes ago, snjfyak said:

it was coming from the laptop but it varied based on the framerate, interestingly. The HDMI port is routed directly to the 1650 and this doesn't happen playing on the iGPU. I think in the end the problem was either a bad cable or most likely the overclock wasn't stable bc on stock it fared much better, almost no hiccups

buzz sounds like what's called coilwhine.

Bad cables could definitely do this. I experience black screen sometimes using a displayport cable from my GPU to screen.
This happend with both an RTX 3090 and now RX 6900 XT. 
Same cable same monitor, so I'm guessing it's the cable.

Previously I've used DVI cables on GTX 1080, no problems observed there.

[Edgar R. Zakarian]

5 minutes ago, Edgar R. Zakarian said:

buzz sounds like what's called coilwhine.

Bad cables could definitely do this. I experience black screen sometimes using a displayport cable from my GPU to screen.
This happend with both an RTX 3090 and now RX 6900 XT. 
Same cable same monitor, so I'm guessing it's the cable.

Previously I've used DVI cables on GTX 1080, no problems observed there.

Oh yeah, between RTX 3090 and RX 6900XT i also changed the whole platform (i5-7600K -> Ryzen 5900X), and am still getting this sometimes, so definitely not the PC