System halts and graphics issues appear exclusively with a second display connected
System halts and graphics issues appear exclusively with a second display connected
Occasionally, when a second monitor is connected, my PC may freeze or experience glitches, along with problems on the GPU. Typically it pauses briefly, then only the secondary screen turns black for a moment before everything resumes. On other times, the secondary display might fail to appear at all. Recently, while adjusting the secondary monitor's resolution via NVIDIA Control Panel, the PC froze completely and artifacts appeared briefly on both screens. (Attached photo shows the situation quickly captured.) After running a 3DMark test, the issue didn’t affect performance even on the secondary display, suggesting the problem lies elsewhere. The GPU itself has been reliable for years—originally part of an older setup, later given to a brother, then acquired by me in April 2022. It was upgraded with an RTX 3060 Ti and paired with various components. My system specs include: Intel Core i5-3570, Dell OptiPlex 7010 motherboard, 16GB DDR3 RAM, SanDisk SSD, MSI GAMING GTX 970, EVGA 500 BQ, and a P1913 PSU. Windows 10 Pro 64-bit is installed. I’ve updated drivers, refreshed the GPU BIOS (without resolving the black screen), and restarted the machine.