External monitor briefly disconnects and reconnects only on HDMI 2.1 connection in gameplay

[zzzap]

I reinstalled windows 11 pro as a clean installation from usb drive and then reinstalled fortnite. After that I have a strange glitch during Fortnite gameplay only (not in other games and not in Fortnite lobby):
- the screen on the external monitor (I tried this on 2 different monitors) which is connected with a hdmi 2.1 cable is randomly turning off for about 2 seconds at every 2-3 minutes during gameplay only but not if I am in lobby or in any other game.
This behaviour does not manifest in any other game as I said before!!!
I have changed 3 HDMI UHS certified cables, reinstalled windows 11 pro about 10 times with a clean install and partition delete from USB stick, reinstalled the graphic drivers (Nvidia) with DDU and with a clean install and nothing works.

Curious thing is that I have 3 gaming laptops (a HP Victus 16 with RTX 3060, and two identical systems HP Omen 17 with I7 13700HX processor and Nvidia RTX 4090 graphics card). The above described glitch appeared first on a HP Omen 17 on which I reinstalled windows 11 pro and then Epic Games launcher and then Fortnite. The other 2 systems (updated to latest Windows 23h2 and nvidia drivers) worked fine during gameplay on the same monitors with the same cables but the fresh install did not.
Then, after a few days I did a fresh windows install on the second HP Omen 17 with RTX 4090 and surprise!!! The same glitch is now on both laptops but on HP Victus the game works just fine!

This black screen glitch appears ONLY when connected with HDMI 2.1 port/cable (the displayport connection works fine). The moniotors are a new Samsung Odyssey G6 QHD 240hz monitor and a LG OLED C3 TV (this one has only HDMI 2.1 ports). All laptops support full resolution and refresh rate with HDMI cable.

I also tried disabling/enabling G-Sync and VRR, changing screen resolution to lower one, changing refresh rate to 60hz, running the game in all modes (fullscreen, windowed fullscreen and windowed only), resetting all game settings to default, resetting all nvidia settings from nvidia control panel to default, ran fortnite in compatibility mode etc.. Nothing works

Update: This behaviour also appears when I press the "scan for hardware changes" button in windows 11 device manager. But after I press the button once and external monitor disconnects and reconnects the second an third and so on times I scan for hardware changes nothing happens. If I wait for 2-3 minutes and do this again the issue reappears.

Apparently Fortnite has a trigger for scanning for hardware changes in order to prevent players from cheating by plugging in a hardware cheating device during gameplay and this triggers the discconect/recconect of monitor.

[Nal_NR]

Hi @zzzap,

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Excellent description and a great diagnosis. It is greatly appreciated.           

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