External monitors often going off and on

[Turrcain]

@Teemstro

I understand what you're saying, completely. I had changed my cables loads & almost completely poo-pooed the recent suggestion. I think there are more than just cables at play here, though. I think the issue can be related to laptop, dock & cable, maybe even monitor, too!

For instance, my personal laptop did not blink using the exact same setup as my work laptop that did blink. Changed all cables to DP & now both laptops do not blink. Prior to this, I'd had a different work laptop (think it was an Elitebook 850 G7). I seem to remember that one blinking, too, but on both monitors. I'd tried changing cables numerous times to no avail.

Let's hope the BETA firmware does help those people who have had enough of swapping cables, though. Fortunately for me, I work in IT, so I've got more cables than I know what to do with lol !!

[Jax38]

Good afternoon, community. I'm going to call it - we have a solution. GOOD QUALTY CABLES.

Switching cables worked. I haven't had any issues since buying / investing in new cables. It really took a village to get us through the finish line. I have one big test all day on Thursday sharing screen, but for now, I'm calling this a huge win. See above what I've purchased. I also spent more on cables based on length, with neither 3 ft nor 4 ft available in the quality selection. I tried the cheaper cables, but I had to return those due to blinking. Basically, don't try to save money to have to run back and forth to the store to do exchanges. Do not add a dongle to convert HDMI to DP. While it worked for Dell Dock, it didn't for any of the HP Docks.

To provide context - this has been an issue for me since the summer of 2023 when the first Thunderbolt Dock was purchased, exchanged and returned and countless firmware updates. Only to purchase the G5, logging HP tickets, updating firmware and considering beta version firmware.

HP Please put on the Box good quality cables are required to save everyone time!

[HybridNistico]

Thanks so much for everyone's rigorous testing here - most notably, Frank!

I have a G4 which obviously has two DP inputs and a single HDMI. Unfortunately, I have two HP 25es monitors which only have HDMI outputs.

Currently utilizing HDMI:HDMI for one monitor, and HDMI cable to DP dongle converter which I suspect is the culprit. Am I reading the forum correctly in that ditching all current wiring, dongle, etc. and switching to two high-quality HDMI to DP conversion cables should do the trick?

Lou

[sabl0r]

I am following this discussion for some time now since we have several setups (mixture of various HP docks, displays of different brands, zbooks/probooks/elitebooks) affected by this issue. Thanks to all for your input so far!

Feedback based on my experience.

Each of them fixed the issue for at least one of the setups:

1. Always use DP => DP connection if possible
2. Don't use DP and HDMI at the same time
3. Set the refresh rate of the laptop display to 60Hz instead of 120Hz (if supported) or the rate supported by both your displays
4. If your display only supports HDMI input, use an active quality converter.
   I recently had success by using 2x https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/hp-displayport-to-hdmi-true-4k-adapter
   Note: this converter did NOT resolve the issue for a Thunderbolt G4 dock. I had to replace the displays to use DP=>DP connection. BUT they did resolve the issue for the USB-C G5 dock!

[Jax38]

Hybrid,

I have two HP 24es. I ditch my two dongles. I had to buy new wires.

Be consistent and go with HDMI out to DP  into Dock.   I tried a combo of HDMI to HDMI and HDMI to DP. It failed.

I haven't had any issues since then. I reported above. Give that a shot. HP asked me to update my firmware. I might do it just the same, but I'm resolved, but it must be high-grade cables. 

[HybridNistico]

Excellent, thank you. I'm going to try exactly what you suggested which is to find high quality HDMI to DP cables (male and male on the ends), ditch the dongle, and ditch the HDMI to HDMI single wire. Will report back!

[Jax38]

If you are in Canada, I spared no expense to purchase quality cables. I bought 8K cable at Canada Computers. In my earlier post, I added product sku. I did cheap out originally and my monitor blinked. 

[FrankOtheMt]

Just clarifying again that I used two display port to display port cables and an HDMI to HDMI cable, and that fixed the problem for me. I did not use display port to HDMI cables. That appeared to be the problem!

[JR2D2]

Having pretty much same issue as Ecrooker described. Zbook Power 10 . G4 280W. 2 monitors on DP and 1 on HDMI. The two DP ones never go out. The HDMI one flashes off and back on probably a couple times a day on my user. I have swapped that monitor, the hdmi cable, installed BIOS/driver updates. This user has Windows 11 (we have just started adding windows 11 into the mix here.) Trying to figure out if its a windows 11 thing, the dock as many are pointing to, or what?

[ecrooker]

Windows 11 here as well.. fyi.