Dual monitors not waking from sleep

Hi all,

I'm having issues where my monitors won't wake from sleep in a dual monitor setup. This only occurs after waking them from a sleep state, and they work fine when booting up my PC from scratch.

I have tested both monitors in a single monitor setup and the issue goes away completely as they wake from sleep just fine when only using a single monitor. This issue only seems to occur when using both monitors simultaneously.

I have tried the below steps to no avail to remedy the issue:

• Changed the DisplayPort cable
• Uninstalled graphics drivers with DDU and reinstalled them again
• Made sure Windows update was completely up-to-date, including any optional drivers
• Made sure there were no unknown devices in Device Manager
• Turned Link State Power Management under PCI Express in Power Plan settings to off
• Completely formatted my PC and reinstalled Windows 11

None of these steps have resolved the issue.

Any assistance provided will be much appreciated!

I wish I could help, but I have a triple monitor setup that is exhibiting the exact same behavior.

With my monitors, I've started using the Windows PowerToys Awake program to keep the system (and monitors) awake and manually powering them off when I leave my desktop.

In my triple monitor setup (all 4K, same brand), it happened when I had one on HDMI 2.1 and 2x on DP 1.4, and also having all three on DP 1.4.

If this can be resolved I'll be a happy camper, as I prefer to have the monitors auto-power off after 5 minutes of inactivity, and use Dynamic Lock with my mobile to auto-lock the computer when I step away.

I've also done every single thing you've done, including the clean install (my last Clean install was just before NYE). I've even tried using modified nVidia drivers using the NVCLeanStall utility to remove different parts of the driver that I don't need, including one as minimal as I can get. No dice.

I have this same problem. I am using a Dell WD19TB docking station with a new Dell XPS 15 9520. If I plug in two Acer monitors (K272HUL) in 2560x1440 mode, if I then press Windows+L to lock the screen and the monitors turn off, when waking the computer, it has to re-boot and my sessions are lost. Same dock and monitors worked fine with my older XPS. Oddly, this only happens with TWO external monitors. ONE works fine. Dell updates applied. Has anyone found a setting to correct this?

BobH said:

I have this same problem. I am using a Dell WD19TB docking station with a new Dell XPS 15 9520. If I plug in two Acer monitors (K272HUL) in 2560x1440 mode, if I then press Windows+L to lock the screen and the monitors turn off, when waking the computer, it has to re-boot and my sessions are lost. Same dock and monitors worked fine with my older XPS. Oddly, this only happens with TWO external monitors. ONE works fine. Dell updates applied. Has anyone found a setting to correct this?

Click to expand...

After waking up the computer, have you tried the video card reset keystroke?

[WIN] + [CTRL] + [SHIFT] + [B}


Also, does the dock have its own power supply?

Thank you, johnlgalt, for taking the time to reply.

Yes, I tried the Windows video driver reset keystroke after the wake induced reboot. Makes no difference in the next sleep cycle.

The Dell docking station does have its own power brick.

So, I still have the issue... If I'm using one external Acer display, no problem, but using two external monitors causes a reboot upon wake.

I thought the dock might have external power supplied.

My issue is a direct result of my monitors. However, with your dock in play, have you considered trying to power cycle the dock either before or after you wake the computer?

Thanks for your reply. I believe the issue is due to my Acer monitors, which are several years old. The have been and are still great to use. I have two dual monitor setups... one at work (Acers) and one at home (newer LG/Dell monitors), with the same version of Dell dock. I have swapped docs, etc. as a test. The reboot upon wake only happens when the Acers are involved.

Your statement "My issue is a direct result of my monitors." does give me some more evidence that my issue may also be due to my older monitors combined with newer Windows build and/or newer Dell laptop. Maybe Dell or Microsoft will find and fix this issue eventually or at least explain why this happens with some types of monitors.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

A number of us with Dell Precision Workstations (various models) have run into similar behaviors which we've tracked back to issues between a combination of the Dell BIOS settings, Windows and NVIDIA drivers. At the end of the day, after disabling and enabling certain BIOS settings, I haven't experienced any issues with my dual monitors dropping or not waking after idle. For me it was ensuring Graphics Switching is enabled and Turbo Boost is disabled. Your mileage may vary but it's probably worth a look.

You can research details here Precision Mobile Workstation.

BobH said:

Thanks for your reply. I believe the issue is due to my Acer monitors, which are several years old. The have been and are still great to use. I have two dual monitor setups... one at work (Acers) and one at home (newer LG/Dell monitors), with the same version of Dell dock. I have swapped docs, etc. as a test. The reboot upon wake only happens when the Acers are involved.

Your statement "My issue is a direct result of my monitors." does give me some more evidence that my issue may also be due to my older monitors combined with newer Windows build and/or newer Dell laptop. Maybe Dell or Microsoft will find and fix this issue eventually or at least explain why this happens with some types of monitors.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

Click to expand...

I don't have Dells, I have Eve Devices' Spectrums. Mine are directly due to the firmware team that wrote the firmware for these monitors. They know how to code for firmware, but have 0 understanding about the product itself and what it should (and should not) do.

bklawton said:

A number of us with Dell Precision Workstations (various models) have run into similar behaviors which we've tracked back to issues between a combination of the Dell BIOS settings, Windows and NVIDIA drivers. At the end of the day, after disabling and enabling certain BIOS settings, I haven't experienced any issues with my dual monitors dropping or not waking after idle. For me it was ensuring Graphics Switching is enabled and Turbo Boost is disabled. Your mileage may vary but it's probably worth a look.

You can research details here Precision Mobile Workstation.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link. This looks promising, not sure if it will help or not since I can only do the nVidia and Windows side of things, but hey, progress!