2nd monitor crashing PC

Recently, for no reason, started getting freezes and crashes. Freezing all day out of nowhere..."no reason" at all. Nothing different. everything updated. finally i unplugged the 2nd monitor and no crashes...
1060 GTX 3gb.

I started having problems 3 or 4 weeks ago when I pulled a HDMI cord to use it elsewhere. Plugged the 2nd monitor's HDMI back in the next day and just tons of crashes and freezes. After 15 reboots everything stabilized, 'til yesterday. Freezes after reboots seemingly out of nowhere. Sometimes 2 seconds into windows, sometimes 3 or 4 minutes. Pulled the 2nd HDMI and it's been up for an hour or so.
One monitor is DVI and the other is HDMI.

Ghot said:

If possible, try a different connector on the GTX 1060. Leave the DVI as it is, try some other connector for the 2nd monitor.
Without the exact make/model of your GTX 1060, I don't know what connectors it has, so I can only say: "try a different one".

Also, if possible, try a different HDMI cable.

I took out the original HDMI, and then used a different HDMI the next day, started having problems, put the original HDMI back in and problems stopped after rebooting 15 times.
It's really hard to say that the 2nd monitor is causing the problems because I had tons of (I'm pretty sure) 1060 related problems that just went away WITH both monitors active. I guess the immediate improvement without the 2nd monitor is a pretty big clue.
I don't know how to read error / bsod logs.

I think it has 1 DVI, 1 HDMI and 3 display port connectors. Case is very heavy and my back is $#@$#@$#@ right now. It's hard to ID which card it actually is.

Yes, cables!

Before you follow any advice or ideas of "tearing down the house and rebuilding it because the front door jams".

Anything that cannot handle the required bandwidth can cause a problem.

I had a similar problem like you. I had upgraded two years ago to a Nvidia GTX 1070 TI which is connected to my large 55 inch 4K Samsung monitor.
From time to time it blanked out, the Nvidia drivers had crashed and needed to recover reboot etc. etc. very similar stuff like you experience.

It was the cable, in my case a 6ft HDMI cable from the card to the monitor.
My fault, a $5 HDMI cable "made in China".
Not that everything is bad that's "made in China".

BUT

Not every HDMI cable is the same and there are different ratings.
If you have a cheap or HDMI 1.0 cable you run likely into a problem.
Buy one that is at least rated HDMI 2.0 better yet 2.1

FYI: What you need to know about cable HDMI cables

I bought for $20 an 8K 48Gbps certified ultra high-speed HDMI cable and since then never ever once there was a problem again. Going on into two years now!

As a side kick I also noticed that the mild ghosting on drawings respectively characters I had and attributed to the monitor, was gone and I had a real sharp crisp image.

Let me know how's it going after you upgrade your cable!

dorcom said:

Yes, cables!

Before you follow any advice or ideas of "tearing down the house and rebuilding it because the front door jams".

Anything that cannot handle the required bandwidth can cause a problem.

I had a similar problem like you. I had upgraded two years ago to a Nvidia GTX 1070 TI which is connected to my large 55 inch 4K Samsung monitor.
From time to time it blanked out, the Nvidia drivers had crashed and needed to recover reboot etc. etc. very similar stuff like you experience.

It was the cable, in my case a 6ft HDMI cable from the card to the monitor.
My fault, a $5 HDMI cable "made in China".
Not that everything is bad that's "made in China".

BUT

Not every HDMI cable is the same and there are different ratings.
If you have a cheap or HDMI 1.0 cable you run likely into a problem.
Buy one that is at least rated HDMI 2.0 better yet 2.1

FYI: What you need to know about cable HDMI cables

I bought for $20 an 8K 48Gbps certified ultra high-speed HDMI cable and since then never ever once there was a problem again. Going on into two years now!

As a side kick I also noticed that the mild ghosting on drawings respectively characters I had and attributed to the monitor, was gone and I had a real sharp crisp image.

Let me know how's it going after you upgrade your cable!

I dig but it's very strange that the cable I used for years didn't work when I put it back in. Makes me think the video card got damaged or something. Maybe I damaged the cable itself...they do go bad being copper and all. I just need to get the case up on a desk. It is SO heavy. Do some experimenting. Currently just running 1 monitor (crying emoji) and it's fine.