Monitor flashes on and off every so often

Issues & Assistance
1

For weeks now every so often my monitor flashes off and on. The system in general is working perfectly other than that. Was wonder if you had any idea what to check to fix the issue so I don’t have to reinstall the OS?

 ~  inxi -F                                                                      ✔  07:29:06 
System:
  Host: Borg-Cube Kernel: 6.14.5-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.3.5 Distro: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: ASUS product: N/A v: N/A serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: TUF GAMING B550-PLUS WIFI II v: Rev X.0x
    serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends v: 3607
    date: 03/22/2024
CPU:
  Info: 8-core model: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X bits: 64 type: MT MCP cache: L2: 4 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1742 min/max: 550/4665 cores: 1: 1742 2: 1742 3: 1742
    4: 1742 5: 1742 6: 1742 7: 1742 8: 1742 9: 1742 10: 1742 11: 1742 12: 1742
    13: 1742 14: 1742 15: 1742 16: 1742
Graphics:
  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Ellesmere [Radeon RX
    470/480/570/570X/580/580X/590] driver: amdgpu v: kernel
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.16 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.6
    compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: modesetting dri: radeonsi
    gpu: amdgpu resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: kms_swrast,radeonsi,swrast
    platforms: gbm,wayland,x11,surfaceless,device
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 25.0.5-arch1.1
    renderer: AMD Radeon RX 580 Series (radeonsi polaris10 ACO DRM 3.61
    6.14.5-zen1-1-zen)
  API: Vulkan Message: No Vulkan data available.
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
    de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor wl: wayland-info x11: xdriinfo,
    xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Ellesmere HDMI Audio [Radeon RX
    470/480 / 570/580/590] driver: snd_hda_intel
  Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Starship/Matisse HD Audio
    driver: snd_hda_intel
  API: ALSA v: k6.14.5-zen1-1-zen status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.4.2 status: active
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi
  IF: wlp6s0 state: up mac: 08:5b:d6:81:98:bd
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Cambridge Silicon Radio Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode) driver: btusb
    type: USB
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 state: up address: 33:03:30:09:E5:D6 bt-v: 5.0
  Device-2: IMC Networks Wireless_Device driver: btusb type: USB
  Report: ID: hci1 state: up address: 34:6F:24:28:FA:4E bt-v: 5.2
  Device-3: Intel AX200 Bluetooth driver: btusb type: USB
  Report: ID: hci2 state: up address: 08:5B:D6:81:98:C1 bt-v: 5.2
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 13.1 TiB used: 9.96 TiB (76.0%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: A-Data model: SWORDFISH size: 232.89 GiB
  ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 850 EVO M.2 120GB
    size: 111.79 GiB
  ID-3: /dev/sdb vendor: Seagate model: ST6000DM003-2CY186 size: 5.46 TiB
    type: USB
  ID-4: /dev/sdc vendor: HGST (Hitachi) model: HUS728T8TALE6L4
    size: 7.28 TiB type: USB
  ID-5: /dev/sdd model: Flash USB Disk size: 32 GiB type: USB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 232.59 GiB used: 113.12 GiB (48.6%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 299.4 MiB used: 584 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
  ID-3: /home size: 232.59 GiB used: 113.12 GiB (48.6%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-4: /var/log size: 232.59 GiB used: 113.12 GiB (48.6%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 38.4 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 44.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 835
Info:
  Memory: total: 48 GiB available: 46.95 GiB used: 6.5 GiB (13.8%)
  Processes: 491 Uptime: 2h 1m Shell: Zsh inxi: 3.3.38
2

Could you please verify that this happens with Sleep/Suspend turned off?

3

Yea I forgot to include that info when I created the thread for him.

Screen Locking - Never

Power Management
When inactive - Do nothing
Dim automatically - Never
Turn off screen - Never
Switch to power profile - Leave unchanged

4

I suspect it has to do with monitor refresh in combination with kernel modesetting in the KDE DE. You might have to try a few things with EDID, also there is a way to enable debugging. Check the Arch Wiki on Forcing monitor EDID as well as looking at the details of this thread as a starting point.

1 Like
5

I’m thinking about just rerunning the OS for him cause the issue didn’t start til after one particular update a update that was a true pain in the ass for no apparent reason. I can have him back where he is in under 3 hours.

6

I would be nice to find out what updates were done which created the problem. But, yeah reinstalling would probably be faster unless you feel like looking thru the last updates when the issue started.

7

Yea it started awhile back and I kept forgetting to post about it. It was easy to forget about cause it only happens maybe once every couple of hours, so when I do his updates I’m unlikely to see it happen thus not be reminded it’s happening.