2022-08-09: If your like me and upgraded your 10 year old computer, but kept your old monitors (which are obviously a lot newer than the computer), you might possibly need some new monitor cables... that is the start of the problem - but of course I didn't know that at the time.
The new computer and two monitors worked great for about a month... then randomly, one monitor would blank the screen and display the 'no signal' message. The computer still showed the display as being connected, but nothing would show up. After a lot of messing around, I discovered that a simple cable disconnect and re-connect would make everything happy again. Its a simple solution...until roughly 4 weeks later when its doing it multiple times every hour...sometimes multiple times in 5 minutes. Then its down right annoying. Enter troubleshooting steps and googling... I tried all the usual stuff - install latest drivers (NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1660 Ti), update BIOS (elitedesk G6 with i7-10700T) , clear all BIOS defaults, reinstall Windows 10 Pro, replace the monitor (after opening it to check for obvious failures (this monitor has worked quite well for 2 years)... remove and reseat video card (then remove heatsink and re-silver it, while checking for obvious heat related problems (heatgun while running) - I'm not running games, this is just an office computer - this thing runs nice and cool and stress tests don't bring on the problem) And then the realization that cables may be at fault - so I ordered two more... and the problem continued with the two new cables and got worse... Forums were no help - guys kept telling me I have a bad video card or a defective monitor or defective cables... I'd eliminated them all as best I could, or did I?
Finally I got desperate, there were pieces all over my desk, with a heat gun and soft hammer (did I mention that ever so slight bumps to the desk seemed to be the main trigger?). Nothing was consistent... Finally, I popped open a cable end... and this is what I see:
I think I found a problem... but really? (fun real life event- I showed this to my wife and asked her to spot the problem - she looked at it and said 'You mean the top white wire thats not connected?' I had to take a second look... No actually I didn't - I only noticed the white wire at 6 that wasn't soldered down... and was giddy at finding that... I guess I can fix that one too!) This was the replacement's-replacement cable... Surely the other ones wouldn't...
At least this one has glue on it... But something looks fishy under the glue [on the other side]...
Well, I guess that could ALSO be the problem on the replacement cable... (Both wires with arrows aren't soldered on - they're loose on top of the pads; and the other wires don't look very soldered on either)
So lets give you (the reader) some links to these cables... The white one is branded as a "Ratsmart Thunderbolt to HDMI Adapter Cable Mini Displayport" and can be found for sale here. (dead link) The black one is branded as a Gator Cable "Mini DisplayPort DP Thundebolt to HDMI Cable Adapter 4K" and can be found for sale from gatorcable on eBay
Out of 4 cables, I have 3 with wires that aren't soldered down - 2 wires on each cable. So, now you know... The first place to look if your monitor keeps blanking is at the cables... Course, it'll probably be a different problem for you...
Ahh, that looks much better! Now to clean and re-assemble. [WAIT A MINUTE! Why did my monitor blank out again?!?!...oh, right. the power cord needs reseated.]
Please note: We don't recommend buying the cables we linked to in the above paragraphs, unless you are handy with a soldering iron. We aren't paid to 'advertise' any of these products, nor do we sell these products.