PG42UQ strange problems black screen/freeze screen randomly

[tuanny87]

on firmware .31 got random black screen in the middle of game will not turn back on until i unplug power and replug. also had a random screen freeze in the middle of a game. and could not turn off or anything until i unpled. this all happen on overlock off @ 120 mhz since 138 mhz would not even wake up the screen sometimes when it goes to sleep.
also my rog logo randomly turned green looked in the manual but didnt see anything anout green logo not sure what does that mean?
hope they fix all these problem on the next firmware update or will have to return this monitor.

[MidKnightWizard]

I encountered the black screen issue again. Initially I had turned on the screen today and used it for more than 4 hours without incident. Put my computer to sleep but left the screen powered on. After an hour came back and resumed on my computer without incident. Continued to use my computer on display port for a while and switched over to my PS5 on one of the HDMI 2.1 inputs. At probably almost exactly 4 hours since I resumed using my computer the screen went black while playing on my PS5 (screen had been on for most of the day 8+ hours, just not displaying the whole time). Volume control continued to work from the remote control. I waited ten minutes and screen still remained black. I had to unplug and replug the monitor to get it working again.

[Fozzieisthebest]

seems they fixed it on the 48 version ( mine ) but not released a patch to fix it on the 42 version as far as I know

[Doctor_Headlock]

Not entirely.  DisplayPort is still showing some problems with the screen blacking out for a millisecond or so every now and then.  The large blackouts have disappeared, however.  I've also noted that the speaker noise when using DisplayPort has disappeared.  I have run into a new problem, though, and sometimes when the monitor wakes up from sleep after I move my mouse to turn the displays back on, when connected to DisplayPort this sometimes causes the monitor to reboot entirely.

Probably unrelated, but g-sync compatibility has some odd behaviour in that the screen flickers sometimes when frame rates stutter, like the brightness flickers slightly.  I've seen Samsung get around this by adding a feature called VRR control onto their Odyssey monitors that completely alleviates brightness flickering due to g-sync.

When running the display via HDMI, the information section of the OSD always reports that the colour resolution is 8bpc regardless of what I set in the nvidia control panel.  It displays just fine when set to 10 or 12, so one can only assume this is a bug in the firmware.

Finally, when the monitor is overclocked or has g-sync enabled, the top few lines of the display have artifacting, like the lines streak back and forth to the right.  I've seen this on two identical displays now as one was RMA'd due to awful panel uniformity.

[CoffeeAndTea]

@Jiaszzz_ROG 

I have managed to capture a video of this problem occuring on the PG42UQ. Please find it at the following address.

https://webm.red/view/Y94q.webm

In this video, you can see the PG42UQ shortly before the issue occurs. The screen is showing a plain desktop. The PC has been running for exactly 4 hours when the screen blacks out. It is unresponsive to any input from the remote. (I didn't show it, but it will not respond to input from the control stick on the unit either.) Note that the PC does not treat the monitor as disconnected.

After about six minutes, I am able to restore the image by cycling the power using the remote. Before I updated to firmware v037, the image would return on its own, but now the power must be cycled.

I hope this video will help you to acknowledge and investigate this issue.

Some more information:

• Firmware: v037
• Model: PG42UQ
• GPU: 4070 TI
• GPU driver version: 31.0.15.3168
• OS: Windows 11
• Cable: Maxonar DisplayPort Cable 1.4 [VESA Certified] 2 metres
• Refresh rate: 138Hz (overclock enabled)
• G-Sync: enabled
• Shadow boost: disabled
• Power setting: standard
• Screen saver: off
• Screen move: middle
• Adjust logo brightness: off
• DSC support: on
• HMDI CEC: on
• Scenario: As you can see, this issue can occur at any time, even when the PC is idle.

[Jiaszzz_ROG]

Hello, @CoffeeAndTea 

Thank you for providing the video footage.
While submitting it for verification to the relevant department, there are a few points that require your assistance in confirming:

• At 00:00:06 in the video, there are two displays shown in your Windows display settings.
  Could you please confirm if you have both displays connected simultaneously?
  If you only connect the PG42UQ, does the issue still occur?
  (Additionally, due to the unclear quality of the provided video, it's difficult for us to ascertain all the text contents on the screen. Please refer to the attached image.)

• At 00:01:15 in the video, during the occurrence of the black screen, is the indicator light at the bottom of the screen lit on
• During the 6-minute black screen period, if you remove and reconnect the power before the 6 minutes have passed, does the screen restore to normal?
• After the 6-minute black screen period, can you turn on the screen by pressing the power button on the rear panel of the monitor?
• Why is it that before the black screen issue occurs, the PG42UQ does not display the Windows Taskbar, but at 00:08:24 in the video, the Taskbar appears at the bottom after using the remote to power on again?
  May I ask if you have made any other setting changes during this period, such as disconnecting another connected monitor?

---

---

Please assist in comparing your situation with the descriptions provided by users of models other than PG42UQ to confirm if your scenario aligns with the descriptions, including "The issue will not happen if you (or auto-standby) turn the monitor off and on again some time during these 4 hours."

The issue "only" happens if the monitor has been in the standby state for an extended amount of time (let's call it "last downtime"). "Standby" defined as "You go to sleep while not turning the monitor off with the remote, some hours later you start the PC, letting the monitor turn on by itself - Red LED of monitor is on all the time".

This "extended amount of time" seems to be around a minimum of 10-15 minutes, but I don't have exact information on that.

This now means, if in the morning, you turn the PC on, which turns the monitor on, you can turn the monitor right off again using the remote and immediately turn it on again (no manual start of pixel cleaning needed). The monitor now is "not" in a state where the "last downtime" exceeds an "extended amount of time" and the issue "does not" happen.

I am doing this for a week now and did not have a single blackout since then.

This also explains, why "sometimes" this issue happens more than once a day. e.g. The issue happens, you fix it by pulling cables etc. Some time later you go afk for an hour, the monitor goes to standby. You come back, turn the monitor on again and now the monitor has a high "last downtime" again => the issue happens again after 4 hours.
While if you have the issue, fix it, but then never let the monitor turn off, it doesn't happen again.

This might also explain why @Jiaszzz_ROG and other staff can't reproduce.
You have to have the monitor on for 4 consecutive hours "after" the monitor was in "standby" for "an extended amount of time".
The issue will not happen if you just plugged the monitor in and then let it run for 4 hours.
The issue will not happen if you (or auto-standby) turn the monitor off and on again some time during these 4 hours.

Worded differently, to reproduce:
- Connect a PC to the monitor, start it, let the monitor display the PCs picture
- Shut the PC down, let the monitor go into standby - don't turn the monitor off using the remote - red LED must be on all the time
- Wait 1 hour
- Turn the PC on - from now on never let the monitor go into standby again
- Play youtube for 4 hours
- After exactly 4 hours (to the second) the monitor will turn off and is now unresponsive for exactly 6 minutes (to the second)

---

Please provide clarification through your explanation to help us understand better.

Thank you.

[CoffeeAndTea]

Thanks for your reply.

I can answer some of your questions right now, but for the others it will take time for me to perform tests.

• At 00:00:06 in the video, there are two displays shown in your Windows display settings.
  Could you please confirm if you have both displays connected simultaneously?
• Yes, I have two displays connected simultaneously. The other display is a Dell U2412M Ultrasharp in portrait orientation.
• If you only connect the PG42UQ, does the issue still occur?
• I will have to test this and get back to you. Update: Yes.
  
• (Additionally, due to the unclear quality of the provided video, it's difficult for us to ascertain all the text contents on the screen. Please refer to the attached image.)
• Yes, this is unfortunate, but I'm afraid I can't do much about it with the camera at my disposal.
• At 00:01:15 in the video, during the occurrence of the black screen, is the indicator light at the bottom of the screen lit on
• No.
• During the 6-minute black screen period, if you remove and reconnect the power before the 6 minutes have passed, does the screen restore to normal?
• I will have to test this and get back to you. Update: Yes, doing this restores the screen to normal.
• After the 6-minute black screen period, can you turn on the screen by pressing the power button on the rear panel of the monitor?
• I will have to test this and get back to you.
• Why is it that before the black screen issue occurs, the PG42UQ does not display the Windows Taskbar, but at 00:08:24 in the video, the Taskbar appears at the bottom after using the remote to power on again?
• This is due to the behaviour of Windows. I have two connected displays. I prefer the taskbar to be on the secondary display (the Dell U2412M). What occurs in the video is this. 1) The taskbar is on the secondary display. 2) The blackout issue occurs on the main display (the PG42UQ). 3) After six minutes, it is necessary to power cycle the main display in order to restore the image. 4) Power cycling the main display causes Windows to briefly lose and then regain connection to the PG42UQ. 5) When Windows regains connection to the main display, it automatically moves the taskbar from the secondary to the main display.
• May I ask if you have made any other setting changes during this period, such as disconnecting another connected monitor?
• No. For the duration of the blackout period shown in the video, I did not interact with the computer at all.
• Please assist in comparing your situation with the descriptions provided by users of models other than PG42UQ to confirm if your scenario aligns with the descriptions, including "The issue will not happen if you (or auto-standby) turn the monitor off and on again some time during these 4 hours."
• I will have to test this and get back to you. Update: I have tested this, and it does appear to prevent the six minute blackout issue from occuring. I did still encounter periodic 'mini' blackouts lasting 1-2 seconds and 'micro' blackouts lasting less than a second.
  

[berp]

I have the same issue with fw v035. 

I'll return the monitor as it is faulty, ASUS should not sell unfinished products. 

Having to crawl under my desk every 4 hours to pull the power cord of a crashed monitor is not acceptable.

Edit: It seems like ASUS has fixed this for the PG48UQ model with a recent fw update. Hopefully it'll get fixed for us PG42UQ very soon. 

[senbax]

"Resolving the problem of being unable to wake up for four hours." - Nice!

Please ASUS, release it for the PG42UQ aswell.

[kalman8]

I also have PG42UQ monitor, V033 worked fine for me. Made the stupid mistake to upgrade to version V037.

Now the screen goes blank after the screen saver comes on. The logo stays lit, if I turn the monitor off n back on with the remote the screen comes back up. Nothing on the keyboard will wake the monitor back up.

Can I go back to version V033?

[Jiaszzz_ROG]

Hello, @kalman8 

May I ask if the blank screen issue occurs only when the screen saver is active? Will it not occur when the screen saver is disabled?
When you mention "blank," do you mean a completely black screen or a screen that lights up but has no display?
If possible, please provide a complete video recording of the issue when it occurs.
When you encounter a sudden blank screen issue, how do you troubleshoot it? For example, do you power off and restart the device?
Based on other users' experiences with a logo not being lit during black screen incidents, your situation may be different.
Could you please clarify if you are connected to a graphics card or any other video output source?
Have you tried testing different connections using HDMI and DP? Please provide more detailed information.

Thank you.