U2718Q, three, DP/mDP failures, GTX 970

Question

Hi everyone and anyone who can help.

I'm on my third U2718Q now, but I've had to replace two of these monitors due to the same failure about a year apart. This makes me wonder if I'm doing something wrong, or if it's a known issue that the display port can fail from time to time? I really appreciate Dell's replacement service, but I don't want to burn through these monitors like candy if possible.

Issue: In both instances (April last year and a few days ago), when I turn on my computer in the morning, the monitor reports no signal from Display Port (after no issues for months). I run through all the checks - use cable on different monitor, swap cable, swap PCs, etc. etc., and eventually isolate it to both DP and mini-DP ports on the U2718Q that does not receive signal from PC.

HDMI still works in both instances. However, in the latest instance, after switching input to HDMI cable, the desktop appears, but flickers in and out, and there were a few horizontal white lines "buzzing" on the screen. In NDVIDIA Control Panel, with HDMI input, after I changed RGB to YCb, the flickering stopped and the monitor was in working condition again. If i switched back to RGB, the same flickering persists. However, no amount of changes to screen settings would get the monitor to recognize input from DP/mDP, which made me conclude the port had failed.

Now the reason I'm posting is that I've received my replacement monitor already, but I went back to test my old monitor, and the DP is working again. The DP/mDP had failed for about 2-3 days, but now it seems to randomly be receiving input again, and I'm confused about what's happening and whether the monitor really is faulty.

System: Windows 10, NVIDIA GTX 970, Dual monitors U2718Q (DP) & U2410 (HDMI).

Thanks so much for any insight.

DELL-Chris M · Accepted Answer

For any monitor issue, I would always reset the monitor to see if it fixes the issue =

* Turn the monitor and PC off
* Disconnect all cables (including the power cable) from the rear and side of the monitor
* If a mechanical monitor power button, press the button in for 8 seconds (clears any residual power in the circuits). If not a mechanical power button, just wait 8 seconds
* Reconnect the power cable and a single video cable to the monitor
* Turn the monitor on, then the PC. Retest

Perhaps the DP technology on the 2010 U2410 is different than the 2018 U2718Q? I would test both for a couple of days using the "reset" above before sending any monitor back to Dell. Again, I would only test using one video cable attached to the video card and monitors.

DELL-Chris M · Answer

Three U2718Q, same issue...doubtful that they were the culprit. In my opinion, the fault is with the 2014 GTX 970. The U2718Q that started working, I am assuming that it was disconnected from power for awhile, thus, the capacitors had time to clear, "resetting" itself. I would get another video card in there to test.

For my notes, click my DELL-username and via private message, send me the U2718Q service tag numbers, 20 digit serial numbers, A0x revision numbers. See the back labels

soulpowaa · Answer

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the response. Well, only 2 failures, this is second replacement monitor, which brings me to three total.

Yeah, I think you might be right about the video card? But, if it was the video card, why would the display port work on my other Dell monitor (U2410) and the U2718Q would not recognize the input?

I think next time, if it fails again, I'll wait a few days before requesting a replacement. I guess I still should send back the one that failed since there's no way to verify whether it was the video card or not?

Thanks

soulpowaa · Answer

Sorry last comment - the other reason why I initially jumped to Dell failure was because of the rough times we had last year with the 'gain on green' issue, which primarily affected the DP port. I think I was just assuming that there was some kind of DP design/defect with the U2718Q, which was probably a faulty assumption on my part, unfortunately.

soulpowaa · Answer

Oh - sorry, no the monitor was not disconnected from power for the few days - it was connected via HDMI and using the YCb settings, and I was using it until the replacement monitor showed up.

soulpowaa · Answer

@DELL-Chris M wrote:

For any monitor issue, I would always reset the monitor to see if it fixes the issue =

* Turn the monitor and PC off
* Disconnect all cables (including the power cable) from the rear and side of the monitor
* If a mechanical monitor power button, press the button in for 8 seconds (clears any residual power in the circuits). If not a mechanical power button, just wait 8 seconds
* Reconnect the power cable and a single video cable to the monitor
* Turn the monitor on, then the PC. Retest

Perhaps the DP technology on the 2010 U2410 is different than the 2018 U2718Q? I would test both for a couple of days using the "reset" above before sending any monitor back to Dell. Again, I would only test using one video cable attached to the video card and monitors.

Thanks Chris, I'll try that next time.

Meanwhile, I may have jumped the gun and already ordered the exchange monitor before posting here, which already arrived. I have the exchange hooked up and it works great. In this situation, do you recommend I send back my old monitor since the exchange is already here? (not sure there's any way to conclusively say if the fault was the monitor or the video card at this point).

DELL-Chris M · Answer

Yes, send the old one back.

Monitors

U2718Q, three, DP/mDP failures, GTX 970

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