AW3225QF, screen black outs still not fixed?

Dell Support must verify the AW3225QF ownership and warranty status. Each AW3225QF user must click the blue "Get Help Now" on the right to start a private live chat session to report the issue. Share the private AW3225QF Service Tag with the Dell agent.

They and our users out here will also need all of the following data to assist in troubleshooting =

* Open the AW3225QF Menu- Others
- What firmware version is currently installed? The latest available version is M2B105
- Run "Factory Reset"

* What specific PC model?
* What operating system is installed? The AW3225QF is only supported by Dell in Windows 10/11
* What GPU/video card is installed in the PC?
* List all of the available video out ports on the GPU/video card or PC itself
* How is the monitor currently connected to the GPU/video card or PC using which ports and cable?
* Did you make any hardware changes just prior to the issue appearing?
* Did you make any software changes just prior to the issue appearing?
* Post a video showing the issue
* Post steps on how to replicate the issue

@DELL-Chris M this may well be referring to the DSC bug with nvidia cards which I believe is on nvidias end to fix? Unless OP is referring to something else, this is when you are using enough bandwidth that DSC is in use (10bit colour, etc) that the monitor flashes black when you first go to use it.

As an aside - there have been many bugs with this monitor reported to Dell since launch, and the monitor has seemingly been abandoned as there hasn't been as single firmware update since april , despite other manufacturers who use the same Samsung panel as this alienware monitor pushing out multiple updates fixing all these issues during that time.


Can you confirm please are the Alienware monitor team even still there? Are they actually looking at the numerous reported issues that haven't been fixed?  Are they planning on releasing a firmware update any time soon? Can we even expect one in the entirety of 2025?  What's going on, why has it been abandoned so soon after release?

All we can do is present these threads to the applicable teams. We cannot know what their plans are, if firmware is ever going to come out, etc. Our sole task is to present the data, offer assistance to you via troubleshooting, User's Guides, etc.

@DELL-Chris M​ I appreciate you yourself don't have the info but if there is contact with the relevant team is it not possibe to ask them if they have plans to continue supporting this current-model monitor?  There is another thread on here which details in some length the many, many issues that have been reported so the information has been available to them. But over 8 months they've done.... nothing?

There are Dell protocols we Forum Liaisons must follow. We have presented the Forum threads to them.

@randomnut​ Here, here.  Spending this much on a high-end product and no firmware updates for 8 months, despite there being reported problems on VERY common hardware configurations, really feels like we've been abandoned.  This is creating a very bad reputation for the Alienware brand.

no worries @DELL-Chris M​ wasn't having a vent at you at all, just the dell product team abandoning products literal months after launch

Yeah, I probably will avoid Dell products in the future as there is no point purchasing from a company that abandons their products a couple of months after launch.

I just wanted to post a follow up, that I think I have solved the black screen issues, at least for my setup.  After various tests such as changing the refresh, HDR, GSync, etc. made no difference, I wondered whether this could be an issue caused by cable interference (was getting desperate).  I purchased an optical HDMI cable.  Amazingly, since installing this cable I've had no random black screens for the past few days, which is VERY unusual.  I suspect electrical interference across the high bandwidth HDMI cable may have been causing the drop-outs.

@Raeldor70​ Same problem.
I too, reading here and there, suspect it might be the cable. I've ordered a shielded 10/8k HDMI cable that will arrive tomorrow. Let's hope that's the issue. I wasn't aware of optical HDMI cables.
If my new cable shows the same problem, I'll try buying an optical one.
I would hope that Dell would work on the firmware to fix the issue.

I'm really disappointed with the company. I expected better support.

The new cable arrived but the problem persists.
However, I've noticed that it occurs more frequently when the PC is first started up. The screen goes black after about ten minutes. After resetting the PC, it seems to work for longer periods (sometimes it doesn't turn off at all).

I had my optical cable go crazy with black screens the other day.  Every 2 seconds.  I thought it would be a good opportunity to change some settings such as refresh rate, etc. to see if I could get it to stop, but I couldn't.  I ended up having to set to 60hz 8bpp.  Next day I tried to set to 10bpp and it completely lost signal.  I tried another cable exactly the same optical, same maker and it worked, so I think the chip must have gone bad on the first cable.  Using the spare cable now and again no issues... yet.  The quality of ALL of these cables just appears to be garbage.

01/09/2025 Update.

After contacting customer support, I was told that if the monitor goes black but the sound continues, the problem is not with the monitor but with the PC.

So I tried cleaning the graphics card contacts and PCIe slot (despite the motherboard being new) and noticed something: to power my NVIDIA RTX 3070 card, I had used two connectors from a single cable. I thought that maybe this type of connection could cause problems, possibly due to insufficient/unstable power supply.

So I connected the two card connectors using two separate cables, and this seems to have solved the problem. The monitor doesn't freeze anymore, neither on its own, nor if I turn it off and on, nor if it turns off due to the screensaver (which I had previously disabled).

So I think the problem was caused by insufficient/unstable power supply to the graphics card.
As of today, 01/09/2025, after two days of intensive use, the problem has not occurred again. I therefore think I have found the solution. If it should occur again in the future, I will update this thread.

@DELL-Chris M​ 

Hi Chris, I too am having this problem. I didn't have it when I first purchased my monitor 5 months ago and it has continued to deteriorate to the point that it needs to be power cycled 4 or 5 times before it becomes stable.  Then it will work for hours and hours on end, until of course the pixel refresh is run, then unfortunately back to square one!

After some amusing conversations with the lovely and agreeable service agent named Al (didn't take me long to figure out Al was really an acronym for Artificial Intelligence), I have decided that my remedies are likely better by taking it back to JB-HiFi . Also, I was promised that I had the Dell Premium Panel Exchange with my purchase per Alienware AW3225QF 32" 4K 240Hz Curved QD-OLED Gaming Monitor - JB Hi-Fi but alas, I haven't received a response in 35 days to my ticket asking why Dell want me to mail my monitor in without a replacement first.

The exact same issue occurs on my PC, Xbox Series X and Amazon Firestick 4K so I I would rather skip the steps listed above, especially the step on how to replicate the issue? It does it randomly and spontaneously when it is started after a panel refresh. Good news is I do have plenty of footage of it doing it, so please let me know where to send that. I also have the Dell Display Manager log that covers the entire period from my purchase date, surely that has everything you need to help me diagnose the issue?

@thereticle​ That's interesting.  I guess there can be various causes of the black screen.  For me, I definitely have the power connectors connected to separate rails on the PSU, so I don't think that's my particular issue.  But good to have another verified solution for people to try.