Question Display won’t show BIOS or Advanced Startup unless I unplug/replug the DP cable ?

[Cantholdanylonger]

I’ve been having a weird issue lately. My PC won’t show any BIOS screen or the Windows Advanced Startup menu (like when you do Shift + Restart) unless I unplug and replug the DisplayPort cable after turning it on.
Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

1. Bought a new DisplayPort cable (brand: Lindy)
2. Reinstalled Windows
3. Reinstalled and updated all GPU drivers
4. Reset BIOS to defaults
5. Removed and reinserted CMOS battery

Still, the issue persists.

Some details about my setup:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600
• GPU: ASRock RX 6600
• Motherboard: ASRock B550M Pro4 (latest BIOS installed)
• Display: 24-inch 165Hz monitor
• Connection: DisplayPort

Symptoms:

• No display at boot (BIOS/UEFI screen completely black)
• No display when entering Advanced Startup (e.g. troubleshoot, UEFI settings, etc.)
• Windows itself works completely fine after boot
• If I unplug and replug the DisplayPort cable after powering on, the screen appears

I also noticed that even slightly touching or moving the DP cable causes the screen to cut out, which makes me think it could be a loose connection — but this is happening with a brand-new cable. Any advice or similar experiences? Do I have a faulty GPU port or just a bad cable despite the brand?
Thanks!

 

[Ralston18]

New cable - if the cable works without issues on another build then the cable is likely okay.

That leaves the Display Port as a likely culprit. I would suspect a short....

= = = =

Power down, unplug, open the case.

Clean out dust and debris.

Verify by sight and feel that all connections, cards, RAM, jumpers, and case connections are fully and firmly in place.

Use a bright flashlight to inspect for signs of damage: bare conductor showing, melting, kinked or pinched wires, corrosion, cracks, browned or blackened areas, moisture, swollen components, loose or missing screws - anything at all that seems amiss.

Include the I/O panel - inside and out. Especially around the DP port in question.

 

[Cantholdanylonger]

Power down, unplug, open the case.

Clean out dust and debris.

Verify by sight and feel that all connections, cards, RAM, jumpers, and case connections are fully and firmly in place.

Use a bright flashlight to inspect for signs of damage: bare conductor showing, melting, kinked or pinched wires, corrosion, cracks, browned or blackened areas, moisture, swollen components, loose or missing screws - anything at all that seems amiss.

Include the I/O panel - inside and out. Especially around the DP port in question.

Thanks for the suggestions!

I’ve been cleaning my PC regularly, and my NEW GPU is only 4 months old, so I don’t think it’s a physical issue with the port. Though I will inspect the GPU later, but for now, I can’t do that yet. The cable I’m using works fine on another build, and the issue seems to happen only when booting or trying to access BIOS/Advanced Startup.

I just tested the DisplayPort cable on my laptop, and it works perfectly fine — I was able to access the Advanced Startup menu without needing to unplug and replug the cable. This confirms the cable itself is fine.

 

[Ralston18]

Make and model monitor(s)?

Will the system boot into Safe mode without any problems?

Some monitors have their own drivers. If so for your monitor, try manually downloading directly from the manufacturer's website, reinstall, and reconfigure.

No third party tools or installers.

 

[Cantholdanylonger]

Make and model monitor(s)?

koorui 24E3

Will the system boot into Safe mode without any problems?

yes but i need to unplug and replug, if dont do that its just show black screen and the monitor say its no signal

 

[Ralston18]

I am starting to wonder about that new GPU......

Also: PSU - make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used).

CMOS battery: Follow the reset procedure in the Motherboard's User Guide/Manual.

= = = =

You should not, of course, need to unplug and replug.

But that does mean that the PC is working to some extent.

Even though there is no initial display, Windows may still be capturing some related error code, warnining or informational event related to the display not appearing when it should.

Look in Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer for any error codes being logged just before or at the time the display fails. Then look for any that appear after the unplug/replug is done.

The next step will be to take a closer look at Task Manager > Startup and perhaps Task Scheduler.

 

[JayGau]

So, Windows always loads fine (with display) even when you don't unplug/replug the cable, but you can't get any motherboard splash screen unless you unplug/replug? When do you unplug/replug the cable? Do you enter the BIOS with the black screen and then do the replug to have the display?

For me it looks like the motherboard takes too long to initialize the GPU so you don't have time to get the display before reaching the BIOS or advance startup (so the monitor thinks there's no display and goes to sleep), but repluging the cable forces the display to reset after the GPU initialization and wakes up the monitor, which Windows also does when it loads.

 

[Cantholdanylonger]

Also: PSU - make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used).

1stplayer 600w browze new, i build my pc by myself 6 month ago with all new part

CMOS battery: Follow the reset procedure in the Motherboard's User Guide/Manual.

done it, but still same

Look in Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer for any error codes being logged just before or at the time the display fails. Then look for any that appear after the unplug/replug is done.

 

[Cantholdanylonger]

For me it looks like the motherboard takes too long to initialize the GPU so you don't have time to get the display before reaching the BIOS or advance startup (so the monitor thinks there's no display and goes to sleep), but repluging the cable forces the display to reset after the GPU initialization and wakes up the monitor, which Windows also does when it loads.

its kinda like that, so the monitor dint fast enough to show the flashscreen, sometime it just show a sec. But most of the time its never show a flash screen

btw its just a black screen, but its still in a bios, its just dint show it. when i press F10 to "save and quit" while still black screen its reboot again

 

[Ralston18]

All seems to have begun on April 30th.

Any hardware, software, or configuration changes that day?

Select that date and look through the errors.

Overall, I view increasing numbers of errors and varying errors as a likely PSU problem.

However; there may be other reasons and likely premature.

Run the build in Windows troubleshooters. The troubleshooters may find and fix something.

Likewise run "dism" and "sfc /scannow" to find and fix corrupted or buggy files.

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-dism-command-line-utility-repair-windows-10-image

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-sfc-scannow-to-repair-windows-system-files-2626161

Hopefully to narrow down the possible reasons.

 

[Cantholdanylonger]

All seems to have begun on April 30th.

Any hardware, software, or configuration changes that day?

Select that date and look through the errors.

its happen way before April 30th, dint change any hardware, and software. i just remove the bloatware. but like i said before even with a new install windows its still happen.

Run the build in Windows troubleshooters. The troubleshooters may find and fix something.

Likewise run "dism" and "sfc /scannow" to find and fix corrupted or buggy files.

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-dism-command-line-utility-repair-windows-10-image

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-sfc-scannow-to-repair-windows-system-files-2626161

Done it

 

[Ralston18]

Just to verify: there are no display problems if the monitor is connected to another computer - correct?

= = = =

If the problem preceded April 30th then I am wondering what happened on April 30 to start all of those errors etc. Or was that the Windows reinstall date?

Those initial errors need to be looked at.

[And the sudden absence of informational events on May 8th is interesting. What informational events did not appear. There is a critical error on that day so the PC was on at some time that day.

Perhaps hitting some threshold or limit that, in turn, caused the errors. Or the problem is simply getting worse.

Starting on April 29th, look through all red error codes for some pattern. Especially any pattern that parallels the unplug/replug requirement.

Then look at the warnings and the informational events. Perhaps some entry related to the GPU, DP, or even the monitor.

Make a list of the error codes that occur. Note date and time stamps.

And look again in Event Viewer. If there are lots of errors being captured then one option is to clear the logs and make it easier to find any captured events involving the unplug/replug cycle of things.

Not sure what else to suggest other than to keep delving into as much as possible.

 

[Cantholdanylonger]

Just to verify: there are no display problems if the monitor is connected to another computer - correct?

yes

If the problem preceded April 30th then I am wondering what happened on April 30 to start all of those errors etc. Or was that the Windows reinstall date?

Those initial errors need to be looked at.

[And the sudden absence of informational events on May 8th is interesting. What informational events did not appear. There is a critical error on that day so the PC was on at some time that day.

Perhaps hitting some threshold or limit that, in turn, caused the errors. Or the problem is simply getting worse.

Starting on April 29th, look through all red error codes for some pattern. Especially any pattern that parallels the unplug/replug requirement.

Then look at the warnings and the informational events. Perhaps some entry related to the GPU, DP, or even the monitor.

Make a list of the error codes that occur. Note date and time stamps.

And look again in Event Viewer. If there are lots of errors being captured then one option is to clear the logs and make it easier to find any captured events involving the unplug/replug cycle of things.

Not sure what else to suggest other than to keep delving into as much as possible.

Thanks for the suggestions, I’ve gone through the event logs but didn’t find any errors directly pointing to the GPU or display issues. The Kernel-Power 41 event is present, which seems to indicate the system crashes when waking from sleep, but there’s no direct display-related errors like Event ID 4101.

I’ve tried adjusting some monitor settings, like disabling the aspect ratio set to 16:9 (now set to Auto), but it hasn’t made a difference yet. The system is still functioning normally overall, though, and the monitor issue can be temporarily fixed with the unplug/replug method, which I don’t mind for now.

I also tried disabling fast startup and checked the GPU drivers, but the issue persists. Since the system works fine otherwise, I’ll leave it as is for now unless it becomes more frequent.


I appreciate your help, and I’ll keep an eye on the system if anything else pops up.