Troubleshooting Ideas? S95h & 5090, 2-3 second black/blank screen; switched to eARC and now lose audio

I believe I had this issue occasionally when I first got the S95h but it's become ridiculous recently.....sometimes over and over and over for a minute at a time. While I'm typing this up, it's probably happened more than 20 times.

The HDMI connection certainly seems to be either unstable or resetting for some reason. Looking for any troubleshooting suggestions even though I've done and redone every random suggestion online, already.


- 2 different Win11 machines, both with reference 5090 and latest nvidia drivers
- TV HDMI1 & HDMI3 tried with several different cables that have worked without issue on G5 & S90F
- 5090 HDMI port -----> S95h 3840x1600, 165Hz, HDR On
- 5090 DP1 ---------> LG second monitor running at 2160x3840@165Hz (120,144,240 tried)
- 5090 DP2 --------> DP to HDMI adapter ------> Denon x4700h AV Receiver 1080p60Hz


S95h
- All Energy Saving = Off
- CEC = On, but was off before eARC connected
- Input Signal Plus = On
- Game Mode = On
- AI Gaming = Off
- Game Genre = Auto(can't change in 21:9)
- Virtual Aim Point = Off
- Screen Ratio = 21:9
- HDR10+ GAMING = Basic
- Game HDR = Basic
- Network = Just disconnected Wired connection and turned off WiFi in case something is communicating



Couple things I've definitely tried:
- multiple PCs
- multiple cables
- tried a single monitor setup (will probably try this again tonight)
- unplugged tv and held down power button to discharge
- different hdmi ports
- removed Color Control service
- disconnected from network
- turned off gsync

Thanks for anything you've got...

i use this to keep the signal to my avr alive: https://veg.by/en/projects/soundkeeper/

Thanks. Ya, I didn’t have soundkeeper on and ran into the old 2 seconds of missing audio when I first switched to earc. Sound keeper on or off didn’t seem to change the blinking.

I wouldn’t normally be using earc but I was hoping that by pulling one cable out of my graphics card, it would help the HDMI port somehow. I still cannot remember if I ran my second computer through the AV receiver the entire time.

Apparently, signal drops are common when people use adapters for 240hz 4k, but lower hz should be possible.

. . . . . . . .

I'd try an active cable or adapter from the gpu to the screen if you have to convert dp to hdmi.

If I had to use an adapter for that, I'd use this one, which is dp 2.0, but it's hard to find since it's usually out of stock:

https://us.caldigit.com/products/dp20-hdmi21

That would be my first go-to.


I had a cable that worked great on a 4k side screen for years but didn't work well with a newer 144hz 4k side screen. Don't discount the idea of using a newer cable with a different chip in it.

This one is an active dp 2.1 to hdmi cable with a good chip in it ( Synaptics VMM7100 ) . It fixed my issues on my side screen, but it is probably using DSC from dp 1.4.

Active DisplayPort to HDMI 2.1 Cable 8K@60Hz 4K@144Hz 6.6ft for PC Monitor Unidirectional DP1.4a adapter, RTX 5090 5080 4090 4080 GPU support, VRR G-Sync smooth gaming, HDR10 Dolby Vision HDCP2.3 - - ULT-WIIQ

The manufacturer lists it as a "DisplayPort 1.4a/2.1" hybrid device, it is specifically optimized with newer internal chipset hardware to handle the advanced outputs of NVIDIA RTX 50-series GPUs (like the RTX 5090 and 5080). Because it features built-in DisplayPort 2.1 compatibility, it can safely take advantage of higher bandwidth limits when connected to a DP 2.1-capable source port. For more details, visit the product page at Amazon.

Click to expand...

-------------------------

On my current main (4k 120Hz hdmi 2.1 HDR) screen I'm using the hdmi output of my 5090 hdmi 2.1 to hdmi 2.1, but if I was having issues I'd still try a different cable, buying a newer one that is not just swapping what I have on hand.

---------------------------

I'd try a different cable from the screen to the AVR if that doesn't work, and make sure all of your cables are seated properly and not under tension.

---------------------------

HDMI cables are 2-way, but some cables (fiber hdmi, adapters, etc). in some case might be one-way, so make sure you aren't trying to use a one-way cable that lacks a copper return wire for your eArc out from screen to your AVR. I know that's probably not your scenario, but I thought I'd include that to cover more bases.



-------------------------


Could try turning earc off and back on in the game tv OSD, too. That sometimes fixes issues.

---------------------------



Make sure your AVR supports eARC properly.. There are also some adapters you can get for older AVRs to make a normal hdmi port on the AVR into an earc port.
I've used a sharc before, just for eARC audio. I typically don't pass video through my receiver.

Top HDMI eARC Converters

• • Best Overall / Premium: ThenAudio SHARC-V2 8K eARC Audio Processor
    • Features: Dual HDMI 2.1 inputs (48 Gb/s) and full 8K60 / 4K120 video passthrough.
    • Audio Support: Extracts uncompressed multi-channel audio from your TV's eARC port and sends it directly to a legacy HDMI input on your older AVR.
    • Best for: Gamers using a PS5 or Xbox Series X with a 120Hz TV and an older receiver.
  • Best Budget Option: OREI HDA-927 / HDA-927U eARC Audio Extractor
    • Features: 4K@60Hz video passthrough with HDMI 2.0 / 18G support.
    • Audio Support: Converts TV eARC/ARC signals to pass Dolby Digital, DTS, and multi-channel audio to older HDMI-equipped receivers.
    • Best for: Users who only need 4K 60Hz video support and want a reliable, cost-effective connection as highlighted in this OREI eARC Extractor review.

How to Choose

• • If you need 4K 120Hz/8K passthrough for modern gaming consoles, choose a high-bandwidth processor like the ThenAudio SHARC-V2.
  • If you only need 4K 60Hz video from streaming apps or standard media players, a budget extractor from OREI will get the job done for a fraction of the cost.

Click to expand...

I see that you said you tried 120hz mode. I would have also tried that, turning 165Hz mode off to see if that did anything. The 165Hz mode on the newer LG gaming tvs for example, seems to exacerbate some issues according to reports. That's mainly exacerbating dirty greys and making VRR flicker worse, but it's probably worth trying it out with it off if having any other issues.

elvn said:

Apparently, signal drops are common when people use adapters for 240hz 4k, but lower hz should be possible.

. . . . . . . .

I'd try an active cable or adapter from the gpu to the screen if you have to convert dp to hdmi.


I see that you said you tried 120hz mode. I would have also tried that, turning 165Hz mode off to see if that did anything. The 165Hz mode on the newer LG gaming tvs for example, seems to exacerbate some issues according to reports. That's mainly exacerbating dirty greys and making VRR flicker worse, but it's probably worth trying it out with it off if having any other issues.

Click to expand...

Ya. I only tried using eARC yesterday to eliminate an adapter and the usage of the port on the gpu. The signal drops have always only been on the hdmi port, not the displayport ports that used to run the second monitor and AV Receiver.

It didn't make any difference but I think I'm liking the idea of eARC now that it actually works. I'm sure I have posts on here from years back of trying to get eARC working on other setups....once I went 2 separate cables for video and sound I never went back until yesterday.

Since I have a little bit of time today I factory reset the tv. It's been 30 minutes and only one blank screen, but I think it happened soon after making a change in nvidia control panel so I'm not going to count that for now. I've been at 16:9, 3840x2160@120Hz SDR. But I've also gone through hours of gaming without seeing the issue so I'm no declaring anything at this point.


I'm gonna try using CRU to create the resolutions I want and see how that goes.

Tol said:

<....>
I think I'm liking the idea of eARC now that it actually works.
<....>

Click to expand...

I prefer eARC if I can get it, since I don't put my video through my receivers where I can avoid it and I always disliked the old way, the "ghost"/fake monitor trick onto a receiver for sound since it broke my screen layouts and was buggy.

eARC is an easy way to get full, uncompressed hdmi audio, at least when sources are providing it.

Sometimes it's just a poor quality cable, or not designed for as much data as is being pushed at that length of cable.

I have a 35 ft cable which is fine at lower resolutions, but sometimes drops signal or audio for a couple seconds at higher resolutions and high refresh rates.

I had a good run and was starting to think that setting the resolutions and refresh rates in CRU had solved the issue. Probably about 8 hours with no dropouts. But right now, it's going crazy again and is not usable.

I'll probably just try to contact Samsung support. I hear they've fixed the issues with the G6, too....

Nobu said:

Sometimes it's just a poor quality cable, or not designed for as much data as is being pushed at that length of cable.

I have a 35 ft cable which is fine at lower resolutions, but sometimes drops signal or audio for a couple seconds at higher resolutions and high refresh rates.

Click to expand...

This happened to me with my s95d, i switched to a 35 ft fiber optic HDMI cable and it's been rock solid ever since. It was dropping out constantly. Also, hdmi cables that weren't fiber optic just died all the time. They'd go bad in like 3 months.

Thanks for everyone's comments.

I've been out of town most of the week but if it's not fixed, it's at least not so noticable anymore. I think I've seen twice where I was doing something on the second monitor and the S95H blinked. I don't believe it has happened at all while gaming....maybe 12-15 hours at this point.

The 2 things I did at basically the same time were:
- New 25ft fiber optic hdmi cable (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FP23FNQW)
- In S95H Game Mode settings, keep 16:9 mode but create custom 3840x1600@165Hz resolution in CRU (while in there, created a 165Hz res for 2nd monitor)


I did end up going away from eARC and back to a separate cable for audio. I was running into delayed audio issues that just go away completely by adding a dedicated audio cable.