External monitor disconnected sometimes when presumably under heavy load

Support Graphics & Display
1

Hello,

Thank you for the great distribution.

Coming back from Endeavor to Manjaro I encounter the issue that quite often(not always) when launching IntelliJ IDE or updating the system or other that my external screen of my laptop is disconnected.

I’m not sure which logs to look at or how I can find hints how to fix this.

In the past I sometimes noticed on launch that the mouse pointer was freezing for split of a second or so. So my guess is that somehow the system load gets a burst and it can’t keep up to keep the external monitor alive.
I sometimes also have audio stutters listing to music. Especially when something CPU heavy is happening.

With Endeavor OS I didn’t had the issue using zen kernel. If that information helps narrowing done the cause. But of course Endeavor OS has different defaults etc so comparing it is difficult.

My system:
Manjaro Cinnamon
all packages updated

Intel Core i7-10850H
64 GB RAM
GPU: Nvidia Quadro T2000 with Max-Q Design in hybrid optimus mode (driver video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-prime)

External screen via Dell USB-C Docking station “Dell Dock WD19S”. The screen itself is connected via HDMI to the Docking station.

2

Which display connection do you use ?

3

Hello @keiki and welcome :wink:

Sounds to me that it is a matter prioritization. So when the CPU is in heavy load and applications have the same prioritization value (nice), then it will try to keep up both with the same speed, what result in stuttering on audio or rendering.

So in general you would rise the “niceness” with nice for an application in heavy load.