PC Graphics

[lwatt]

Hi there everybody,

You know how you pick up static in your house, especially in the winter, and static just like permeates your entire existence? Well, now that annoying household static has been inconveniencing me and my computer. See, I've been having an issue involving static around my computer in which if I:

1. Get any amount of static close to my computer, like a static shock on the tower's power button

2. Touch one of my monitors with static

or

      3. Even unplug the box fan from the grounded power bank in which my computer is plugged

All of my monitors go out. Computer still runs and everything, I just can't see anything.

After forcing it to turn off and turning it back on, it's like my computer forgot what video card drivers are or something. On boot, it will assume my other monitor is a duplicate of the same output BUT Display Settings doesn't understand it's displaying more than one monitor. In order to get all my monitors operational again, I have to redownload the drivers from the AMD website and restart my computer again to get it to work. 

I am just about ready to pull my hair out over this; is it a problem with grounding? Software? The graphics card itself? I even had a situation a while back where a static shock from like several feet away caused my monitors to go out.

Don't know if you need 'em, but also:

Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 1600
GPU: AMD RX 580

I have three monitors connected right now (although this problem persisted before the third one). Two of them are display port and one HDMI.

Thanks in advance for your help

[elstaci]

Deleted my reply because I believe @ThunderBeaver reply is more appropriate.

[elstaci]

Deleted my reply. See my first reply.

[gr12mcb]

I would get a can condensed air 

Take the board out of the case & clean off the dust built up across the board.

change CPU cooler block 

Then I would upgrade the power supply by 50watts 

This should correct your issue

If you upgraded the Video card you might want to check out the Watage that the card asks for 

If the board is a 400Watt * The Video card is 600Watt

your power supply should be 750Watt -1000watt

[ThunderBeaver]

One big thing for your PC is ensure you are using low or non conductive standoffs when mounting your MOBO into your case.

This will improve cooling effectiveness to your MOBO and severely reduce the risk of static discharge effects.

As for the monitors check the power cords and signal cables both ends for and the length of the cables/cords for defects. Make sure to unplug them first.

Sounds like one or more of your cables has damage or a break in the shielding layers.

This may not be visually obvious as something heavy placing long term pressure on a small section of cable/cord can break the conductor or shielding without breaking the outer layer. This is usually caused by furniture legs/supports resting on a cable/cord.

Last thing check the mounting hardware for your monitors and see if any of the screws have penetrated the monitor housing. This one is unfortunately quite common. 

[lwatt]

Thank you guys so much, I will try some different cables and make sure that my PSU is high enough wattage for my machine, as well as making sure to clean up dust etc. I will post back here when I can figure out how to stop the issue. 

Still though, the thing I'm most confused about is the drivers. It would be one thing if turning it off and on again worked, but how come my computer somehow forgets the drivers too? It's just the strangest part of this. 

[SocratesGS]

Just wanted to add that a computer case is grounded via the PSU. So if you are going to your computer you can touch the case first and the static electricity should dissipate through the ground connection your PSU has with the wall outlet.

[2PercentMilk]

I just wanted to mention that I have been experiencing this exact issue with everything you described for the past couple months and it has been driving me crazy. I will try some of the fixes recommended here but please keep us updated if you find anything. One weird part of this problem for me is that the crash was frequently caused by my wired metal earbuds while wearing them or picking them up. Replacing the buds with plastic ones helped alleviate the crashes but it would still happen if I touched the monitor or computer like you said.