Games minimize when using HDMI

[Adrenaline]

When I use HDMI my games randomly minimize. I have tried different cables and monitors, the same thing happens.

Could the HDMI port on the video card (Zotac GTX 970) be bad? Everything else appears to work great except when I am playing games and they can minimize after 20 minutes up to 2 hours. It is totally random.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I used to have issues with a KDS 26" LCD 1920x1200 monitor, over HDMI, connected to a Gigabyte GTX460 1GB OC WindForce card.

The card itself was mini-HDMI, so it required a stubby adapter, to work with a standard HDMI cable.

I used to have issues with the screen going black, randomly.

The problem mostly went away when I used a better-quality 6' HDMI cable, but I don't remember if it went away completely.

I think that I switched to DVI-D instead, to deal with the issue.

My current rig(s) with Skylake G4400 (using onboard HDMI) or 7950 3GB HIS cards (using HDMI) with my 24" Westinghouse HDTV monitors (HDMI input) haven't given me any issues at 1080P.

Edit: What screen / output resolution are we talking about over HDMI? And what brand(s) and length(s) of cables have you tried?

 

[Adrenaline]

I used a Kabeldirekt (think that was it), a monoprice cable and a vizio cable on a 50" 4K TV and used this all on a 27" ASUS at 1080 with the same results. I figured if the HDMI port was bad the video would be corrupted or just not work which is not the issue I am having.

My next step may be to reformat my HDD and totally reinstall windows.

 

[Gunbuster]

What do you mean by minimize? Is this a TV in multi-monitor mode? Can you click the program in the taskbar and un-minimize it?

 

[Adrenaline]

What do you mean by minimize? Is this a TV in multi-monitor mode? Can you click the program in the taskbar and un-minimize it?

The game goes straight to the taskbar, no crash. I can click the game and it opens right back up.

 

[JeffMD]

The only reason I can think of a game minimizing like that is if windows was in multi monitor mode and the game window was imagining itself on the imaginary monitor, or a program running was specifically minimizing it for some reason.

 

[XavierMace]

If the game is only minimizing, that doesn't sound like a video hardware issue to me. Sounds like keyboard or software to me.

 

[VirtualLarry]

or a program running was specifically minimizing it for some reason.

Scheduled Task? Virus scan? Software update?

Sounds like keyboard or software to me.

OP, are you hitting the "Windows Key" by accident?

 

[Adrenaline]

After trying all kinds of different things, I replaced my keyboard and the issue went away. I have a disable windows key function on my keyboard and apparently, it was not working properly. I was not even hitting the key. This was actually really confusing to me, but something was wrong with the keyboard.

Thank you everyone for your help. This simple fix reminds me of one issue that I had where my previous computer would randomly power off and come right back on. It started out of the blue one day. The power switch on my case had gone bad.

 

[piasabird]

HDMI is 1080p so it has limited resolution. It is also digital. It also needs to be HDCP compliant. It has to be digital to be sent as digital to a monitor or TV. If not the viedeo is decoded and reincoded at possible a lower standard digital output.

Sometimes if the signal goes to an HDTV you have to have the output resoulution at the standard 1080p resolution or maybe have a setting on the TV for game mode or turn on stretch and skew to fit the screen.

Specific HDTV's may have different settings. Sometimes they want the output from a computer to a specific HDMI input on the TV.

 

[XavierMace]

HDMI is 1080p so it has limited resolution. It is also digital. It also needs to be HDCP compliant. It has to be digital to be sent as digital to a monitor or TV. If not the viedeo is decoded and reincoded at possible a lower standard digital output.

Sometimes if the signal goes to an HDTV you have to have the output resoulution at the standard 1080p resolution or maybe have a setting on the TV for game mode or turn on stretch and skew to fit the screen.

Specific HDTV's may have different settings. Sometimes they want the output from a computer to a specific HDMI input on the TV.

What does any of that have to do with the question the OP asked?

 

[Gunbuster]

HDMI is 1080p

You should tell that to my TV and Video card because it's running 4K via HDMI just fine.