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ZaZero's avatar
ZaZero
Iron Contributor
Jun 23, 2025

Windows resetting on its own while HDMI is unplugged and Chrome is up.

I work from home and sometimes unplug my HDMI cable from my PC and into my work laptop so my laptop displays on my main monitor.

I have noticed when I plug the HDMI cable back into my PC video card, Windows has reset. Every program I had up is off, it is as if Windows just freshly started and shows my desktop with no open apps. So I'm assuming it's crashing and resetting somehow. I am not sure if these are BSODs or something else.

But what I have noticed that is if I close Chrome on my PC, or even minimize it (I tested minimizing it just once), then Windows does not crash/reset while the HDMI cable is unplugged. I am not sure if this has to do with the video card not having an HDMI plugged in or the fact that I do still run a screensaver and that somehow is causing some bad interaction with Chrome to cause crashes/resets or what. I do not think it is the screensaver, because I have seen the screensaver come up before while the HDMI is plugged in and there was no crash/reset. Although I did not keep track if Chrome was the main tab.

But yeah, basically, if Chrome is the main Windows tab, something is causing Windows to crash/reset while I have the HDMI unplugged. And I'm 99% sure this is not caused by the screensaver if the HDMI cable IS plugged in.

I do have the crash event docs in a Google Drive folder below from one of these crashes/resets today. I was not able to attach the memory.dmp file as it is deemed "File unreadable" by Google Drive. My PC specs are in my signature.

2 Replies

  • Raoppim's avatar
    Raoppim
    Copper Contributor

    Your issue appears to be related to graphics driver conflicts or hardware detection problems when disconnecting and reconnecting your HDMI cable, especially when Chrome is open, which may be stressing the GPU or driver.

  • Ellsikol's avatar
    Ellsikol
    Iron Contributor

    Chrome heavily relies on hardware acceleration, which can cause graphics driver issues.

    How to disable:

    In Chrome, go to Settings > Advanced > System.

    Toggle Use hardware acceleration when available off.

    Restart Chrome and test whether unplugging HDMI causes crashes.

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