usb-hdmi screen turning off and on under strange circumstances

zeitgeistsam · 02-27-2026, 01:42 AM

Hello, and thanks in advance for reading,

General Problem: I have a monitor connected a displaylink adapter which will periodically turn off and come back on. Running some program windows on that monitor seems to prevent this, but other programs seem to trigger it.

Specs

Monitor: Raywego 27" 1800R curved monitor
Adapter: Wavlink WL-UG3501H
Computer Hardware: Dell Inspiron 5567 laptop, with Intel® HD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2)
OS: Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS

Details
As above, the monitor will periodically turn off, then come back on 1-3 seconds later, displaying its startup info (resolution and whatnot) for a moment. Sometimes it will go an hour between incidents, sometimes it will happen multiple times a minute.

Strangely, running the System Monitor on that screen seems to prevent this from happening. I would have said that running an active streaming video (e.g. YouTube) also prevents this, but it did happen once while watching a YouTube video, so I can't say that this is 100% preventative. Browsing normal websites neither seems to aggravate or prevent the problem. (If it's useful, I mostly use the Vivaldi browser with Waterfox as a backup).

It seems to happen more often with other programs, particularly graphics editing software (e.g. Krita, Affinity). These programs will often trigger the "several times per minute" behavior. However, "often" is not "consistent," and sometimes it will behave just fine for half an hour before doing it again. The unpredictability is part of what makes it annoying.

I have another Raywego monitor with the same specs plugged in via HDMI, and it does not have this problem.

The monitor is currently set to refresh at 75hz, because I discovered during setup that any other refresh setting causes the "turn off/on" behavior to repeat over and over again. The monitor I have plugged in via HDMI seems fine at any refresh rate (it is currently set to 100hz).

I currently have the monitor plugged into a TrippLite with battery backup. I'd previously had it plugged into a regular power strip, and thought that might be the problem, that it wasn't pulling enough electricity. That seemed to help for awhile, but the problem started against the same day.

The monitor itself works fine when plugged into HDMI, both on this computer and a Windows machine (I occasionally use this monitor for PC gaming, for which it works just fine). I have not yet tried installing the DisplayLink driver on the Windows machine to see if I can replicate the problem (it's on my list of possible troubleshoots, but I felt it was time to reach out for professional help before I get too far in the weeds and end up doing something unwise).

The USB port I have the WavLink plugged into is one of the Inspiron's Type-A 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) ports. I have tried both ports of this type, and both lead to the same results. Just to see what might happen, I also plugged it into the Inspiron's USB 2.0 port, and got the same results there as well.

It's not the end of the world if I have a "dedicated videos and system monitor" screen, but I'd like to be able to get more use out of my third monitor. Any guidance would be appreciated. I consider myself generally competent with computers, but I am new to both Linux and DisplayLink devices, so I may ask some dumb questions or request some clarification on what might be a basic subject, for which I apologize.

02-27-2026, 01:42 AM	#1
zeitgeistsam Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2026 Posts: 1	usb-hdmi screen turning off and on under strange circumstances Hello, and thanks in advance for reading, General Problem: I have a monitor connected a displaylink adapter which will periodically turn off and come back on. Running some program windows on that monitor seems to prevent this, but other programs seem to trigger it. Specs Monitor: Raywego 27" 1800R curved monitor Adapter: Wavlink WL-UG3501H Computer Hardware: Dell Inspiron 5567 laptop, with Intel® HD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2) OS: Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS Details As above, the monitor will periodically turn off, then come back on 1-3 seconds later, displaying its startup info (resolution and whatnot) for a moment. Sometimes it will go an hour between incidents, sometimes it will happen multiple times a minute. Strangely, running the System Monitor on that screen seems to prevent this from happening. I would have said that running an active streaming video (e.g. YouTube) also prevents this, but it did happen once while watching a YouTube video, so I can't say that this is 100% preventative. Browsing normal websites neither seems to aggravate or prevent the problem. (If it's useful, I mostly use the Vivaldi browser with Waterfox as a backup). It seems to happen more often with other programs, particularly graphics editing software (e.g. Krita, Affinity). These programs will often trigger the "several times per minute" behavior. However, "often" is not "consistent," and sometimes it will behave just fine for half an hour before doing it again. The unpredictability is part of what makes it annoying. I have another Raywego monitor with the same specs plugged in via HDMI, and it does not have this problem. The monitor is currently set to refresh at 75hz, because I discovered during setup that any other refresh setting causes the "turn off/on" behavior to repeat over and over again. The monitor I have plugged in via HDMI seems fine at any refresh rate (it is currently set to 100hz). I currently have the monitor plugged into a TrippLite with battery backup. I'd previously had it plugged into a regular power strip, and thought that might be the problem, that it wasn't pulling enough electricity. That seemed to help for awhile, but the problem started against the same day. The monitor itself works fine when plugged into HDMI, both on this computer and a Windows machine (I occasionally use this monitor for PC gaming, for which it works just fine). I have not yet tried installing the DisplayLink driver on the Windows machine to see if I can replicate the problem (it's on my list of possible troubleshoots, but I felt it was time to reach out for professional help before I get too far in the weeds and end up doing something unwise). The USB port I have the WavLink plugged into is one of the Inspiron's Type-A 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) ports. I have tried both ports of this type, and both lead to the same results. Just to see what might happen, I also plugged it into the Inspiron's USB 2.0 port, and got the same results there as well. It's not the end of the world if I have a "dedicated videos and system monitor" screen, but I'd like to be able to get more use out of my third monitor. Any guidance would be appreciated. I consider myself generally competent with computers, but I am new to both Linux and DisplayLink devices, so I may ask some dumb questions or request some clarification on what might be a basic subject, for which I apologize.