16 Area-51 AA16250, Sony 42" A90K, intermittent display blanking/disconnect

I've spent many days trying to chase down an intermittent screen blanking issue and I finally traced it down to being these thousands of events in event viewer, as it pertains to the Integrated Intel Graphics. 

The driver seems to be losing sight of the external display, when in single display mode (lid closed) and even extended mode, though I have only seen it twice in extended mode, as I'm not typically in extended mode when I game. I never occurs in duplicate display in mode, which is what I am using as I type. When it does happen in extended mode, the internal display remains up and does not briefly disconnect in the same manner.

Before I discovered these logs, I had tried many things, but first it's important to note that I was using an Aurora R15 (RTX 4080) desktop on this same TV, HDMI 2.1 cable, and in the same HDMI4 input channel that this laptop is now using. So the cable is a certified HDMI 2.1 cable (48Gbps) and the HDMI4 port is configured for VRR.

1. The first thing I did on day one with the laptop was run Support Assist and got all of the updates, so no issues there.

2. I had first tried disabling Gsync, having suspected Gsync issues, though I never experienced them before on my 4080, but since now I am using a 5090 maybe it was different. Disabling Gsync did nothing.

3. Next I swapped over to my Xbox Series: X's OEM HDMI 2.1 cable and HDMI3 input channel, which is also configured for VRR. The issues occurred here as well. So, it appears it's not the input nor the cables.

4. Next, I disabled Windows automatic driver updates (so that they wouldn't redownload and install) and clean uninstalled all Intel and Nvidia graphics drivers, in safe mode, using Display Driver Uninstaller. Then rebooted into normal mode and installed the latest Intel graphics drivers and the latest Nvidia drivers. No change. Still receiving the intermittent blanking screen. So, it does not appear to be a corrupt Nvidia or Intel graphics driver.

5. Since I knew that the screen blanking issue occurs in single display mode, as well as extended mode (since I will sometimes use both displays when not gaming), and that it does not replicate on the internal panel, I tried testing the laptop back on my external, but this time putting it in duplicate display mode...also no issues. So, the issues doesn't appear to be a faulty integrated or discrete GPU, though I guess it could still be. It also seems the HDMI port is not to blame, since it can work as long as the displays are converged but having the laptop lid also open and displaying the same thing while gaming is annoying, and so is not an acceptable workaround.

6. I tried running sfc /scannow and dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth and restarted. No repairs were necessary and so nothing was fixed.

7. Tried checking BIOS logs--no events.

8. Ran support assist--no events.

9. Tried a lower resolution and frequency (60hz)...still receive blanking screen (does not appear to be refresh rate or bandwidth related).

10. This is where it gets confusing and has me wondering when exactly the Intel Graphics is actually used.

I disabled Intel Graphics in device manager, then went to Nvidia Control Panel and forced Nvidia Graphics...it STILL intermittently blanks out/ drops display! The weird thing is that when you do Win+P while the Intel Graphics is disabled, the Nvidia Graphics thinks that the PC screen is the secondary display (selecting PC Screen sends it to the external panel) and thinks the secondary display is the PC screen (selecting Secondary Display sends it to he internal panel). This does not happen when Intel Graphics is enabled. Intel Graphics knows that the PC screen is the internal and that the secondary screen is my external when using Win+P... Even after clean installing both drivers a second time. Nvidia, when used by itself, will ALWAYS think that the secondary display is the internal panel.

I'm not sure why running both the internal and external in duplicate mode works, even with the resolution forced to 4K 120Hz, and yet? I can't even run single secondary display mode on my external display at 1080p 60hz without the intermittent drop in display. What is duplicate mode doing so differently?

I still think these above events are to blame, as even when I have Nvidia Control panel forced to Nvidia Graphics, I still get these above entries being created in the background, so even if I'm in a game and using the Nvidia chip, I still receive blanking screen because the Intel GPU is dropping the external display and it forces my external to redetect. So it seems a firmware level issue because there is an issue with the BIOS not knowing which graphics to switch to, or when. Perhaps this doesn't happen with all display types however.