Tv screen goes black when fridge motor or heater turns on

joannabramley72 · May 13, 2022

Hi there

I’m looking for some help as I have what seems to be an electrical issue. It seems to relate to my computer PC, the fridge freezer in my kitchen and my electrical heater.
My computer PC tower is connected to my smart TV so I can use my TV as a PC monitor as well as a TV.

The problem I am finding is that when the fridge freezer motor in my kitchen starts up or my electrical heater turns on, my TV screen goes blank (like a black screen) for a second or two and then comes on again. This only happens when I’m working on my PC but it doesn’t seem to happen when I’m watching TV. It’s like a surge of energy causes a disruption in the PC rather than the TV. My concern is that my PC is brand new and I’m worried that this problem will have a negative effect on my PC’s health or will short circuit or something bad like that.

I live in a ground floor studio apartment that comprises of one main living/bed room with an adjoining kitchen and separate bathroom. Everything in my apartment runs on electricity as it is not connected to a gas supply or central heating installed.

That’s the best way I can describe the issue I’m having but if you need more information, I’ll be happy to tell you if you can identify the fault.

Many thanks

Jo

ProDave · May 13, 2022

How long and what type of cable between pc and tv? I am guessing hdmi and quite long?

Try a shorter cable, better cable or different cable route.

steptoe · May 13, 2022

As @ProDave said,
Maybe a shielded cable would be a good try.
It does seem like the cable is picking up interference, if it was the actual PC surely it would have to reboot.

runningpiglet · May 14, 2022

joannabramley72 said:
Hi there

I’m looking for some help as I have what seems to be an electrical issue. It seems to relate to my computer PC, the fridge freezer in my kitchen and my electrical heater.
My computer PC tower is connected to my smart TV so I can use my TV as a PC monitor as well as a TV.

The problem I am finding is that when the fridge freezer motor in my kitchen starts up or my electrical heater turns on, my TV screen goes blank (like a black screen) for a second or two and then comes on again. This only happens when I’m working on my PC but it doesn’t seem to happen when I’m watching TV. It’s like a surge of energy causes a disruption in the PC rather than the TV. My concern is that my PC is brand new and I’m worried that this problem will have a negative effect on my PC’s health or will short circuit or something bad like that.

I live in a ground floor studio apartment that comprises of one main living/bed room with an adjoining kitchen and separate bathroom. Everything in my apartment runs on electricity as it is not connected to a gas supply or central heating installed.

That’s the best way I can describe the issue I’m having but if you need more information, I’ll be happy to tell you if you can identify the fault.

Many thanks

Jo

Do you have a standalone PC monitor display you can try, preferably with a different interconnect video cable ? That might help distinguish the PC glitching due to momemntary voltage dip versus the PC-TV cable picking up interference as others have already suggested.

joannabramley72 · May 14, 2022

ProDave said:
How long and what type of cable between pc and tv? I am guessing hdmi and quite long?

Try a shorter cable, better cable or different cable route.

Its a short cable and yes it's a HDMI cable but one that came with the TV so not of high quality. Will buying a higher quality HDMI cable help?

joannabramley72 · May 14, 2022

runningpiglet said:
Do you have a standalone PC monitor display you can try, preferably with a different interconnect video cable ? That might help distinguish the PC glitching due to momemntary voltage dip versus the PC-TV cable picking up interference as others have already suggested.

Not anymore. I sold my old Dell monitor when I purchased the smart TV to save space and just use the TV as both. I'll try disconnecting all the cables from the TV except for the PC hdmi cable and see if that works.