A technician is troubleshooting a workstation whose external monitor randomly flickers and briefly goes black. Display settings, driver versions, and the monitor's built-in self-test all check out. During the visual inspection, which of the following observations would MOST likely explain the intermittent video loss?
The screen-saver timeout on the operating system is set to five minutes.
The monitor's contrast is manually set to its maximum value.
The HDMI/DisplayPort cable is deeply bent, and the outer jacket is split with shielding visible near the connector.
A powered USB hub is plugged into the same power strip as the monitor.
Intermittent video is often caused by a failing or physically damaged video cable. A deep bend or split jacket that exposes the shielding near the connector indicates the internal conductors may be breaking, causing momentary signal loss each time the cable is jostled. The other findings (contrast setting, screen-saver timeout, and a USB hub on the same power strip) do not typically interrupt the video signal itself.
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