Surface Pro Miracast Connection Problem

Anonymous
2018-02-09T02:30:39+00:00

I am essentially re-asking the same question, but in a different manner as it has been two weeks and the problem of the Surface Pro 2 not connecting to our new LG OLED, Miracast-compatible TV remains unresolved.  They do attempt to negotiate a connection, but they fail to connect.

I ran dxdiag on the Surface Pro 2 running Windows 10 with all the latest updates, and the results show the computer is Miracast compatible.  I have also separately checked for updated drivers and the result was that the drivers are up-to-date.

System Information

      Time of this report: 1/25/2018, 09:54:36

      ...

                 Miracast: Available, with HDCP

     ...

Display Devices

           Card name: Intel(R) HD Graphics Family

     ...

            Miracast: Supported

Initial attempts failed every time, even when the Surface is just a few feet from the TV.  Conversely, our HP laptop connects flawlessly every time.  This tends to suggest that the problem is within the Surface computer - not the TV.

I read Barb Bowman's informative article describing how Miracast negotiates a connection and, as a result, I checked the visible 2.4GHz networks around here.  There are four weak ones (~20% strength) on CH1, our own 'main' network on CH6 all by itself, and our own secondary network and two other weak ones on CH11 (78% and ~20% strength, respectively).  I presume the Surface and the TV being just a few feet apart, the related signal strengths would be adequate to override the weaker network signals on CH1 and, therefore, Miracast should be able to negotiate a connection.  The HP computer is 6x further away from the TV and, as mentioned, it connects flawlessly every time.

However, I did spot a difference between our two computers when connecting - namely the IPv4 address indicated for the direct-connection 'adapter'.  The IPv4 Address was 192.168.137.1 for the HP computer (and it was the same for my various acquaintances' computers as well), whereas on the Surface it was indicated as Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address 169.254.56.231.  The IPv4 Subnet Masks were 255.255.255.0 and 255.255.0.0, respectively.

As Miracast is essentially a peer-to-peer connection without a DHCP server to provide an IP address, on the virtual wireless adapter that is active during Miracast connections, I configured the IPv4 'Alternate configuration' to an address of 192.168.137.1, the same IP address that works every time when the HP laptop connects.

I thought I had found the answer as it worked briefly (during a 20-minute test period), and the results were very good .

However, the next day when there was something my wife actually wanted to see on the big-screen TV, she tried again and it failed to connect.  Several attempts were made - all unsuccessful.

A few days later a friend suggested that I try adding the same IP address for the Default gateway and DNS server.  I wasn't sure what good this would do, but I tried and it worked again during an hour of testing (to see if it would drop out - it remained solid).

However, once again, while it worked for the hour or so of testing, later it again failed to connect.  We tried several times throughout the day and again over the next couple of days, but no luck.

I have tried shutting off Bluetooth, and even shutting off the HP computer to eliminate any impact they may have, but the Surface and TV will NOT connect.

The issue is almost certainly within the Surface computer, and I have no idea where else to look.  Can someone from Microsoft please shine some light on this?  There are so many discussions on the web about this problem with Surface computers; so, it must be very widespread and there must be a lot of frustrated Surface owners out there!

Any expert assistance would be appreciated.  Thank you.

Surface | Surface Pro | USB-C

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-02-23T01:39:41+00:00

    Hello Barb,

    We have returned from our day-long trip to the Microsoft store, and I have good news and bad news.

    The good news is that although the SP2 we took with us did not connect via Miracast to the MWDA they had plugged into their 'test TV' when we arrived, it did connect by the time we left an hour later.  They had no Miracast-compatible TVs in the store, but they provided two MWDAs for our testing, both of which we were able to connect with, and we were able to connect to a large-screen TV that was connected to a Microsoft hub just inside the store entrance.  So, we left knowing Miracast was working okay with 3 Microsoft devices.

    The good news was even better when we arrived home a while ago and tried a Miracast connection to our LG OLED TV - it worked!

    The bad news is that the Microsoft 'tech' had no better idea what the actual problem could be than the rest of us.  He tried a few things, including resetting the network adapter, but nothing worked.  However, he then brought out a USB thumb drive that apparently contains a script file that runs system diagnostics and repairs anything it finds to be 'amiss'.  It ran for quite some time - perhaps15 minutes or more(???) - and 5 minutes after it completed, the computer rebooted and after that Miracast worked.

    This is bad news because that script file apparently does not provide a report of its findings and/or changes made; so, there is no way to know what was wrong and what was changed to make it work!  I asked where I could locate this script file so we could try it on my friend's computer, and I was told it was not available for downloading.  I don't even know the name of the script file.

    Therefore, this day-long trip and associated costs only helped this one computer, and I am sorry that I have no solutions to offer anyone following this thread or to assist my friend that lives over 400km away, too far to drive to a Microsoft store.  I find that rather frustrating.

    Again I thank you for your efforts and the suggestion to go to a Microsoft store.  It helped my wife and I, even if no-one else!

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-02-23T02:46:58+00:00

    script file apparently does not provide a report of its findings and/or changes made; so, there is no way to know what was wrong and what was changed to make it work!  

    Not necessarily.  You know when you did that so you could search your file system for any files which were created or last written then.

    In fact, I have a PowerShell script which you could adapt to help doing that...

    cd \

    $This_Hour = Get-Date -Hour ((Get-Date).Hour -1)  -Format "yyyy-MM-dd HH:MM:ss"

    LS -Re -Fi * -Fo -EA:SilentlyContinue | where LastWriteTime -GE ($This_Hour) | sort LastWriteTime | ft LastWriteTime, Length, FullName  -AutoSize -Wrap

    I had to amend a simpler version to try to account for users' unsortable date and time formats.   Note that this just is restricting the selection to changes made in the last hour.   But by changing the  Hour -1  appropriately you could get back to the period you would want to look at.  I'm not sure what the change would have to be to bound it at the high end.  If there wasn't much happening between then and now I doubt it would be worth the effort.

    HTH

    Robert

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  3. Barb Bowman 80,815 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2018-02-23T11:52:01+00:00

    what store did you go to exactly? I will see if someone can find out what they

    used on the thumb drive.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-02-23T12:57:58+00:00

    Good morning Barb,

    The Microsoft store we drove to was in Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto, Ontario, and the fellow who assisted us was 'Mark'.

    3401, Dufferin Street, Unit 305

    Toronto, ON M6A 3A1

    (647) 777-4580

    It may have no bearing, as it could mean anything, including someone's initials, I did notice (part of) the typed label on the thumb drive.  It had the letters BOH on it, which may or may not have been followed by something else.

    If your internal sources could find out more about this, perhaps it could help others experiencing the same type of problem.

    Thank you.

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  5. Barb Bowman 80,815 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2018-02-23T13:23:40+00:00

    will do my best..

    >If your internal sources could find out more about this, perhaps it could help others experiencing the same type of problem.

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