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. Barb Bowman 80,815 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2018-02-15T17:42:07+00:00

    I know it is frustrating. I've pinged my contact 3x. I will ping him one more

    time.

    >This is extremely frustrating and we hope that your internal contact can quickly shed some further light on this.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-02-15T22:06:45+00:00

    Thanks Barb.

    With this many types of Surface computer suffering what appears to be the same problem, it behoves us to find an answer as quickly as possible.

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  3. Barb Bowman 80,815 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2018-02-17T11:05:35+00:00

    I sent 5 separate emails to my contact on this without receiving a reply. That

    is not good news. It is similar to when I ask for information on two issues

    afflicting SP4 users (flickering screens and dead typecovers) where I do not get

    any responses to my inquiries.

    *I* want to get to the bottom of this. I can't repro your issue so that makes it

    harder to trouble shoot.

    Microsoft would tell you to completely reset your Surface, not install apps or

    software programs, upgrade to W10, go to Windows Update and install available

    updates until none are available and then see if it is still broken.

    >With this many types of Surface computer suffering what appears to be the same problem, it behoves us to find an answer as quickly as possible.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-02-17T14:03:29+00:00

    Although the third chap in our group is still away until next week, we have been able to learn that his computer is an even later version, Surface Pro 4

    Surface Pro 4 appear to have a new update last month.   Surface Pro 2 gets stuff dated 2015.  I updated mine with Intel generic so it now shows 2017.  I am still experimenting with it because I don't think I have the whole set, especially with Miracast or HDMI Audio.  Heh.  Driver date 2006.  Looks like they are just slapping a new build number on it so that we have to jump through extra hoops just to try to see if there is something better?

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  5. Barb Bowman 80,815 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2018-02-17T16:35:10+00:00

    the Marvell driver for the Surface Pro original and SP2 is from 2014. There

    aren't generic Marvell wifi drivers available. The issue here seems to be on the

    network side and it is unlikely to be a video issue.

    >Surface Pro 4 appear to have a new update last month.   Surface Pro 2 gets stuff dated 2015.  I updated mine with Intel generic so it now shows 2017.  I am still experimenting with it because I don't think I have the whole set, especially with Miracast or HDMI Audio.  Heh.  Driver date 2006.  Looks like they are just slapping a new build number on it so that we have to jump through extra hoops just to try to see if there is something better?

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