Troubleshooting multiple monitors on a Surface Dock 2 (Surface Pro 7)

This is most frustrating.  I've been able to use 2 external monitors for the last year where both monitors worked for the most part, but more and more often one of them wouldn't come up and I would have to go through the dance of unplug/replug, reboot, and reboot again to get them to both work. 

Eventually they would work.  Now however only one works and no matter what I try I cannot get the other to come up.  What's frustrating is that there is no HDMI input, and the screen is blank, but if I open something that was opened in that monitor previously then that's where it opens and I have no way to use it.  Now I am forced to unplug that monitor entirely.

This is a horrible product, which is a shame because I really like the Surface, but I absolutely need 3 monitors.  If I can't have 3 monitors then I have no choice but to go back to Dell because their dock actually works.

It may be helpful to note that the Surface Laptop Go only allows 2 monitors at 4k@30hz or one monitor at 4k@60hz through the Surface Dock 2 and I wonder if some other Surface models are the similar.

I was only getting one monitor to work and the other blank even after the firmware update. Then I discovered it had to be 30hz each but the surface dock 2 is 60hz each port. I couldn't reduce the Hz low enough on my monitor settings as 50hz was the lowest. My solution was 2 USB C to HDMI adapters that only allowed 4k@30hz from each port and both monitors are now working fine and have been for over a week. This is the kind of adapters I bought. 2 are needed, one for each screen.

USB C HDMI Adapter 4k 30HZ,usb type C TO HDMI converter: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

Hope this might help someone. Took me ages to discover this.

Hi,

The only thing you can try is to buy a AUD$65 Microsoft USBC-HDMI Active adapter.

This and firmware updates fixed the issue for me.

Regards
Scott

I am in charge of purchasing computers for a small team of accountants and insurance professionals.

We started with the Surface Laptop 2 and Gen 1 Surface Dock combo - both worked well.  Some Issues now and then but they could always be fixed with a flip of the docking station connection or a reset of the computer.  Totally acceptable for an otherwise awesome product.

Then the Surface Laptop 3 dropped.  We hired a new team member and decided to purchase one as an initial test.  When it came, it was a notable improvement from the Surface Laptop 2.  However, this user began encountering issues with the use of dual monitors with the Surface Laptop 3 and Surface Dock Gen 1.  I figured it was due to the resolution increase of the new screen on the surface laptop 3 now much higher than the monitors.  However, I went through all the recommended troubleshooting steps: reinstalling graphics drivers, clearing caches, everything Microsoft recommended and it actually fixed the problem significantly.  However, the user still had more issues than me with monitor reliability - running Surface Laptop 2 with Gen 1 Dock.

At the same time as I was observing this, the Surface Dock 2 dropped.  Loving the Surface Laptop 3 and assuming that the new Dock would address the monitor reliability with the Surface Laptop 3,  I decided to jump in with both feet with the new generation products, ordering 2 Surface Laptop 3s and 3 Surface Dock 2s to upgrade my set up and our last team member still on a PC tower.

Now finding myself in a situation with the Surface Laptop 3 and 2, both generation docking stations and monitors from HP, Acer and Dell - I can confidently say that this is a pervasive issue with the Surface Dock 2.  My Surface Laptop 2 and 3 have the described issues of monitors not connecting blacking out, etc when using all of my surface dock 2s.  No Issue with Surface Dock Gen 1.

So Microsoft please turn your team into emergency mode to address the firmware of this product.  I do not want to return 3 Surface Dock 2s.  All of your products are great, but your Surface Dock 2s do not currently work with dual monitors which is totally unacceptable and incredibly disappointing.

To sell the surface dock 2s with two monitor ports is totally misleading as only one will work at a time.  Fix this firmware issue or recall the Surface Dock 2 and stop selling it with two monitor ports as seems to not work for most or all users.

How many months ago this plea was addressed to MS  (Oct 2020) .. now its May 2021 and same issue with no resolution. This is crazy.

Many people do not know how to set sleep or hibernate settings. That's why I mentioned it. Most people as in the average person, that is. Not IT people, which I assume that would be you, as am I. They also, wouldn't know, even though they may haven't had issues with sleep\hibernate in the past on ten or so machines, that there has always been problems with sleep\hibernate in Windows.

I do agree with you on the active display cables. Again, most average people wouldn't know that either, because even on the display cable adapter packaging, it seems that they try to make it not obvious depending on the manufacturer. I don't agree that the display cable adapter has to be a Microsoft branded adapter, because in all honesty they are overpriced for what they are. For simplicity, yes, buy the Microsoft branded display cables, but even when other people have mentioned it in this thread that they in fact bought the Microsoft display cables and they still didn't work.

I also agree that all firmware needs to be updated. But, honestly the average person shouldn't have to do that, and the process to update the firmware for the dock at least, is convoluted and I doubt the average person would get it done the first time they tried. I'm just explaining it in my posts to the average person that may be having problems with their Surface dock 1 or 2 with their displays, because I know the many people I support aren't necessarily computer people and you shouldn't have to be just to get a computer to do what it was deigned to do.