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

Anonymous
2020-08-24T04:46:23+00:00

I'm trying to connect a new Pro 7 to two external monitors (Acer) through the Surface Dock. I'm using two USB C to HDMI cables. 

The Surface can detect the monitors and assigns them numbers (2 and 3) but the screens remain black and no numbers (or other display) shows up.

If I disconnect one of the monitors, the other one immediately turns on. It's quite bizarre.

I have updated the driver, downloaded firmware updates, disconnected/reconnected everything, and generally done everything that it says on the support page. 

I would be grateful if someone could let me know what I need to do to fix this.

Surface | Accessories | Surface Dock

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

145 answers

Sort by: Newest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2021-04-12T10:59:45+00:00

    This continues to happen to me (also Surface Book 3 to Dock 2), but not only when computer sleeps.  I will be using the computer when one (or both) of the monitors will start to glitch or go black.  Sometimes when the monitor goes black, I wait about 10 seconds and it comes back on.  When it glitches, I have to disconnect/reconnect the Dock 2.  Also, frequently, when I wake the computer from sleep one of the monitors is glitching.

    This is occurring on both home and work setup which have the same configuration.  The PC is the same one in both cases, but based on the number of issues in this forum it seems most likely that the issue is with the Dock 2.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2021-04-12T05:43:59+00:00

    A agree. This thread is about failure of Surface Pro to manage one or more monitors.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2021-04-10T23:24:08+00:00

    In some people's case where your Surface and monitors go to sleep while plugged into the Surface dock, that's most likely the default power plan settings of the Surface device. To test whether that's the case, you will have to go to the control panel, power options, and adjust the settings for when your Surface device is "Plugged in".

    Also, unfortunately, Microsoft decided in their dominant wisdom that Surface devices plugged into a power supply, whether standalone Microsoft issued power supply or even Microsoft branded docking station power supplies, that those Surface devices only have one power profile. Which is balanced and then you control the performance of the power supply profile through your system tray battery icon on whether the performance is more or less depending on when you have the power supply plugged in or not.

    There are ways around that power profile, but the scope of that requires a new thread.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2021-04-07T15:00:17+00:00

    I have this exact same issue with brand new Surface Book 3 + Surface Dock 2!! 

    Everything is up to date and it will work - occasionally. But it seems for me - once the Surface goes to sleep - both monitors never come back on. Takes about 20 mins of unplugging, rebooting reconfiguring etc before they automagically work again... until the next time.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2021-04-07T04:46:05+00:00

    Sorry. Misunderstood.
    The direction of the connector has made no difference in any of my testing.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments