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

Hi Guys,

Glad the info is helping. Sorry for late reply.

Basically I nailed down two particular brands that work for us. I'm based in the UK so not sure if these are easily available outside of EU region.

Budget - Which I bulk buy for my firms general deployment of dock setups (Dual HD screens)

Brand: Benfi

USB Type C(Thunderbolt 3) to HDMI 4K UHD 1.8M Cable, BENFEI USB 3.1 (USB-C) to HDMI Adapter Male to Male Gold-Plated Cord: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

or

Brand: Uni

USB C to HDMI Cable 4K, uni USB Type C to HDMI Cable[Thunderbolt 3 Compatible]for Home Office, Compatible with iPad Pro 2018, MacBook, Samsung S20, Huawei P30, Surface Pro 7, XPS and More - 3ft/0.9m: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Higher End (60Hz) - For our deployments with Dual UltraWide or one or more 4K monitors

Brand: Uni

USB C to HDMI Cable for Home Office [4K@60Hz High Refresh Rate], uni Type-C [Thunderbolt 3] to HDMI Cable Compatible with MacBook Pro/Air, iPad Pro, iMac Mini/Pro, Surface Book, Galaxy etc. 6ft/1.8m : Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

Also available as a dual pack. If you can stretch to this one, i'd go with this one for complete peace of mind or if you think you may upgrade to 4K in future,

Hi folks,

Just to provide an update on this situation. I purchased some new Thunderbolt 3 cables (USB-C to HDMI) in line with the above and have re-tested the situation. The result is actually worse this time - one of my monitors doesn't even wake up at all under this situation - the Dock 2 is arguably performing even worse. I've absolutely had it with this useless device.

It is AUD$420 for a high-end docking station to accompany Microsoft's Surface so-called PREMIUM offering and it is utterly useless and hopeless. I have spent hours speaking to Microsoft people via their chat lines and on the phone and all the same advice (not the consultants fault of course) about drivers, etc. are to no avail.

This product is FAULTY - plain and simple - it does not connect via its USB-C purpose-built connectors to a standard HDMI monitor. Windows 11 even occasionally says "Please connect using the charger that came with your computer" - indicating that it even thinks there's something wrong with the docking station itself. They should either take this product off the market until it works properly, or release proper firmware for Surface Pro 8 (and similar newer devices) that solves the problem.

I've never been so disappointed with a premium offering like this before.

I am formulating the Standard Operating Environment for my team and employees and I thought we were to go Surface "all the way" but clearly this product is defective and I will be searching for an alternative. Interestingly enough, one of my friends works for Microsoft and internally they distribute Surface devices to their employees (obviously), but Lenovo docking stations - now I know why. If these products aren't good enough for Microsoft employees, why are they duping their paying customer?

Microsoft - GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER - for a premium brand, this is unacceptable.

Mike.

1/ Connect the first external screen directly to the Surface's usb c port, it should work well

2/ Go to display setting > Advanced display setting. Set both screen 1&2 to the same frequency (60Hz usually)

3/ Now plug this screen to dock 2 ports and it should work well

4/ repeat 1-3 with your second screen

Thanks for your post and the replies really helped me. I upgraded from a Surface dock 1 that had issues after 6 years or so, overall was happy with it. I bought the Surface Dock 2 and used USB-C to HDMI adaptors, but the external monitors would not work. After reading the replies in this post I was experiencing exactly the same issues. I went out and bought 2x USB-C to HDMI cables and now all working fine.

Reason for posting: I was a bit unsure as to what cable was needed - spoilt for choice and they are not cheap. I bought the 'bon.elk Long-Life Series Cable / 2.5m' on the back of the package it says "4K 60Hz HDMI SUPPORT' and "USB-C / Thunderbolt 3" from Officeworks.

Agree that Microsoft need make it more clear that a specific about compatibility and cable requirements. They should make a cable like they do with the USB-C to HDMI Female cable. But I didn't want to get this one as I wondered if my existing HDMI cable would need to be a different one. Anyway, an additional $110 later and I'm working again.

Hope this helps

Scott - you have the patience of Job. Actually more. Thanks for your repeated advice. It is 2022 and we are dealing with this problem with our Win11 SP7+ computers and all of the advice here is very valuable, thank you all.