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

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-08-19T05:37:42+00:00

    Exactly like my issue. Seems to me like the dock reboots when I pull that one monitor cable and put it back in.

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-08-18T21:10:50+00:00

    Just going to add to this reply that I'm having the same issues. I can get both monitors to work for days at a time, then one will go black from being unused. As soon remove the other one, the one that was black turns right back on. Replaced cables, everything.

    The issue seems to be with the dock not being able to send two signals? This is pretty basic stuff, right?

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-08-09T14:09:49+00:00

    This has been an ongoing issue with the Surface Dock 2. I have a large organization with many devices and the experience with this dock and the issues reported above are legion. I have had better luck using a third party dock then all the support solutions that are offered by MS.

    This dock has been available for several years and the issues have been reported for the same time with many users pleading the support team for a solution.

    Side note: Can the download page be geared to only give the correct package for the unit that is selected? I get many sw packages listed that do not correlate to the device I searched.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-07-26T08:04:23+00:00

    SAME PROBLEM

    Surface Pro 7 with Surface Dock 2.

    My setup also involves two additional monitors:

    Initial setup:

    Monitor 1: USB-C to USB-C (as the monitor has this capability)

    Monitor 2: USB-C to HDMI

    Monitor 2 always worked fine. Monitor 1 sometimes would not have sound after standby. Needed to power-cycle the monitor for it to return.

    So... I changed the setup to:

    Monitor 1: USB-C to HDMI

    Monitor 2: USB-C to HDMI

    I tried new cables (same cables for both, different ones) - always same result:

    Monitor 1 always has sound and works after standby. Monitor 2 (where I have not changed anything) rarely comes alive after standby. I need to unplug the USB-C from the Surface Dock 2 and plug it back in.

    This action leads to a full reset of the Surface Dock 2 (some would call it a crash). All monitors go dark, network goes away, then it comes back and it all works again (until the next standby episode).

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  5. Anonymous
    2022-07-11T22:11:10+00:00

    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.

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