New Surface Dock Does Not Work via mini displayport to HDMI & DVI

Anonymous

The specific device I am referring to, is the new Surface Dock for Surface Pro 3/4 and Surface Book. I have described the issue here on Reddit, and a number of others are also experiencing the same problem. Basically, the new dock doesn't work when the monitor is connected using mini displayport to HDMI. The monitor is detected correctly and the correct resolution is set, but the screen remains black. In my case, I randomly get some image on the monitor, but it's compressed to one side of the screen and garbled. The mini displayport to HDMI adapter works properly when connected directly to the Surface, so the adapter itself is fine. If I instead connect the mini displayport to VGA adapter to the dock, the monitor displays correctly. I have tried using a straight mini displayport to DVI cable and the issue remains. Additionally, I have connected a Surface Pro 3 to the dock and experience the same issue.

So to summarize, the dock does not function correctly when using a mini displayport to HDMI adapter to connect the monitor, but does work with a mini displayport to VGA adapter. This problem is repeatable using both a Surface Book and Surface Pro 3.

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.

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Anonymous

I purchased an active mDP to HDMI adapter from Amazon (Plugable is the brand) and so far the external monitor is working correctly through the dock.

Moderator Edit (11/3/2015): If you are using a passive MDP to DVI adapter and experiencing difficulties, you may need to switch to using an active adapter.

If you switched from a passive to active adapter and continue to experience difficulties using Surface Dock to display to external monitors please consider making some changes to your cabling: different lengths, different quality, different adapters, etc. If adjusting your cabling fails to resolve please consider sharing the following:

Make and model of external displays
Make/model of adapters if present
Make/model of cables

For more troubleshooting info and steps to confirm your Dock is updated, please view our Troubleshoot Surface Dock article.

Thank you,

Josh

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Hi,

We suggest that you contact our Surface Answer Desk team for further assistance or visit the nearest Microsoft Store if you are in the US. In case you're offshore, contact our Global Customer Service team.

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315 additional answers

Anonymous

2015-11-15T19:06:37+00:00

I am now on my 3rd Surface Book. I first purchased the i7/256. Microsoft sent me a replacement. That also did not work. I then returned it and purchased the i7/512 model. I'm having the same issues. While they advertise there is an dGPU in the device, I call B.S. I have the Surface Dock with two monitors and it will only drive one of them. Each one will work individually, but when they are both plugged in only one will work.

In the Device Manager it shows (in the properties) that it is using the Intel 520 under 'Location'. If I disable the Intel 520 adapter, it shows it is using a Generic adapter. So how does one go about confirming the dGPU is actually working? About the only thing I'm able to confirm is that the adapter shows in the Device Manager. Here are two screen shots of the before and after when I disabled the Intel 520 adapter.
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Anonymous

2015-11-14T00:06:47+00:00

This issue is not fixed! I have the exact same problem. Neither of my two external monitors work at the same time and even one working at a time is either hit or miss. I did not have this issue with my old laptop and dock that was replaced by the Surface Book and Surface Dock. A lot of users are experiencing the same thing with not a peep from Microsoft on this issue. In plain English Microsoft you are falling down here and not supporting your customers and early adopters of your products. I have a $2700 laptop and $150 dock both designed to work together yet they don't and then we have to deal with moderators shuffling posts about confusing the issue even more. Just acknowledge the issue and create awareness with your customer base.
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Anonymous

2015-11-13T22:21:21+00:00

I have been dealing with this issue since day one with the Surface Book.

Today, based on this write-up by a Surface Pro 4 user ( https://www.petri.com/run-two-4k-monitors-surface ), I went to the extreme length of shaving off the plastic sheath of one of my DisplayPort connectors so that I could attach my second 4K monitor directly to the Surface Book while the dock is connected.

Unfortunately, even having gone to that extreme, the Surface Book is steadfastly opposed to supporting two 4K monitors concurrently. If the dock is connected, only the 4K monitors connected to the dock will be powered; if I disconnect the dock, (obviously) only the 4K monitor attached to the base will be powered.

This is supremely frustrating in light of two 4K monitor support being heralded as a feature sufficiently important to verbalize during the Windows 10 Devices launch event.

Furthermore, the latest Surface Pro 4 commercial shows what appear to be two 4K monitors being powered simultaneously by the Surface Dock, which I believe we have established in this thread is demonstrably not possible.

I would love for some engineers--not customer service people--at Microsoft to look into this. As 4K monitors become more mainstream, there will only be more of us realizing the Surface Dock + Book do not deliver the goods here.
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