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

Anonymous
2015-10-27T17:18:04+00:00

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.

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.

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Anonymous
2015-10-29T17:45:57+00:00

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:

  1. Make and model of external displays
  2. Make/model of adapters if present
  3. 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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Anonymous
2017-05-22T09:18:50+00:00

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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  1. Anonymous
    2016-04-18T20:22:32+00:00

    It's been a while since anyone has posted here.  I continue to have the problem of the 2 monitors working on the Surface Book dock.

    I've tried the miniDP-VGA - didn't work

    I've tried the miniDP-HDMI cable (not adapter) - didn't work

    Now I can regularly get one monitor to work at a time.  If I even plug the second monitor into the dock neither monitor comes on.

    What usually works for 1 monitor is to have that one only plugged in when I connect the SB to the dock.  If that monitor doesn't come on, then I unplug that monitor and plug in the other monitor and it sometimes works.

    I've tried THREE separate docks.  Same issues.  I'm going to contact Microsoft again today since I have a few hours to waste to try again to get this working.  I'm losing so much productive time and can't afford to take much more time to solve this problem.

    I've noticed the same behavior.  Please let us know what the response is.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-04-18T20:45:17+00:00

    I travel nearly every week and it's been frustrating returning to the home office and not having my two-monitor setup work. However, the last three trips home have met with success. On March 24th after a two-day trip, on April 12th after an eleven day trip and April 15th after a two-day trip. I mention the dates only because there may have been some updates that fixed things - I am completely up-to-date with both firmware and software on an i7 Surface Book. My Surface Dock is connected to the monitors (a Planar PCT2785 Touch Screen and a Samsung S27D590C) using two Cable Matters mini-DP to DP cables. I had nothing but trouble getting the two monitors consistently working until I opted to update my display settings through the control panel (control panel/display/change display settings) rather than right-clicking the desktop and selecting display settings and working through the Windows 10 settings. Not sure this is what did it but others have commented on this route and all appears to be well now. Slightly off topic, I keep the Surface Book screen off because it wreaks havoc with the resolution of some apps and programs on the two external monitors.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-04-18T22:28:39+00:00

    Today, out of the blue, my Surface Book showed both dockeed monitors as Disconnected. When I selected the option to Extend for either one of them, I would get the dreaded "Config cannot be saved."

    I forced a reinstall of the latest Intel Display drivers and a reboot later, the SB recognizes both monitors again just fine.

    I know very little about monitors, however, my theory is that each monitor has an id and this id is saved along with the state of the monitor (disconnect, expand, dual, etc). The drivers or Windows get confused over time, i.e. the config entries get corrupted or are saved incorrectly. A reinstall appears to set the slate clean. This was worked for me every single time with the monitors I use.

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