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.

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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

2015-10-30T10:11:57+00:00

gaforrest,

Thanks for your query. Please go to this pageand see the steps/ solutions provided.

Please let us know if helpful.

Did not help at all, doesn't seem to be relevant to the problem. The problem isn't HOW to connect the monitor, its that when the monitors are connected they either flicker or don't work at all.
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Anonymous

2015-10-30T14:38:56+00:00
There are a few topics with this same issue. I posted my solution in those already which is this:

I'm having the same issue with my dock and external 27" Asus. However, I did get it to work by doing a couple things.
1. Reverse the dock connector.
2. Changed the frequency from 59hz to 60hz in the display properties.
That seemed to do the trick but it's a bit annoying to have the dock connector cable coming out toward the front.
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Anonymous

2015-10-30T15:13:47+00:00
So, I have for me what has been a partial fix. I did multiple things, and at this moment, I'm not sure if they'd work in isolation or not.

First, I ordered 2 new mini DP to DP cables. Startech cables from amazon. I'm not sure on this forum's linking policy, but they were overall 4 star rated with a lot of reviews.

Second, after looking at WIndows Central forums, I found a post about going to Intel's site, grabbing a zip file of the most recent drivers, and by using the "have disk" method, installing those in device manager which gives you a newer rev than the last MS version being pushed out.

I did the second step first, so until I roll that back I won't know if it helped at all, but the new cables gave me new behavior. I've tried mini DP to DP but from another vendor (cable matters) that had behavior I mentioned earlier in another thread that got merged into this one. See page one for those details. At this point here is the behavior:
- Plug in dock for the first time since a reboot and both monitors come up at expected resolution (2560x1080).
- Turn off monitors one by one and Windows adjusts, noticing the change. Turn them both back on and you're in business, but if you turn them on in the wrong order, left and right will actually transpose.
- That brings me to another point. If they start out transposed, flip cables, because that behavior will haunt you if you change it in software.
- Reboot while docked and both monitors come up fine along with all USB connected items
- I still have issues with sleep mode, so I set a blank screensaver, turned off sleep mode while plugged in, and then just turn off monitors when I'll be away for a while. Works for now.
- Here's the remaining issue: If I put the screen in clipboard mode and redock it, I have to reboot or I get insane flickering and disconnects. I guess I'll have to wait for drivers to update further. Note that if you tell it to allow disconnect, screens will drop and come back, and it will be ready to disconnect. If you then Press the button to reconnect, screens will do the dance again, but things remain fine.
I've only tested this a short while, so I may find other behaviors, but it's a step in the right direction for me. It's good enough that I'll wait out drivers like a fool for a while longer. ;)
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