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

2015-11-03T16:47:40+00:00

I've got my monitor hooked to the dock via a DVI cable and DVI->miniDisplayport adapter, and have been experiencing random disconnects. The external monitor (set to extend the display) will go black, then come back a few seconds later. Sometimes it happens only once or twice a day, sometimes way more often. Sometimes it will be a more Severe disconnect, and cause my Book display to flicker off as well, as if it's trying revert to single-screen mode, shunting any windows from my external screen back to the book. I've tried a second DVI cable and second adapter, and while they were fine for the first day, the problems came back after that.

I was hoping the 11/2 firmware update would've fixed it, but it happened again this morning.
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Anonymous

2015-11-03T14:48:36+00:00

No joy with dock, video and firmware update. Still flickering/display driver crashes. Didn't even work for 5 min
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Anonymous

2015-11-03T13:55:06+00:00

I tried installing the fix last night but kept giving an error after downloading the fix. I restarted the SB and still coudln't install it. I will try again today.
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