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

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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
    2016-04-23T11:13:15+00:00

    Still not quite right after this week's update.  When the SP4 sleeps, my ext samsung monitor still flashes on and off when connected to the dock, which isn't the worst thing.  When the Surface wakes from sleep though, the external screen (which is the primary) is left with no taskbar.  I need to log out and back in to get it back.  

    Sometimes the system tray appears on the SP4's monitor too, instead of the primary external monitor, requiring me to toggle primary displays back and forth to fix.  This happens with or without the dock.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-04-22T03:33:52+00:00

    I had the similar problem. An external monitor connected to a dock connected to SB. The monitor does not work every time I connect my SB to the dock. However, I have managed to figure out a process seems to be able to get the monitor back to work.

    1. directly connect the monitor to the SB, and the monitor should have signal. If not, restart SB. If it still does not work, most likely you have to check the cable and the monitor.
    2. Go to display settings, choose "show only on 1" so that the external monitor is off.
    3. unplug the cable, connect it back to the dock. Connect the dock to your SB.
    4. The monitor should be back.

    This process worked for me every time. I think it is definitely some bug in SB's firmware, hope it can help MS to identify the problem.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-04-21T19:50:29+00:00

    Download the new drivers.  They're in a .zip file that you need to extract.  Once you do you get a bunch of folders.  Pay attention to where you have them stored.

    Now go to Device Manager and double click the Intel(R) HD Graphics 520 item listed under Display Adapters.

    Click the Driver tab and select Update Driver

    Select "Browse my computer for driver software" and select "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer"

    Click the "Have Disk" button and browse to the location of the unzipped drivers.

    Once you see a list of Intel HD Graphics drivers select the most current one (3/20/2016 in my list) and click Next.

    That's as far as I can take you with these instructions because I don't want to mess with my SB since it's working.

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