Surface Pro 3 external monitor / display port issues

Anonymous

I know many people have been having issues with external monitors and the displayport connections on the Surface Pro 3 and Surface dock. I've been having some issues too, and thought I'd share my config / workarounds in case it helps. I believe the issue is fundamentally with the Surface video drivers getting confused, not the docking station.

My explicit questions are: Is there an easy way to force it to detect new displays? Anybody have any other suggestions on how to resolve this? Is there some way to open a formal technical ticket with MS?

My hardware: Surface Pro 3 i7, 256 GB; Surface docking station, 2 HP Z24i displays (1920x1200 resolution each), StarTech Mini DisplayPort 1.2 to Triple Head DisplayPort MST Hub (StarTech PN# MSTMDP123DP)

It's setup as follows: Mini DisplayPort MST Hub plugged into back of docking station, HP monitors plugged into ports 1 and 2 of the hub.

I've had this setup running for about 2 weeks. At first I couldn't get it working, but with the last firmware update in mid August it started working fine.

HOWEVER, just this week I've had issues where I can't get the Surface to detect the displays / output to them when I first plug in to the dock in the morning OR sometimes when it's waking up from going to sleep (like at lunchtime). No amount of fiddling / plugging / unplugging things seems to consistently fix it. The 'Detect' button in the Screen Resolution window doesn't help. Doing a shutdown / restart of the Surface also doesn't consistently work. Note that when the Surface gets like this, even plugging the Hub directly into the mini display port on the Surface itself (with it not docked) won't work.

The reason I believe this is a Surface / Windows issues is that when it gets into this state, within the screen resolution settings in windows it often thinks that there is another active display plugged in and will act as such (e.g. lets me extend or duplicate the desktop) - even if I have the surface completely undocked, not plugged into anything. Specifically it says it is a "Display device on: Mobile PC Display" with a resolution lower than 1024 x 768. See pic below. This state often survives through a reboot of the Surface.

The general process I usually get to work after a couple tries:

-Use Windows-P keys to set the surface to use only the internal display

-Shutdown the surface and undock

-Unplug the dock and hub

-Plug hub back in

-Power Surface back up while undocked and login

-Dock surface

-Plug dock back in

-I'll know it works at this point because the displays will automatically come on (no need to use windows-P key to toggle them)

NOTE TO FORUM MODS:

Before you reply with your standard questions, know that I've already done all the normal things, including shutdown, check all cables, all updates installed, run the hardware and devices troubleshooter. I've also checked related threads, such as: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfpro3-surfdevice/external-display-flicker/1e2b9154-0533-4137-880f-55a90d2d6659?page=1&tm=1409850909719 (Note I've never had an issue with flicker) and http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/mini-displayport-on-new-docking-station-doesnt-work.10577/ (This isn't an active vs. passive adapter thing.) Once I get it working it works just fine until the surface undocks or reboots. It's clearly an issue with Windows / Surface not properly detecting displays.

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129 answers

Anonymous

2015-07-23T07:42:22+00:00

Is anyone else testing their SP3 with multi monitors on Windows 10? I've posted about this before and I thought I'd post an update as I'm currently running the "RTM" version of Windows 10 which will be launched to the public starting next Wednesday (29th July).

I've used both the Startech and EVGA hubs and have had similar results. Over the last 3 months stability has improved significantly with Windows 10 and the support the new OS has for multiple displays with different screen scaling requirements is a big improvement over Win 8.x.

I still get occasional glitches where I have to reboot and then use the old (pre-windows 10) control panel to extend the desktop to my 2 external monitors because the Windows 10 display app doesn't seem to find them, so it's not perfect, but is far more usable than before. I would hope that these issues get resolved as the new OS stabilises and gets bug fixes after launch.

Upgrading to Windows 10 will be a personal choice for existing SP3 owners, but it's going to be a free upgrade for the first 12 months and so if that appeals to you then I think you'll get a much improved, although still flawed, multi monitor experience.
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Anonymous

2015-08-03T00:45:02+00:00

After upgrading my Surface Pro to Windows 10 has almost solved all my problems. One thing I notice is that when I disconnect the Surface Pro from the docking station and reconnect it back, my resolution seems to be off. NOT the correct resolution size. Only thing I know how to resolve it is by restarting the Surface Pro. Maybe a future update will resolve that particular issue.
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Anonymous

2015-08-03T05:32:56+00:00

Good news about Windows 10. I hope my experience is as good as yours when I get to upgrade.

Regarding the "resolution issue" encountered when re-docking: Did you verify the numeric resolution after you re-docked? I have an issue with 8.1 that seems like a resolution problem, but is actually more about sizing of the desktop icons and default font size. I suspect that the Surface causes things to look larger when the only screen you have is the Surface itself. If icons and font characters had the same height in pixels on the small screen as the big one, everything would be too small to read comfortably. So the Surface makes them larger (in pixels) when un-docked, but forgets to size them back down when docked. It seems to relate to pixels-per-inch on the active/primary display. I haven't taken the time to look for one, but it would be nice to read a discussion of this from Microsoft.
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Anonymous

2015-08-06T13:50:35+00:00

I've upgraded a Surface Pro 3 to Windows 10 Pro and installed all the updates available and it is still the same.

The MST hub works when plugged into directly to the Surface but when it is on the dock, it does not detect anything.

It makes the detect new hardware sound but nothing else.
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Anonymous

2015-08-08T01:29:49+00:00

I had two displays, one plugged into the dock, the other into the surface, working fine with Windows 8.1, but since the Windows 10 update I can only use one of them. Doesn't matter which one, if only one is plugged in, it works, and it doesn't matter where it is plugged in, it works, but the moment I plug the second in, the one on the docking station turns off and can't be detected.

Looks like they have fixed the problem with using a display hub, but have now broken something else.

Guess I might as well go out and buy a hub rather then wait for a fix..

Incidentally, I have the same set up at work, and it still works fine. At home, it worked initially, but the first time my surface went to sleep whilst plugged in to the dock, it woke up and has been in a grump ever since.
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