Surface Pro 3 external monitor / display port issues

I had a similar issue with a client SP3.  Core i7/ 256/ 8gb.  

Samsung LS24D590PL/ZA

Cable Matters Mini Display Port to HDMI  (1019-10) 

Fosmon HD1912 15-Feet Mini Display Port to HDMI

StarTech Mini Display Port to HDMI  (MDP2DPMM6)

The Cable Matters cable would NOT fit into the docking station.  The dock has a slightly angled connection and a very narrow fit.  The Cable Matters cable is tapered on the MDP end.

-Connected Surface directly to monitor with cable.  The Surface had a lot of trouble detecting the screen.

The second cable did indeed fit into the dock BUT would NOT show picture on the monitor.

-Connected directly from the Surface.  The screen would come on (sometimes) BUT the picture was poor.  The client even complained about it.  The resolution did NOT look correct.

I am on my third cable.  I have NOT been back to the client site since.

I can't yet tell if this was an issue with the Samsung monitor or the Surface itself.  In either case, it is frustrating to eat time on something that has been standard for more than a decade.  Take a computer (or a dock) and connect to a monitor and get a picture.

No Updates available.  I have NOT yet gone to Intel.  I would do that for any other vendor's equipment BUT at a certain point, Microsoft should be able to get updates for their entire system as manufactured and put to market by them and only them.

I was able to use a different Surface Pro 3 (i5/ 8gb/  256) with the Cable Matters and a Dell UltraSharp 2208FP.  It did work the first time BUT I couldn't keep it on long enough to evaluate picture quality or resolution.

If Microsoft wants to get this whole hardware-software advantage piece off the ground- more should be done to guarantee compatibility.  Test and give (5) cable recommendations.  Test and give (5) monitor recommendations.  Then we all have a baseline to start our troubleshooting from.  Chasing tails (and tales) is crazy and costly.  This feels like a repeat of Microsoft Mice NOT working with Windows ME computers.

I am also getting this issue and it has become more evident since the last firmware update 18/11/2014.

I use the surface 3 for working and I can't spend a random amount of time (never less than 15 minutes and up to 1 hour) every morning plugging and unplugging cables while I restart everything.

I also contacted the surface support (UK) and they told me it was the first time they heard of the issue. They couldn't do anything to help me in the end. I thought I found the solution when I shut down the device instead of resetting and it worked but today I have been proved wrong.

I have a reference number for the issue but... if they don't know anything about it... what's the point in me losing 1h with them?

So, I'm not sure if the fix for this lies with Microsoft, Intel's graphics, or the makers of the MST hubs, but it's very frustrating that we can't use dual external monitors with the Surface dock without a menagerie of workarounds and hubs.  Every other business-grade laptop dock supports dual external monitors out of the box (well, at least Dell, which is what we used before this).

TL;DR - Try an EVGA 200-****-1301-L2 hub.

So here's my experience.

I purchased a Surface Pro 3 (i7/512GB) to replace my main workstation (I code). Since my existing monitors were of the Korean type (Yamanashi 30") I had to either purchase two active DisplayPort to DualLink DVI adapters for around a hundred bucks each, OR, replace the monitors for something with native ****.

I choose the second option. However, due to my criteria for monitors I couldn't get anything which supported daisy-chaining out of the box. I ended up grabbing a couple Benq BL3200PT monitors and after a little searching around on forums a StarTech MSTMDP123DP MST hub.

My god what a f$%#ing nightmare that turned out to be. From the outset I had nothing but problems with screens flickering, disconnecting and reconnecting by themselves and last but by no means least BSoDs.

I kept trying to get this setup working for about a month, but finally gave in and returned the StarTech to Amazon for a refund.

I then purchased a couple no-name MiniDP-**** cables and ran docking-station to one monitor and SP3 to the other. I continued this until it became a chore having to reconnect cables every time I re-docked my SP3.

At this point I considered getting rid of the SP3 completely and going back to my old rig still sitting idle under my desk, but stubborn as I am I figured I'd give it one more chance. I took the plunge on a EVGA 200-****-1301-L2 MST hub. As soon as I plugged this in, still using the no-name mDP-**** cable connected to my docking station my SP3 recognized both external monitors and I was able to extend my desktop no problem.

So, basically, if you're all still having issues, try replacing your existing hub with the EVGA one (apparently there are chipset differences between the L2 and non L2 versions so get the L2) and it should work out of the box.

I am having the same issues with my multi monitor **** 1.2 setup. In my configuration I have 2 Samsung monitors running in dp1.2 mode connected to a Accell ultra AV mdp 1.2 to 2 **** mst hub. The hub is connected to my docking station. The surface recognizes the monitors and I can extend the desktop to these displays. However, after a minute or so the monitors will flicker on and off like the do when windows detects a new display. I have tried multiple different **** hubs which all support 1.2 and all have the same issue. I've also tried 3 different surface pros 3s and all exhibit the same behavior.

I have also verified the hub and monitors work with my desktop pc. So at this point it really looks like either a surface issue or docking station issue.

This is very frustrating.... is there a known issue with sp3's support for dp1.2 mst?

Chalker2, I am using the same displayport hub as you but with Dell monitors and am having the identical issue. Very frustrating. I need to unplug, replug etc. for 5 mins or so every morning in order to get the SP3 to recognize the monitors.

Did you find any other solutions?

Did you try the reset/refresh procedure?

Thanks!

I haven't found a solution.  Doing a 2 fingered shutdown does NOT resolve it, and there is no way I'm going to completely reset/refresh my system to try to fix this - it's clearly not unique to my particular system, but rather a common problem multiple people are encountering.

I have found an alternative way to accomplish what I want, but it's not ideal.  I've gotten 2 mini-displayport to VGA active adapters (also from StarTech).  I plug 1 into the dock displayport and the other into the built in displayport on the side of the Surface.  Obviously this makes it a bit more of a hassle to dock/undock my system.  However ever since I've done this I haven't had a single problem with the system detecting both external monitors.  (Note that mystery phantom 4th monitor still shows up in the display settings). 

This make me believe it's a fundamental issue with the Surface displayport drivers handling MST capabilities.