Surface Dock Keeps Disconnecting Intermittently

Anonymous
2020-01-10T16:44:40+00:00

Microsoft,

What is going on with this thing?

I have had the Surface Dock for two months now. Purchased it to go with my Surface Laptop 1. 

Every day.... and I mean every day, this thing disconnects itself from my Surface Laptop, my monitor goes black, my usb peripherals disconnect, and my network goes down... and then in one second everything magically reconnects. 

Sometimes it only happens 5 times a day. Other days it happens like a gazillion.

Once it first started happening, I scoured the internet looking for a solution. I replaced the dock, I updated the firmware, I connected it to a different power source, I've power cycled, I've turned the cord around - etc. No matter what I do it keeps happening. 

And there is no good answers on this message board that seems to fix this issue. I have read them all. 

What is going on with this thing?

Right now, just so y'all know, this thing is only acting as a power source for my laptop. I am plugging the monitor directly into the Surface Laptop, I have upgraded to a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and my Ethernet is going into the system over usb. Even with NOTHING else plugged into the Surface Dock.... nothing. Just power. It is STILL disconnecting and reconnecting intermittently. What the H?!?

This is unacceptable and you guys really need to figure out a solution for this. My boss has a Surface Book 1 and he also experiences these issues daily, as well. Since he's using dual monitors, he just puts up with them going out and turning back on five to twenty times a day. The only ones in the office with the dock that aren't experiencing these issues are the two that have Surface Pro 4's...

What can we do to fix this? The Surface Dock is currently the most expensive laptop charger I've ever purchased (since that's all it seems to be decent at). 

Sincerely, 

Microsoft Enthusiast

Surface | Accessories | Surface Dock

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-02-11T15:32:57+00:00

    So I have had this issue for years now. 

    In the end the only thing that worked was to toss out the MS Wireless Keyboard and Mouse and buy a Logitec Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse.  This then bypasses the dock and I have not had any issues anymore.  So the docking station just allows the Internet and Monitors to connect to the laptop.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-02-08T17:52:30+00:00

    Clean the dock connection plug and Surface Pro connection socket with some rubbing alcohol and a toothbrush. Blow it dry with some canned air.

    The disconnect errors are because the socket does not always sit correctly and any dirt causes additional connection issues. It's a neat design, but lousy tolerances.

    I did this a year ago and a couple of times since.  It has worked fine since.

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-01-27T17:40:59+00:00

    On a hardware related note, who has had problems with their touch-pad becoming unresponsive for 5-20 seconds at a time? I see this when I am using the laptop on its own (no docking station).

    My touch-pad issue seems to be getting worse; the other day both the touch-pad and the keyboard became unresponsive. There was no recovery until I disconnected the screen from the keyboard (went into tablet mode). After reconnecting the screen to the keyboard both the touch-pad and keyboard were restored.

    This could be a contact issue with the connection between the screen and keyboard.

    On paper this laptop is great; actual delivered performance and ease of use is very bad when considering all these nuisance problems.

    Thanks,

    Roy

    Yes, i have seen this problem lately as well.  this is some update that has gone wrong.  this happens with updates quite a bit.  MS does nothing until one of their own has the problem!

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-01-08T20:13:58+00:00

    I did a manual firmware update of my GEN 1 Surface Dock and the problem seems to be fixed. It's only been 4 hours but that is much, much better than the time before the 4 hours. Surface Dock firmware can be downloaded here: 

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=46703

    Assuming your Surface Book is running i5 or i7, you only need the file: 

    "Surface_Dock_FwUpdate_1.53.139_Win10_17763_20.075.41193_0_AMD64.msi"

    Thanks to SOFTPEDIA NEWS, complete instructions are here, including GEN2 Surface Docks:

    https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-fix-a-surface-dock-that-keeps-disconnecting-530754.shtml

    Thanks,

    Roy

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-12-14T23:27:19+00:00

    OK.  I might have found the issue.  It has been working for three days now.

    Don't laugh.

    I took a tooth brush and dipped it in rubbing alcohol 

    Cleaned the dock's connection plug

    Cleaned the folding keyboard terminals

    Cleaned the Surface Pro keyboard connection terminals

    Extensively cleaned the Surface Pro's dock connection socket.

    Finally, I blew them all dry with some canned air.

    Hope I did not just curse everything but it seems to be working.

    This work for anyone else?

    Randy, 

    It work for me too. Thanks!

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