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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

185 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2022-11-13T00:24:33+00:00

    With mine the issues always happened when the device was under heavy load (which didn't take much):

    • Dock randomly disconnected (not fun on a video call where it causes all the windows to forget their places)
    • WiFi would also randomly drop
    • Device throttled itself so much it was barely usable
    • Device was so hot it was almost too hot to touch
    • Fans were really loud

    The only thing that helped was blowing a fan against the back of the case which helped the device stay cool and not malfunction and also stay quieter.

    I never did find another solution and the same issues occurred for me over a few generations with Surface Pro 7 being the last and worst.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2022-11-09T21:52:32+00:00

    This usually happens after an update, or just moving the Surface Book.

    The last time it happened, until today, I was in the middle of a video conference and got the 'disconnect, reconnect' noises all the time - keyboard and mouse didn't work. Reconnecting the power to the hub that usually has an effect produced nothing, disconnecting and reconnecting to the Book had no effect. In the end cleaning the contacts to the Book with Isopropyl Alcohol seemed to do the trick and it ran without issue until Patch Tuesday - after installing the updates (today) with the usual keeping a bottle of brandy close and hoping for the best.

    This time it restarted OK, but then started to throw the toys around again with mouse and keyboard disconnect.

    Another problem that happened regularly in the past was the screen resolutions messing up and constant reboots before getting them back to normal (right clicking into screen settings only produced a menu with basic resolutions that would have been sad in 1990)

    I do believe that my hub is a series one (although the problem seems to exist with both) and I have not updated the firmware for a while as the there are lots of reports that firmware updates will brick the hub

    It's life Jim...

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2022-06-16T11:04:41+00:00

    @Janette_Z and Microsoft in general

    I 100% agree with Nabil, I bought Surface and a Surface dock expecting a quality product, given the price. They have been nothing but a disappointment. I have exactly the same issue as most everyone else in this thread. I even bought a new dock, only for the problem to reoccur soon afterwards. For some reason the dock connects and disconnects repeatedly and so the lap top beeps continuously. The only devices I have connected through the dock are a screen and a printer. This happens in particular during TEAMS and ZOOM meetings, even using the lap tops built in mic & audio. How about giving us some help and a fix for these problems Microsoft? Better still what about making stuff that works properly in the first place?

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2022-06-11T03:05:12+00:00

    My issues have been resolved after 1+ months of usage. I hope this helps others -

    I ordered a Plugable USB 3.0 and USB-C 7-Port Charging Hub and stacked the devices as follows:

    Surface Laptop 4 via Surface Dock 2 + Desktop PC
      |
ATEN USB Switch - Keyboard (100ma), Mouse Receiver (100ma)
      |
Plugable USB Charging Hub - Webcam (500ma), Headset Base Station (100ma), Busylight (500ma), Stream Deck (500ma)

    I was able to back out the USB sleep selective sleep power management settings suggested above. This appears to have resolved the issue. My hypothesis is that at a certain power configuration or draw, the Surface Dock 2 begins to struggle to provide sufficient power. Thus it is important that if you have a number of devices that you use a self-powered USB hub that is capable of supplying power to each port without relying on the host power from the Surface Dock 2.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2022-04-14T05:32:38+00:00

    Disabling USB sleep selective sleep power management and removing two higher powered devices from the chain seems to be helping.

    I used USB Deview to spot the high power draw devices - Elgato Stream Deck and a Kuado Busylight at 500mA each. I suspect the TP-Link UH720 USB Hub isn't a self-powered hub even though it has a power adapter. I ordered a Plugable USB 3.0 and USB-C 7-Port Charging Hub (also considered a Startech USB hub that was described as self powered) to swap out the TP-Link and see if it can power all of the devices without relying on power from the dock. If it is stable, I will back out the USB selective sleep setting.

    The end configuration should be a chain that looks like this, with my hope that there is no power drawn out of the Surface Dock 2 from the USB peripherals that are physically separate (some of the internals of the Surface Dock 2 appears to register as USB devices with independent power draw according to USB Deview).

    Surface Laptop 4 via Surface Dock 2 + Desktop PC
      |
ATEN USB Switch - Keyboard (100ma), Mouse Receiver (100ma)
      |
Plugable USB Charging Hub - Webcam (500ma), Headset Base Station (100ma), Busylight (500ma), Stream Deck (500ma)

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments