This is all happening with me, too.
Don't feel alone, call Microsoft and complain, if enough of us do maybe they will take it more seriously.
Surface Dock Keeps Disconnecting Intermittently
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Anonymous
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.
185 answers
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Anonymous
2020-05-18T21:18:51+00:00 -
Anonymous
2020-05-19T06:21:32+00:00 The Surface dock 2 is coming soon, hope this solves the problems...
In the mean time, i am able to control the connection problems by making sure my surface book 2 is off before connecting to the dock. I noticed the problem only exist when the book comes from standby or is already on before connecting.
If the problem occurs, i disconnect the dock, shut down my surface, connect the dock, and the turn it back on. This way i can work a full day without any problem. Hope this helps.
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Anonymous
2020-05-20T18:57:13+00:00 Exact same issue on a Surface Book. Seems to really go crazy when I am using my dock's audio for skype/zoom/gtm usage. Drives me crazy. Seemed to happen only occasionally but after I took the 40-2020 CU update it's been absolutely crazy. Mellows out if I hard reboot (volume + button held along with the power button) but eventually it comes back.
Wondering if everyone is seeing this as well - if you go into the Application Log (in Event Viewer) I see a looping storm of events. All are from SurfaceDocFwUpdate. They have no helpful description at all but the pattern is event ID 2001, 2004, 2004 again, 2008, and 20011 and then it starts all over again and continues to loop as long as this connect/disconnect behavior continues.
Found this article which actually tells you what these events mean (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/surface-dock-firmware-update)
2001 - Dock Firmware Update Has Started
2004 - Query the Firmware Revision
2007 - Firmware Update Finished
2008 - Begin Dock Telemetry
2011 - End Dock Telemetry
So it looks like the system thinks the firmware needs to be updated and keeps updating it and restarting the dock over and over again.
Anyone else seeing the same?
I just reran the firmware update and confirmed that it took (same link as above tells you how to confirm you have the updated firmware). Thinking about uninstalling the Firmware Update application loaded in Windows since I think this is the service responsible for monitoring the dock's firmware rev and then trying to update - stands to reason this is the component that is looping.
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Anonymous
2020-05-20T20:00:21+00:00 Update - opened a case with MS. No surprise to me, it was a total waste of time. They landed on my dock being "bad" and needing to be replaced which is so dumb.
One of the reasons I bought a MS device and the dock was I stupidly thought that if MS provided the hardware and the software, the stability should be top notch. Most stability issues in Windows are due to the endless number of peripherals and apps that can run on it and can go to market without any MS review or certification. Figured that if they own the whole stack they would be testing updates on their own hardware to make sure at least it was stable....boy was I naive.
Should have stuck with my HP. When this thing dies I won't be getting another Surface. If I am going to be worthless support and buggy updates, I might as well pay a lot less.
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Anonymous
2020-05-22T19:28:07+00:00 Hello everyone.
I can give you a workaround and see if that helps you. Still annoying because you should do it all the time.
Shutdown your surface, plug in the docking station, and then turn it on, It seems that when it starts with a docking station connected from the very beginning it solves must of the issues, but once you unplugged it, you will face the same issues you are describing.