Surface Pro 3 dock not detecting external monitor

Anonymous
2014-08-13T15:12:33+00:00

I have a new surface pro 3 and I purchased two docking stations. 1 for the office and one for home. Neither docking stations allows the pro3 to detect a monitor that is plugged into it.   I can plug the monitor directly into the pro3 and it detects if fine both at home and at the office.   I can tell you that its a serious interruption professionally, and personally and does not bode well for MS's desires to serve the business community.   What I need is a solution.

Surface | Accessories | Surface Dock

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Anonymous
2015-10-25T14:03:15+00:00

I have a new surface pro 3 and I purchased two docking stations. 1 for the office and one for home. Neither docking stations allows the pro3 to detect a monitor that is plugged into it.   I can plug the monitor directly into the pro3 and it detects if fine both at home and at the office.   I can tell you that its a serious interruption professionally, and personally and does not bode well for MS's desires to serve the business community.   What I need is a solution.

hey guys

I had exact same issue and I did this and the issue magically solved!!

a two button restart:

  • Power off the Surface Pro
  • Hold Volume Up and the Power button for 10 seconds
  • Release buttons
  • Wait 5-10 seconds
  • Power on the Surface

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Anonymous
2014-08-13T23:38:43+00:00

Hi will-eman,

Thank you for visiting the Microsoft Community! Sorry to know that your Docking Stations are not detecting your external displays. I can certainly understand why this is an inconvenience, especially when, as you mention, it is used in a business environment and for professional purposes. I’d like to help and hopefully provide the best possible solution!

Please try the following:

  • With the Surface and external display connected to the Docking Station, unplug the Docking Station from the power outlet, leave it unplugged for 30 seconds to a minute, then plug it back and see if the displays are recognized.
  • Please make sure all and latest Windows updates are installed. If so, verify all updates were taken while the Docking Station was connected to the Surface.
  • When you connect the external monitor, do you have any other devices connected to the Docking Station as well? And if so, have you tried removing all devices and connecting the external monitor only?
  • Have you tried connecting other external displays to the docking Station? Are ALL displays or devices not recognized?
  • Have you tried the what Ed Bott - MVP suggests?

 Additionally, please read the following support article:

We hope this information works! Please keep us posted!

We are always here to help!

Best Wishes,

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-09-02T18:13:26+00:00

    I finally got it sorted out... I grabbed an active mini displayport 1.2 to HDMI and a short HDMI cable.  Apparently the SP3 isn't capable of 4k 60hz over displayport but is fine doing 4k 30hz over hdmi as long as you have the right adaptor (hint: not the Surface adaptor).  At the end of the day, not the solution I wanted, but a big step up from my situation a day ago.

    Hope this helps...

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-09-05T21:33:39+00:00

    I've got this happening as well. 

    I've got two Surface Pro 3's - both Windows updated with everything.

    We have two docks as well.  Both docks using a generic MiniDP to HDMI cable. Some are from CableMatters - others generic in that I can't tell if they came with a brand name - I've got a drawer full and have tried a bunch.

    One Dock is attached to a ViewSonic VX2753.  The other to a ViewSonic VX2770.

    Surface A on Dock A with Monitor A (2770)  Works as you'd expect.

    Surface B on Dock B with Monitor B (2753) - does not recognize the monitor.

    If I put Surface A in Dock B, it works (with Monitor B).

    If I put Surface B in Dock A, it works (with Monitor A).

    Circumventing the Dock always works with all monitor/surface combos.

    I just cannot get Surface B to work in Dock B with attached to Monitor B.

    Early on in trying to troubleshoot this, I did try using a different monitor (exactly the same as monitor B -  VX2753  -) and it didn't work.  BUT...  I uninstalled the Intel graphics driver completely, rebooted, ran windows update, installed the graphics driver again, rebooted (shutdown/turn on) and then restarted (just windows-x, restart) and it STARTED WORKING!.  Then, I had to rearrange the desk to set up the working monitor - required unplugging things etc., so had shut down the surface and the monitor.  ONce things were arranged again, I was back to the original state of non-working external monitor (with the same hardware that was working when I shut everything off).

    If all of this hasn't confused you, thank you for keeping up - I'm going to see if there's any movement on this thread over the next few days.  If nothing helpful comes up, I may be packing up a truck and heading to the MS store to see if I can get some help there... 

    I do realize that it seems like just having the two folks in question trade docks would get them both working, but if there's something wrong, I'd prefer to at least identify it before taking a risk with it happening again further down the road.  And if it's something that requires a hardware return/exchange, I would prefer to do that, rather than just hide the problem and cross my fingers.

    Any help/suggestions would be appreciated.  Thanks!

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-09-06T04:50:56+00:00

    I was finally able to get the dock display output to work. I failed to mention in my previous post that I was using Apple brand adapters for the dvi and vga tests. I've switched monitors to an Acer monitor (sorry I don't have the model number at the moment) and connected it with a generic mini **** to hdmi adapter and it worked. Thank you Steve Nies for your observations on the Apple adapters- I would not have thought that would be the issue.

    OrangeCouch- since you had the one display working for the dock temporarily, I wonder if it would be worth trying devcon.exe to reset the display adapter? I use it on my desktop PC when the HDMI audio flakes out, but it might also work with the signal to the dock (of course, this is purely speculation). Here's an article with some information on it: http://benoitpatra.com/2013/12/22/no-hdmi-sound-without-os-reboot-restart-the-drivers/

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