Surface dock 2 not connecting to monitors using usb-c cables

Anonymous
2020-07-15T13:06:07+00:00

I purchased two new surface dock2 to connect our surface pro 7 to our widescreen monitors using usb-c cables. Neither of the monitors would connect through the usb-c ports.

One monitor is an LG 38WK95C. The other is a Dell ultrasharp U3818DW. The LG monitor previously worked connecting to a macbook pro through the usb-c port.

To be clear, I first connected the surface dock 2 to one of the surface pro 7 devices and connected the Dell to the surface dock 2 through the usb-c. A messages was displayed to the effect that the monitor should be connected through a displayport. The monitor never showed up in windows, although you would get the sound like a monitor was recognized and the displayport message. Using the "detect monitor" feature came back with "no monitor detected".

I then connected the LG to the other surface pro 7 device through the surface dock 2. The exact same behavior occurred.

Windows update showed no updates available. I then manually updated the firmware on one of the surface pro 7 devices. Still no joy.

Surface | Accessories | Surface Dock

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-01-16T15:10:03+00:00

    Surface Laptop 3 and HP 27f monitor. Fantastic connecting over USB-c and 1.5m cable from iTec.
    All refresh rates work, all admissible screen resolutions, too. 

    Dock2 installed properly. Audio, Ethernet, USB, LAN - all functioning.

    Monitors? Issues as everyone described - unbelievable.
    I installed Displaylink. Used with another HP docking station. Excellent results. Unistalled it again.
    Uninstalled even Kaspersky KTS . No difference. 

    The only walk around was 75Hz for external monitor configured in the USB-c of Surface Laptop and extended view.

    Afterwards I switched the cable into the Dock 2.
    Firmware 5.19.139 . Tests give all a pass. 

    I also opted out from DFCI management in UEFI. see this Intune management of Surface UEFI settings - Surface | Microsoft Docs 

    Something looks like hardware issue imho. I will wait one more week and return the doc2 as unsatisfied customer of MS. 
    Other ideas are welcome.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-01-13T20:31:14+00:00

    I have a similar issue.

    I bought the surface dock 3 in June 2020. Everything has been working fine until I got a notificaion today "your surface has been updated - take a look at what's new" and now I cannot detect external monitors via the surface dock.

    I can connect to external monitors directly via the USB C ports (Surface Go and Surface Book 2) and I can also connect via a Dell USB-C dock connected from my surface(s) to the dell dock then HDMI from there to the monitor. So a 50 quid Dell mini USB-C dock is doing a better job for my surface than the actual surface dock which is a lot more expensive. Very poor from Microsoft and I cannot see that they've piped up on here with any kind of fix.

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-01-04T17:25:06+00:00

    I have the exact same issue connecting my two Dell monitors to the Surface Dock 2. Also tried everything that I could find on the subject.

    The strange thing is that when I disconnect the first one, the second starts working. If I plug the first one back into the dock, the first one gets preference and the second one will stop working again.

    1. Clearing cache made me reset the settings over and over again, but did not resolve the issue.
    2. I first tried it with usb-c to DisplayPort, and I'm now using usb-c to HDMI, but still out of luck.
    3. I actually have 2x 24 inch Dell with two different resolutions, because one is actually a touchscreen so I also tried to lower the resolution to match the touchscreen, but that also did not help.
    4. The frequency of both monitors are set to 60 hz.

    Any ideas?

    Solved!

    I replaced the USB-C to DisplayPort cables we had purchased with some from a different brand and it works perfectly.  The original cables shows 4K@60Hz in the purchase description but on the package it shows 8K@30Hz -and didn't work.  

    I bought a pair of these and it works great.

    Amazon.com: USB C to DisplayPort Cable for Home Office (4K@60Hz, 2K@165Hz), uni Sturdy Aluminum DisplayPort to USB C Cable [Thunderbolt 3 Compatible] for MacBook Pro, MacBook Air/iPad Pro 2020/2018, XPS 15/13: Computers & Accessories 

    Dave

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-01-02T21:25:55+00:00

    Yet Microsoft will not address the issue

    New Surface with new Dock 2.0

    2 new monitors with USB C and no way to connect

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