Surface Dock keeps waking up external monitor

Anonymous
2016-07-10T11:30:09+00:00

My monitor (LG 29UM68) is connected to Surface Dock -> SP4, via direct miniDisplayPort.

It keeps entering sleep mode and waking up repeatedly, even though my SP4 is asleep. This does not happen when I connect the monitor to SP4 directly.

Another issue is that if I set to PC Screen Only, after few seconds, it will automatically switch back to external monitor only. Again, this does not happen if I connect monitor to SP4 directly.

These 2 issues only arise if I use Surface Dock.

I have gone through all the steps here (https://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-sg/support/hardware-and-drivers/troubleshoot-docking-station-surface-dock) successfully, but issue persist.

Please help.

Surface | Accessories | Surface Dock

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-11-20T04:40:21+00:00

    Hi ShmucketelleyJoe

    you need to use an ACTIVE adapter. 

    I sure wish Microsoft would just state that their Dock does not support 4k monitors and you need to use an Active adapter.

    That would sure save a lot of folks much headaches

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-11-20T10:30:40+00:00

    Actually, they've recently done that, but just have not publicized it.

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4023468/surface-troubleshoot-surface-dock-and-docking-stations?os=windows-10

    Use an HDMI, DVI, or VGS adapter is the section to look at. And I asked them a week ago to fix the link to the Microsoft branded cables but they didn't. The link is https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/d/surface-mini-displayport-to-hdmi-20-adapter/8qj8ss92m2tl/ch5z?activetab=pivot:techspecstab

    >I sure wish Microsoft would just state that their Dock does not support 4k monitors and you need to use an Active adapter.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-11-21T16:10:57+00:00

    The recent Dock update seems to mention something about passive adaptor... and am pretty sure that the Dock supports 4K monitors, at least under certain configurations.

    Cheers.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-11-21T22:37:16+00:00

    Yup I did just that, and it works well now! Funny thing is my monitors don't even support 4K. But switching to an active adapter worked! 

    I just wish I didn't have to spend ~35 dollar on another set of adapters :(. They should make the problem clear to customers when they purchase the dock or simply work the firmware more to accommodate passive adapters. 

    But now the dang monitors sleep like a baby. The reason I wanted to fix this is because I use both a Mac Book and a surface for work vs. personal. I wanted to be able to switch between the two easily by putting one to sleep and waking the other... I didn't want the monitors to get confused with the dock switching the input from the active Mac to the asleep surface.

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