Bump to see if any recent firmware updates made a change for anyone? I am able to get a 4k Dell P2415Q to work in conjunction with a generic 1080p ASUS similar as described in #38. The 4k monitor is doing 60hz with no issues. I have zero luck when trying to have the dock drive two Dell P2415Q monitors. I tried the second one via a mDP -> DP cable and mD -> HDMI adapter cable into the monitor's HDMI port. Neither config was able to produce a picture on the second screen. The surface is 'detecting' the second screen but no pictures ever shows and it can't be configured via the Windows display config panel at all. I even tried the new Intel beta display drivers with no luck. The beta driver did, however, get rid of it crashing every 5 minutes.
Surface Book with new Surface Dock
- Thread starter Spongers8X
- Start date
Quick update, although I am sure everyone else is seeing the same. Latest firmware updates have NOT fixed the problem.
--- Ben
--- Ben
For the last few weeks I have zero issues with both docks I have. Every time I have plugged them in the displays have come up correctly without issue. Not sure why my experience is different, but I have been extremely happy since the latest firmware update. I did not however take the beta Intel drivers floating around the interwebs.
Got some updates today, did not fix the issue.
One suggestion I was given was to daisy chain the two monitors, so one is fed by the dock and the second by the first. That does display an image on both, but unfortunatley it's a duplicated image, not an extended display, so that won't work.
Also, MS Surface support told me that a max refresh rate of 30 Hz would have to be used to drive both 4k monitors. That would be pretty bad if it even worked, but, nope, it didn't.
--- Ben
One suggestion I was given was to daisy chain the two monitors, so one is fed by the dock and the second by the first. That does display an image on both, but unfortunatley it's a duplicated image, not an extended display, so that won't work.
Also, MS Surface support told me that a max refresh rate of 30 Hz would have to be used to drive both 4k monitors. That would be pretty bad if it even worked, but, nope, it didn't.
--- Ben
Last edited:
Based on a tip from the other Surface forums, I have been able to drive both of my 4K monitors concurrently. But with several concessions that I feel are utterly unacceptable in the long term.
Namely:
To me this seems like a stop-gap until a proper solution is implemented. Microsoft had better deliver proper dual 4K monitor support or I will ultimately retire my Surface Book as a workstation replacement. This experience has already turned all of my colleagues off from this generation of Surface devices, which is a real shame.
Namely:
- The Surface Book's internal display must be disabled. This is accomplished by configuring power management to keep the Surface on while the lid is closed.
- The 4K displays run at 30 Hz as you mention, which is unacceptable when using a monitor. These are not televisions (I've used 30 Hz 4K televisions as monitors, but I did so voluntarily, having enjoyed the massively lower price of a television; if you buy and use a monitor you expect 60 Hz). Furthermore, the Macbook Pro does not have this limitation. It's embarrassing and clearly not what they intended.
- Windows Hello is effectively rendered meaningless because the camera is blocked by the device being closed.
To me this seems like a stop-gap until a proper solution is implemented. Microsoft had better deliver proper dual 4K monitor support or I will ultimately retire my Surface Book as a workstation replacement. This experience has already turned all of my colleagues off from this generation of Surface devices, which is a real shame.
mightRe: Surface Book with new Surface Dock
You might want to set a custom resolution and up the Hz from 30 to 50.
You might want to set a custom resolution and up the Hz from 30 to 50.
I had this exact same issue with my surface book, I got 2 identical monitors and the new surface dock, I bought 2 HDMI to MiniDisplayPort and hooked it up, sure enough, flickering, bouncing between screens etc. Just by chance I tried changing one of my HDMI to MiniDisplayPorts out for a VGA to MiniDisplayPort (my screens had HDMI and VGA in) and this fixed it! I do not know why it made a difference, so now one of my screens is connected to the surface dock using HDMItoMiniDisplayPort, and one using VGAtoMiniDisplayPort, and this has fixed the issue. all 3 screens are now working. Anyone else had this fix work for them?
What resolution and refresh rate do you have it working at?
I do have both screens running at highest res, but had to drop refresh to 30 Hz. :-(
--- Ben
I do have both screens running at highest res, but had to drop refresh to 30 Hz. :-(
--- Ben
Ben,
In order to run my two 4K monitors at the same time with the Surface Dock, it is necessary to:
- Close the Surface Book's lid, thereby disabling the built-in display. Using Power Management, you can configure the device to stay on while closed.
- Run the DisplayPort 1.2 4K monitors at 30 Hz.
- Give up on Windows Hello since the Book is closed.
Microsoft concedes Surface Book incapable of dual 60Hz 4K / Tiamat
This isn't good.
I day trade and need both 4k and 60 Hz to work and having to close the Surface Book's lid ,which will disable the built-in display.
Using Power Management to keep the surface on isn't going to cut it for me.
I waited so long for this Book and now it's useless to me.
Hopefully a fix comes soon ,otherwise I have to move on.
I day trade and need both 4k and 60 Hz to work and having to close the Surface Book's lid ,which will disable the built-in display.
Using Power Management to keep the surface on isn't going to cut it for me.
I waited so long for this Book and now it's useless to me.
Hopefully a fix comes soon ,otherwise I have to move on.
When all is said and done you have three choices ...
And don't expect a fix, this is now official and will remain this way as per specs (the link to which I can't post here apparebtly).
--- Ben :angry:
- Dual 4k monitors at 30 hz
- Dual monitors with 60 hz refresh but set to a lower resolution
- Single 4k monitor at 60 hz
And don't expect a fix, this is now official and will remain this way as per specs (the link to which I can't post here apparebtly).
--- Ben :angry:
Unless it's a software fix. May not be set in stone, that's probably why MS has been quiet on the subject.
I sure hope so. But, from all I have read it appears that the bottleneck is actually the connector to the dock, 60 Hz refreshes of dual 4k displays is more than it can handle. If that is, in fact, the case, then software won't fix it. The solution will likely be to use a USB Type C connector if they include one in the next Surface Book.
--- Ben
--- Ben
I wish this guy would come back and let us know what the resolution and refresh rate is with this set up.
tbird481
New member
This is really disheartening. Before I purchased I check with microsoft regarding my two Dell monitors and they confirmed they would work. I'll try tomorrow but one of them is now on their 'not supported' list. So much for replacing my dual monitor desktop.
Hi there,
Please let me know how it went with hooking up your Dell monitors.
Thanks ,much appreciated .
Please let me know how it went with hooking up your Dell monitors.
Thanks ,much appreciated .
I found this post on another forum.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"By protip
I suppose this appears to have evolved/devolved into my own crusade for dual 4K monitor support with the Surface Book and dock, but I do have some optimism to share. Today, I was connected with a Surface Support representative that did two things I've been looking for:
Acknowledged the issue was known by the Surface Support team and Microsoft.
It is being worked on.
Relatively simple matters, I suppose, but these mean a lot to this particular user. They give me reason to keep waiting.
In fact, the representative optimistically says a fix is in the pipeline, though I would not personally keep anyone to such a timeline. In fact, knowing it is being worked on and a fix will arrive "soon" is sufficient. If it arrives later this month, in mid December, or at the end of the year, ultimately any of these are fine by me. I can wait a reasonable amount of time. I just want to use my second monitor soon.
protip, Nov 24, 2015 "
I also found this . No mention if both are 60Hz or 30Hz
Will someone try it and see if it works..thanks.
"
I am not daisy chaining them, I am using both of the ports on the docking station.
I did find out how to make them work.
1. you must have the docking station connected to the book
2. the displayport VGA adapters must be connected.
3. restart the book, it will not see the displays unless the device is in the boot process.
Although this works, to me it is only a work around. In the plug and play world we should not have to start the device with the displays attached."
Will someone try it and see if it works..thanks.
"
I am not daisy chaining them, I am using both of the ports on the docking station.
I did find out how to make them work.
1. you must have the docking station connected to the book
2. the displayport VGA adapters must be connected.
3. restart the book, it will not see the displays unless the device is in the boot process.
Although this works, to me it is only a work around. In the plug and play world we should not have to start the device with the displays attached."
I also found this...
"If you own a Surface Pro 4 or a Surface Book, there is a good chance you are looking at picking up the Surface dock. The device, which will set you back $199, is not cheap but it does expand the functionality of your Surface quite a bit.
Earlier this week, I ordered two Dell 27in (P2715Q) 4k monitors to use with my Surface Book and Surface Pro 4. The process to get them up and running was a serious pain in the butt which is why I am writing this piece to hopefully help save you a few hours of time when trying to setup your system.
The Surface dock, which claims that it can support 2 4k displays is technically true, but it can only do so at 30hz. If you have never used a monitor at 30hz, it is an awful experience, everything feels sluggish and it’s about as annoying as watching a YouTube video where the audio is off by ? a second. But, according to the documentation for the Surface line, you should be able to run two 4k displays at 60hz, which you can, but not through the dock.
Torun two monitors at 60hz with the dock, you must use one port on the Surface dock and the other DisplayPort on the Surface Pro 4 or Surface Book. Any other arrangement will not work, it took me a few hours to figure this out as Windows doesn’t provide any helpful information and simply locks the displays to 30hz.
My favorite part of this entire experience is that when I was trying to arrange the monitors in the modern Settings app, the layout was displayed backwards. No matter what I did to arrange the multi-monitor setup, the configuration was backwards. Opening up the older control panel had the proper configuration which allowed me to complete the setup process and get the displays aligned correctly.
Unfortunately, this was not the end of my struggles with the dock as another error in Windows kept popping up.
surfacegood
Plugged into my dock was a Blue Yeti microphone, a USB dongle for my mouse, a webcam and Bose speakers (speakers are self-powered) and this caused the USB controller to run out of resources which kills the dock. To fix this, I have to plug my microphone directly into the Surface and leave one port open on the dock otherwise it becomes overburdened and stops functioning.
My hope was that the dock would create a clean solution for running two monitors and all my peripherals but the end product is less than ideal here. If you are not running 4k displays, the dock works wonderfully but when you get near the edge of high end computing environments, the experience breaks down.
And for those who are curious, the SP4 handles pushing two 4k displays just fine but when podcasting, it reaches its max capabilities and begins to feel a bit sluggish. Admittedly, that’s quite a bit of stress on the system with its weaker graphics solution but should hopefully give you a decent reference of what the i5 Pro 4 is capable of handling
.https://www.petri.com/run-two-4k-monitors-surface"
"If you own a Surface Pro 4 or a Surface Book, there is a good chance you are looking at picking up the Surface dock. The device, which will set you back $199, is not cheap but it does expand the functionality of your Surface quite a bit.
Earlier this week, I ordered two Dell 27in (P2715Q) 4k monitors to use with my Surface Book and Surface Pro 4. The process to get them up and running was a serious pain in the butt which is why I am writing this piece to hopefully help save you a few hours of time when trying to setup your system.
The Surface dock, which claims that it can support 2 4k displays is technically true, but it can only do so at 30hz. If you have never used a monitor at 30hz, it is an awful experience, everything feels sluggish and it’s about as annoying as watching a YouTube video where the audio is off by ? a second. But, according to the documentation for the Surface line, you should be able to run two 4k displays at 60hz, which you can, but not through the dock.
Torun two monitors at 60hz with the dock, you must use one port on the Surface dock and the other DisplayPort on the Surface Pro 4 or Surface Book. Any other arrangement will not work, it took me a few hours to figure this out as Windows doesn’t provide any helpful information and simply locks the displays to 30hz.
My favorite part of this entire experience is that when I was trying to arrange the monitors in the modern Settings app, the layout was displayed backwards. No matter what I did to arrange the multi-monitor setup, the configuration was backwards. Opening up the older control panel had the proper configuration which allowed me to complete the setup process and get the displays aligned correctly.
Unfortunately, this was not the end of my struggles with the dock as another error in Windows kept popping up.
surfacegood
Plugged into my dock was a Blue Yeti microphone, a USB dongle for my mouse, a webcam and Bose speakers (speakers are self-powered) and this caused the USB controller to run out of resources which kills the dock. To fix this, I have to plug my microphone directly into the Surface and leave one port open on the dock otherwise it becomes overburdened and stops functioning.
My hope was that the dock would create a clean solution for running two monitors and all my peripherals but the end product is less than ideal here. If you are not running 4k displays, the dock works wonderfully but when you get near the edge of high end computing environments, the experience breaks down.
And for those who are curious, the SP4 handles pushing two 4k displays just fine but when podcasting, it reaches its max capabilities and begins to feel a bit sluggish. Admittedly, that’s quite a bit of stress on the system with its weaker graphics solution but should hopefully give you a decent reference of what the i5 Pro 4 is capable of handling
.https://www.petri.com/run-two-4k-monitors-surface"
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