Surface Dock Unreliable

[Tony Xiang]

Hi there,

I just got my Surface Pro 4 (i5 8GB 256GB) and the Surface Dock. I found the Surface Dock is not working reliably with the external monitor. Here are some issues:

1. When the Surface goes to sleep with dock connected, after it wakes up, the external monitor is not displaying sometimes. I have to disconnect the dock and re-connect to make the display work.
2. When I connect the Surface (Active) to the Dock, the external monitor is not displaying sometimes. I have to disconnect the DisplayPort of the dock and reconnect to make the display work. Sometimes even this will not solve the problem, I have to reboot the Surface.

Are these software/firmware issues, or real hardware issues? If it is the latter case, I should return the Dock.

 

[m4600]

I have similar symptoms with a completely different laptop and even with the monitor connected to it directly without any dock. What I usually do is press the power button on the monitor itself off and the on. That fully restores the video in my case. Try it and see if that will work for you: much easier than rebooting or disconnecting the cables.

 

[sott3]

I was just about to post something here about the Dock. When we try to use our older Dell monitors through the dock, the monitors say that cannot display the video mode. But if you plug either monitor directly into the Surface, the monitor works fine. I have gotten newer monitors to work with the Dock but not these older ones.
Even when my monitors do work with the Dock, the monitors do not come on reliably.

 

[teletype]

I was just about to post something here about the Dock. When we try to use our older Dell monitors through the dock, the monitors say that cannot display the video mode. But if you plug either monitor directly into the Surface, the monitor works fine. I have gotten newer monitors to work with the Dock but not these older ones.
Even when my monitors do work with the Dock, the monitors do not come on reliably.

I'm having this same issue with an older Dell 2407WFP display at my office. It's a 2006 vintage, but still a good display. It runs at 1920x1200, 60Hz. Using a MiniDP to DVI dongle, it works fine when connected directly to the Surface Book keyboard. With the dock, I get an out of range error. I also have a 1920x1080 120Hz Asus display connected to the dock, which works fine. The Dell doesn't work even if I disconnect the Asus from the dock.

Sorry, I don't have an answer. This is the only post I've found with a similar issue, so I'm mostly just adding google-fu in case anyone does have an answer.

 

[Philip E Lewis]

I have exactly the same issue withe the same hardware.

 

[le_pie]

Yep, same here. Same issue, same older Dell monitor E228WFP. Works when plugged directly into my Book, doesn't work through the dock.

 

[slysy]

I read elsewhere that if you are using a miniDP to DVI adapter, it needs to be an "active" adapter to work with the SP dock

 

[TLRtheory]

I read elsewhere that if you are using a miniDP to DVI adapter, it needs to be an "active" adapter to work with the SP dock

Absolutely true.

This is exactly what I ran into with both my SP3 and S3 when putting them in their respective docking stations... passive adapters simply won't cut it. I switched to an active adapter and haven't had a single issue since.

 

[thaddyusmaximus]

I have the same issues as the OP with my relatively recent Dell 24" 1900x1200 monitor. Even with an active adapter that Microsoft Recommends (CableMatters on Amazon) mini DP to HDMI. It also occurs using DP to Mini DP using a 4k Certified Cable. If I lock my screen and walk away and let the Surface Book auto sleep the Dell Monitor won't wake up. Whether it's through the dock or direct to my Surface Book. It won't do it if I manually go to sleep and resume. For now I set Display off and sleep settings to Never. Maybe it's just when the external display goes off?

 

[EricMat]

I just installed the latest patch that was supposed to squash most of the bugs.
I'm using a BenQ GW2765 monitor.
The monitor doesn't work when plugged in the dock. When plugged directly in the Surface, it sometimes work, but not since the last update.
I'm VERY disappointed in this device so far. Not sure I'll keep it.

 

[thaddyusmaximus]

Do you have an active adaptor, also try installing the monitor driver. That help my issues

 

[spoonxii]

Docking seems better at auto recognizing monitors with SP4 new updates - not sure about 4K but I did not have to in to settings and extend the displays this morning - first time ever.

 

[welsbloke]

In order to keep people better informed about possible solutions I will detail my issues and what appears to have fixed it. I have recently purchased the Surface Book with a docking unit, like many others I found it to be highly unreliable. The USB ports would drop in and out the displays would be recognised inconsistently and docking and undocking generally spelled trouble.

After much reading I put the issue down to the cabling of the docking unit to the twin monitors. I personally use my twin monitors whilst docked and have the lid closed on the Surface Book.

After some experimentation the solution for me was to change from the DVI to Display port cables to a Ungreen active mini display port adaptors connected to a standard DVI single link cable (that's the one with missing pins in the middle that the Surface Dock trouble shooter advises against). As the monitors are only 1080p it was not necessary to use the Dual link DVI cables in fact they did not work (again the Surface Dock trouble shooter webpage is probably thinking we all have 4k monitors connected and they would need the Dual link and I suspect that causes stability issues for some).

All my issues now appear to be gone and that includes things which I would not attribute to the display such as recognising the connected peripherals. I can now take the dock away with ease and redock and now everything works every time. Finally I can use it as I was expecting.

I have a friend with 3 Surface Books with docks who has nothing but issues and I will see if I can pass this on to him and let you know if I can resolve his issues, he has 4k screens so I will be checking out both the adaptor and that we have dual link in this case DVI cables. Certainly the Surface Book points you in the directions but its confusing as you don't know if its the monitor or a cable or the docking station itself makes it difficult for somebody who expects these things to work out of the box especially if you have been using docking solutions for years to then have all these issues.