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How to activate the Surface Dock Display Port

lami

New Member
Hi,
I'm normally using my old 24" Apple LED Cinema Display without any issues on the Display port directly on my Surface pro 4.
Today I got a Surface Dock and it won't work when connected to the display port adapter on the Dock (still working directly on the Surface). I read in the Forum that there are all sorts of issues if one needs to use an adapter, but the display has a native display port cable/Interface so I assume it should work.
Does anyone know what I need to do to get this working?

Many thanks for your help.
 

GreyFox7

Super Moderator
Staff member
Make sure all updates are applied... Run Windows Update while docked to make sure the dock updates are applied.
 
OP
L

lami

New Member
Thanks for the hint, I ran Windows Update a few times and it states that there are no updates available at the moment.
The issue still remains.
 
OP
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lami

New Member
It always get stranger. I connected the surface dock via mini dp to dvi adapter and dvi to hdmi adapter to my tv to prove that the dock has an issue but it works fine.
Now I'm honestly totally lost on why my monitor won't work unisingvthe dock.
 

GreyFox7

Super Moderator
Staff member
DP standardization is pretty poor IMO. To me the only reason there's so much trouble with DP connections is vendors not adhering to the standard closely enough or the standard is defective and fails to specify conditions that guarantee proper implementation. With everyone doing it slightly different this is what you get, hit or miss operation with no rhyme or reason for failures.

Try different cables, check monitor settings, sacrifice a goat on the alter of the DP gods. sorry I can't be of more help but my one frustrating experience with DP left a bad taste and I wont try it again until they get to DP 2.0 or 3.0. There is really no excuse for this, it's just a crap standard IMO.
 

Nuspieds

Active Member
Hi,
I'm normally using my old 24" Apple LED Cinema Display without any issues on the Display port directly on my Surface pro 4.
Today I got a Surface Dock and it won't work when connected to the display port adapter on the Dock (still working directly on the Surface). I read in the Forum that there are all sorts of issues if one needs to use an adapter, but the display has a native display port cable/Interface so I assume it should work.
Does anyone know what I need to do to get this working?

Many thanks for your help.
There's no "activation" necessary; I have two 30" Dells connected to the Dock.

But the Dock definitely has stability issues with its connected devices. I have two Docks, so I am always able to troubleshoot to determine if it is more-than-likely an issue specific to one of my Docks (i.e., a it's a defective Dock). So far, though, both Docks have exhibited the same behavior when troubleshooting, so I think both units are fine.

You might want to try a hard reset to see if that helps. It has worked for me when I've lost monitors and other Dock-connected devices that were not rediscovered after a reboot.
 
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