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SP4 with Surface Dock, have to reconfigure external monitors every time I dock it

tsimmons

New Member
I have a Surface Pro 4 and just recently purchased the Surface dock. It's connected to two Dell U2412mb 24" external monitors via a pair of cable matters mini DP to DVI cables. I also have a label printer, external hard drive dock, and a wireless mouse and keyboard, all connected through USB, as well as a wired network connection. The problem is..... When I dock the Surface, configure the external monitors the way I want them, then disconnect from the dock, do what I need to do, and come back, the external monitors are set to disconnected and I have to go into the control panel/settings and extend them again. It does this literally every time I dock it. I have a co worker with the exact same setup and his works fine. I'm leaning toward a faulty dock but wanted to reach out to other users here first to see if it might be a simple fix I just haven't thought of. Thanks in advance.

Additional note: I just discovered that if I disconnect either monitor from the dock and just have one external display, it works as designed, on either one. I would think that eliminated either monitor or the cable as the culprit, so from what I can tell, it's just that when there are two external monitors it is not happy.
 
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Orlbuckeye

Active Member
I have to do the same thing if I use the MS wireless display adapter and it usually takes multiple trys to get it to connect so I bought the HDMI adapter.
 

Nuspieds

Active Member
This problem used to be horrific with my SB (I have 3 monitors: 2 via DP and 1 via USB). It has vastly improved over time, though, with the various Updates.

I now consider it a non-issue; however, I still keep a handy utility on my Task Bar to restore the display configurations when the issue returns from time to time.
 

Tsurugaya

Active Member
I have to do the same thing if I use the MS wireless display adapter and it usually takes multiple trys to get it to connect so I bought the HDMI adapter.
So did I, so did I. Then we got the new firmware update and now when I boot up the Surface Pro 3 just flickers like it was psychotic or something. If I disconnect the dock connected mDP monitor turn I get back the monitor connected to the SP3. Every time we have a major update it wreaks havoc on my mDP port in the dock.
 
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tsimmons

New Member
Ok, I believe I've found something that may help many people. I've been experimenting with different cable/connection types and adapters, nothing has really made a difference, that is until today. I didn't have any mini display port to full size display port cables on hand so I purchased a pair on amazon which arrived today. I hooked them up to the existing monitors I've been using and the issue appears to have gone away immediately. I have a co-worker with the same setup who is also reporting that he has not experienced the problem since swapping out the cables either. So..... if you have a monitor or monitors with display ports try these cables below. So far so good for us here.

Amazon.com: StarTech.com 6 ft Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort 1.2 Adapter Cable M/M - DisplayPort 4k with HBR2 support - 6 feet Mini DP to DP Cable: Electronics
 
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