Trouble connecting to external monitor

[sarcoguy]

Hi. I recently decided to try to hook my Surface up to an external monitor. After doing a little research, I found the Microsoft VGA adapter and lo and behold I found a good deal on a used one on ebay. So, I get the adapter, but when I try to use it to connect my surface to a monitor, nothing happens. I've tried it on a couple of different monitors with the same result. Yes, I brought up the options for multiple screens in windows, i tried all settings on both monitors to no avail.

So, if I know both monitors are working, it has to be either the adapter, the surface, or something I am doing that is the problem. I should note that I had a little difficulty getting the adapter to have a sturdy connection on the Surface port, it seemed to want to come loose easily.

Thoughts?

 

[leeshor]

Thoughts?

eBay? Was it a reputable vendor?

 

[sarcoguy]

Seems to be. They have more than 23k ratings with 99.5% positive feedback. Of course, I could have gotten a bad one that "fell through the cracks," even if they are generally reliable.

 

[sarcoguy]

Update: I returned the adapter to the vendor. They said they tested it and it works fine. So, it appears that maybe it's a problem with my surface. Any idea what to do?

 

[leeshor]

You are taking someones word for it. Try going to a Best Buy and have them test one before buying.

 

[Arizona Willie]

I have the same problem.

I have the ORIGINAL Surface Pro running Windows 10 now but it doesn't work any better under Windows 10 than it did until Windows 8.

I had one of those Amazon wireless adapters ( the first ones the came out with ) and it worked but there was like a 2 second delay. I understand the new versions are quite that bad but still have some delay. Don't know if that's true or not.

Don't really need one of those for wireless projection because the Surface Pro will connect wirelessly to the TV since there were some updates to the TV and Windows 10 became available through the Insider program.

That works.

But I want to connect the Surface Pro to a larger monitor so my owner can see easier. The small screen is ok if you just HAVE to do something but working on a regular screen is better.

I have a Microsoft Display Port adapter that goes from the Display Port to an HDMI cable but when I plug in an HDMI cable I get NOTHING on the monitor. NOTHING . Black Screen.

I have the monitor working with my desktop using an HDMI cable so I < know > the cable is good and the monitor is good.

That leaves two possible culprits.

1) the adapter

2) the Surface Pro port

Is it possible to turn that port off somehow?

I get no output from it no matter which cable I use. I bought a brand new cable yesterday and it does not work neither does the working cable from the computer to the desktop when I switch it from the desktop tower video card to the Surface Pro.

Hook the cable to the tower and I get video. Hook it to the Surface Pro I get bumpkus.

Not even an error message that might help.

Has anyone got the ORIGINAL Surface Pro to work with a separate monitor?

 

[Bzee]

Has anyone got the ORIGINAL Surface Pro to work with a separate monitor?

I have used mine with an external monitor. I just looked at the adapter but it doesn't give the manufacturer's name.

 

[Arizona Willie]

I have used mine with an external monitor. I just looked at the adapter but it doesn't give the manufacturer's name.

===========
On the back of mine there is some faint grey writing.

I looked at it under an illuminated magnifier just now and it says it is a Microsoft Model 1553 and then some electrical characteristics.

 

[Bzee]

The only marking on mine is "|O|" where the "O" has squared off corners and is more rectangular then square. The mini-displayport connector say "PPA" and the cable between the two says DisplayPort Cable E301195. I hadn't used it since going to Windows 10 so I tried it yesterday - still works. I tried two different monitors as the 1st didn't work. After the 2nd one worked I went back to the 1st and got it to work by boot up its desktop and then switching the monitor from DVI to HDMI input,

 

[Arizona Willie]

My monitor is already running on HDMI and I just switch the cable from being connected to the video card in the tower and connect it to the Display port to HDMI adapter.

When I google my adapters number it pops right up and it is supposed to be Display Port to HDMI adapter but I can't get it to work.

Either the Display Port is faulty or the Adapter, it would seem but I don't know how I can test to see if it is the adapter or port since nothing works when connected to it. I know the HDMI cable is good because it is working right now, so the only possibilities are a defective Display Port or defective adapter.

Well I suppose it is possible there is a setting somewhere in the Registry to enable / disable the Display Port but no one from Microsoft has suggested that kind of fix ( or any fix --- they don't answer at all on the Microsoft Forum on this issue ).

 

[Bzee]

Well I suppose it is possible there is a setting somewhere in the Registry to enable / disable the Display Port but no one from Microsoft has suggested that kind of fix ( or any fix --- they don't answer at all on the Microsoft Forum on this issue ).

I guess there could be but my Win 8.1 and Win 10 both seem to have the DisplayPort enabled "out-of-the-box". I'd try another brand of adapter and return it if it didn't work.