Surface Book Docking Station Monitor Continue to Flicker
Hi Warren,
We hear you. Let's look into this screen flickering concern. What recent changes were made before the issue showed? We suggest that you ensure all the latest Surface and Windows updates are installed. Your speculation of the two graphics card jumping connectivity might also be a possible cause, we suggest you check the terminals and wipe it clean with soft cloth. Keep us updated with the status of the issue after cleaning and installing updates.
Regards.
Was this reply helpful?
This has always happened to varying degrees of frequency, and very reproducible. It is happening as I type this right now. Yes, I have been on the blogs for years on this, and have things like clean contacts with alcohol swabs (both the surface dock and the keyboard), cleared out the drivers and reinstalled, disabled drivers to try to force it to one graphics chip, change cables to remove adaptors, swap physical ports on the dock, update the firmware on the dock, ensure all WIndows updates are current, used NVIDIA drivers, removed NVIDIA drives and back to stock, clear display cache, use differing browsers, type carefully not to jostle the computer (in case it is a loose connection), etc. I haven't tried to put in a freezer (cooling the processor/video) because that would be dumb (and indicative something bad anyways). In the latter, I have not been using anything video/processor taxing, therefore, the surface is not running hot.
What I doing at this very moment is bypass the Surface dock and plugged my mini-DP to DP cable directly to the Surface, and it seems to be completely stable. No flicker, flashes, nor the sound of "connect/disconnecting" device. I am even running "YouTube" on both the Dell and the Surface monitors concurrently, and typing. No problems.
What does this say? There seems to be something "not well" in the Surface Dock. Unless there is a micro-fracture in the cable or extreme corrosion in the connectors, both I doubt, I don't think it is due to an intermittent connector issue. When I type and it happens, I have been very careful not to shake or vibrate the surface, it just happens.
With not knowing the root cause, we can only hope to mitigate the symptoms. So in mitigation, I'd suggest not to use the Surface Dock video ports and use the one directly on the Surface; however, the dock interface is larger than the standard charger interface, which keep you from using the onboard mini-DP port when using the Surface Dock.
Do the dilemma is I can "fix" the video flashing by using the on-board mini-DP, however I lose the ability to use the USB ports, charging and Ethernet on the dock (grrrrrr!). I could probably take my Dremel and grind my mini-DP connector down, but obviously, I shouldn't have to do this.
Bottom line, the Surface Dock seems to be borked when it comes to video at least (cheaped out by using weak signaling transceivers?). Whether MS has lessons learned and fixed this on the most current revisions work better is unknown, I bought mine when the original SB first came out.
I am pretty much one with the eventual fact that this might never be fixed...maybe if the SB 3 comes out with a Thunderbolt, and a third party creates a proper dock is left to be seen?
6 people found this reply helpful
·
Was this reply helpful?
This has always happened to varying degrees of frequency, and very reproducible. It is happening as I type this right now. Yes, I have been on the blogs for years on this, and have things like clean contacts with alcohol swabs (both the surface dock and the keyboard), cleared out the drivers and reinstalled, disabled drivers to try to force it to one graphics chip, change cables to remove adaptors, swap physical ports on the dock, update the firmware on the dock, ensure all WIndows updates are current, used NVIDIA drivers, removed NVIDIA drives and back to stock, clear display cache, use differing browsers, type carefully not to jostle the computer (in case it is a loose connection), etc. I haven't tried to put in a freezer (cooling the processor/video) because that would be dumb (and indicative something bad anyways). In the latter, I have not been using anything video/processor taxing, therefore, the surface is not running hot.
What I doing at this very moment is bypass the Surface dock and plugged my mini-DP to DP cable directly to the Surface, and it seems to be completely stable. No flicker, flashes, nor the sound of "connect/disconnecting" device. I am even running "YouTube" on both the Dell and the Surface monitors concurrently, and typing. No problems.
What does this say? There seems to be something "not well" in the Surface Dock. Unless there is a micro-fracture in the cable or extreme corrosion in the connectors, both I doubt, I don't think it is due to an intermittent connector issue. When I type and it happens, I have been very careful not to shake or vibrate the surface, it just happens.
With not knowing the root cause, we can only hope to mitigate the symptoms. So in mitigation, I'd suggest not to use the Surface Dock video ports and use the one directly on the Surface; however, the dock interface is larger than the standard charger interface, which keep you from using the onboard mini-DP port when using the Surface Dock.
Do the dilemma is I can "fix" the video flashing by using the on-board mini-DP, however I lose the ability to use the USB ports, charging and Ethernet on the dock (grrrrrr!). I could probably take my Dremel and grind my mini-DP connector down, but obviously, I shouldn't have to do this.
Bottom line, the Surface Dock seems to be borked when it comes to video at least (cheaped out by using weak signaling transceivers?). Whether MS has lessons learned and fixed this on the most current revisions work better is unknown, I bought mine when the original SB first came out.
I am pretty much one with the eventual fact that this might never be fixed...maybe if the SB 3 comes out with a Thunderbolt, and a third party creates a proper dock is left to be seen?
I'm having exactly the same issues that Warren has so eliquently described but I'm using a 1 week old Surface Book 2 15 (512gb) with a brand new Surface Doc. All I have installed is Adobe creative suite and steam with one game, it could'nt be more fresh and up-to-date surely?.
I've spent a fortune on this kit and am currently furious having lost a days work trying to sort these issues, which quite frankly, should not be happening given the premium quality that this product claims to offer.
Please advise.
4 people found this reply helpful
·
Was this reply helpful?
I have found, at least in my situation, when I flipped the connector it seems to work better than going the other way. Leads me to believe the signaling/connectors are fairly weak? I actually had it running a 3 monitor setup (actually 4, but one was a USB powered monitor) and it was solid for the most part. It is just when it goes into fits, it really goes into fits. Funny thing, is that my gaming workstation does something similar (connected to a totally different device) when I scroll Facebook or doing YouTube and a video (doesn't even have to be playing) scrolls by and it does the "blink out and blink back". It is just annoying as at times it is solid, but then goes into fits. On that system, I've just learned to live with it.
2 people found this reply helpful
·
Was this reply helpful?
It's a beutifaul machine for sure, and playing with it last week I was delighted but todays frustrations when trying to work, boy they've tested me.
SInce writiing the last message, I have downloaded microsoft sotware that updates the Doc itself, have you done this?
Upon restarting the behavior changed straight away, it picked up each monitor and adjuested each ones resolution with the Surface screen also running. Maybe this will do the trick, I'm 5 minutes in and no flicks yet, I did have a good hour earlier with no probs (as you've mentioned) so will see how it goes and report back.
Was this reply helpful?
Yes, I did the "Surface Dock Firmware" application. Not everyone I would think is having this issue, most likely the Surface connector tolerances are such that variations in manufacturing may degrade the signal for some, but not for others. That is just a guess however. But whatever it takes to fix the symptoms. I'm holding out for the Surface Pro 3 (hopefully it gets Thunderbolt...and less finicky hinge and Surface connectors)...and a better dock!
Was this reply helpful?
I've just had some more lines! No black outs and not as frequent as before but still - wait, as I'm typing - black out on monitor 2!?!?!?!?! ARgghghghgh.
So Microsoft, please do 'reach out' with some advise on these (another screen blackout) issues, if you have any info or idea as I'm really not impressed right now.
Update - still getting horizontal black lines, black-out's seem more frequent when I'm working on a window (browser/email/word-doc) on the other monitor, they last around 1 second.
Was this reply helpful?
Hi Martin,
We suggest that you download and run Surface Diagnostic Toolkit. This will run a series of test on your device and download the latest updates that would help you resolve the issue.
Let us know if you need further assistance.
Was this reply helpful?
Hi Martin,
We suggest that you download and run Surface Diagnostic Toolkit. This will run a series of test on your device and download the latest updates that would help you resolve the issue.
Let us know if you need further assistance.
Hi Vicky,
Thank you for your respone. I've donwloaded thetoolkit but am going to hold off running it as think I may have resolved the issue.
Having already tried 2 different, suposedly high quality HDMI cables, I stumbled acroos an old one that I had which was pretty cheep. As soon as it was connected the screen went crazy, the same banding and lines but exagertied by a 1,000 times.
I then reached for my Xbox One X cable, since then, around 7 hours ago, I have not had any problems at all.
It's be fairly low intesity usage today so we'll see if this holds out, but hopefully this is the answer to the problem and may help others in the saame situation.
Was this reply helpful?
Ok, I didn't think it was true, however, I replaced all my cables and removed any adapters in the loop from the Surface dock to the monitors, and I will have to say the problems have pretty much gone. Once in a blue moon I might have an issue, but it is a rare occurrence. I'm not sure if the HDMI specification signal thresholds are such that they are so sensitive to the quality of your cable and/or workmanship on the connectors, but there you go. FYI, I didn't buy any overly expensive replacement cables, just some "Amazon Basics" branded ones.
P.S. I had somewhat the same issue with my gaming computer with a GTX 1080 connected to my Samsung 70" at 1080p using a 25 foot cable. I replaced the old cable with a newer one that had decent reviews on Amazon, and problem gone.
So the thing is try buying a new (or different) set of cables, save the receipt in case it doesn't help and you need to return them. But it is worth a shot than just living with the annoying video drop outs.
Good luck!
1 person found this reply helpful
·
Was this reply helpful?
Source: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/all/surface-book-on-surface-dock-screen-flickers-on/f4e9e4e8-69ad-4452-971f-554f6070ae75
0 Response to "Surface Book Docking Station Monitor Continue to Flicker"
Post a Comment