Surface Dock 2 Audio Problem

Question

Besides reading all the posts I could find on the subject, on both the Microsoft Community & Support Forums here are the particulars:

1. New Surface Pro 9 (Business Edition) with Windows 11 Pro 22H2, latest firmware & Windows updates installed
2. New Surface Dock 2, latest firmware installed & "hardware reset" done twice, per Microsoft's instructions
3. All suggested diagnostics run, including the Windows internal ones and both the Surface app and the Surface Diagnostic app
4. A total shutdown & restart before each procedure and numerous plugging & unplugging the 2 different (and known-good) sets of external speakers
5. All other ports on the dock work fine, including the Ethernet port and all of the USB ports. (Even the USB-C video monitor ports next to the audio jack, which usually are a nightmare to deal with)

Crazily, sometimes (but not always) a "microphone" is "detected" when the speakers are plugged in, but never an actual set of speakers.

Also by a sheer coincidence, I have access to an old Surface Dock 1, owned by a friend and the external speakers show up immediately upon being plugged in and work like a charm.

When I plug in my old Microsoft LifeChat LX-3000 USB 2.0 headset it's recognized immediately and both the headphones & the mic work just fine.

Newsflash! Well, just before I was about to let this post rip, I fiddled & faddled around deep in the guts of the Windows audio settings "1 more time" and somehow (I have no idea how) a "Headphones (Surface Dock 2 Audio)" setting literally popped-up outta nowhere, after literally hours of messing with this thing. Whether or not it was caused by plugging-in my old Windows headset, I guess I'll never know. I do know this much though; when using Windows Media Player you have to select the speakers you want to use (internal or external) and then reboot the computer first, to have it take effect. Whatever the case, this is about as far from the old "Plug & Play" as you can possibly get. And again, it was nowhere near this much trouble with its predecessor, the Surface Dock 1. A cautionary tale, for any of those who may be having the same (or similar) problems.

And last but not least, is there an actual "manual" for the Surface Dock 2 somewhere, as opposed to the bare-bones "Setup Guide" that comes with the unit?

And now I'm gonna quit while I'm ahead

Answer 1

Hi Travis_Lloyd,

Thank you for reaching Microsoft Community and ap[ologies for the inconvenience this has caused you.

Just to make sure though: the issue with the speakers detected as microphone is already resolved suddenly after plugging the old headset where the Headphones (Surface Dock 2 Audio) suddenly pops up and now the speakers are detected as audio output device. However, in Windows Media Player, you have to do a restart first every time you change the output from internal speakers to external speakers and vice versa in order for the change to take effect, correct?

Does this behavior also happen outside the Windows Media Player like while you are watching video or playing music through a web browser then change the output from internal to external speakers by selecting the Sound icon on the Taskbar then change the select output device?

Which Surface pro 9 configuration do you have? Intel or 5G?

Whenever you change the output device between external and internal speakers, kindly try to check in Device Manager if a driver is banged out or getting an error before you do a restart to have the change in output take effect. If a driver is banged out, please take note of the name and share it to us then try to click Action and select Scan for hardware changes. See if it applies the change in output device instead of doing a restart.

For the actual manual concern, I'm sorry but no, we do not have a user manual available for our Surface devices and accessories.

Let me know how it goes.

Kind regards,

Marrion

Answer 2

I have been trying my best to answer this for over an hour now but it won't let me, so I'll come back and try later. I don't know what this kind of Tomfoolery as all about!