Surface dock 2 not connecting to monitors using usb-c cables

Question

I purchased two new surface dock2 to connect our surface pro 7 to our widescreen monitors using usb-c cables. Neither of the monitors would connect through the usb-c ports.

One monitor is an LG 38WK95C. The other is a Dell ultrasharp U3818DW. The LG monitor previously worked connecting to a macbook pro through the usb-c port.

To be clear, I first connected the surface dock 2 to one of the surface pro 7 devices and connected the Dell to the surface dock 2 through the usb-c. A messages was displayed to the effect that the monitor should be connected through a displayport. The monitor never showed up in windows, although you would get the sound like a monitor was recognized and the displayport message. Using the "detect monitor" feature came back with "no monitor detected".

I then connected the LG to the other surface pro 7 device through the surface dock 2. The exact same behavior occurred.

Windows update showed no updates available. I then manually updated the firmware on one of the surface pro 7 devices. Still no joy.

Answer 1

Hi, Jeff Ranck!

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Community. We are sorry to learn you have issues allowing your Surface Dock 2 to display the external monitors connected to it. Thanks for taking the time to let us know about this and allowing us to help you out.

May we know if tried a direct connection to the Surface Pro 7's USB-C port to check if the monitor will be recognized?

Also, have you plugged the USB-C cable to the ports at the back? Those USB-C ports near the audio jack.

If it will not work, you may need a USB-C to HDMI adapter to plug to the dock to plug HDMI the cable of your monitor (if using the HDMI port of your monitor). 

For further steps, you can be guided at https://support.microsoft.com/help/4023496/

If this answers your question, please let our Community know by marking this post as an answer. Otherwise, don't hesitate to respond to this thread if there’s anything else that needs to be addressed. 

Kind regards,

Janette_Z

Answer 2

I have noticed you need to have the dock connected with the wire pointing towards the track pad.  On the old dock this did not matter.  I don't know what's up with this issue but surface to surface doc 2 connection  is directional for monitor support.  direction does not matter for any other usb connections.

Answer 3

I had the same issue running a HDMI cable through USB C from a Surface Book 2 connected by a Surface Dock 2 to an older NEC MultiSync PA 272 W. I kept getting a no signal error. I was looking at the advance display options, then "display adapter properties for display 2" then "Monitor" and noticed the hertz was set to 59. When I moved it to 60, the display began working again. This might be worth a try. I don't know why it worked but perhaps some monitors are more sensitive than others to the Hertz setting.

Answer 4

I simply unplugged my dock both at the dock and at the brick power supply.  I let it sit for about a minute and then reconnected it.   That did the trick for me.