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BSOD Multiple monitors (3 or more)

bjoeg_dk

New Member
Hey, I need help for a friend with his Surface 3 Pro (Windows 10 all updated)

FYI I am very tech savvy, however not completely expert on Surfaces.

Back to the problem. My friend is using his Surface everywhere. On the go and in the office.
When he is working in the office, he would very much like to have 3 4K monitors hooked to the Surface (since this is the main computer for him).

My choice for him to use so many monitors were to use the Surface dock (that new brick model, not the old docking station), since this had to mini-display ports, and an external 4K USB3.0-DP adapter (Club3D CSV-2302), or in other words and extra graphics card.

I managed to hook up all the monitors and arrange the monitors, so the Surface screen is blank and the desktop is extended on the 3 Dell P2715Q monitors he has, all running their native resolution 3840*2160.
Everthing worked, right until the point I wanted to test the mobility, so I pulled the dock-plug on the Surface while it was running everything was fine, but then I plugged the Surface back to the dock.

For a short while there was picture on the monitors, however for that short while it all looked like duplicated screens, and then the Surface started going into a reboot loop with short occasions of a BSOD symptom.

I managed to get the Surface back into a stable condition and tried once more, this time, one monitor at a time.
1 external monitor connected to Dock's mDP = no problem.
2 external monitors connected to the Dock's mDPs = no problem
3 external monitors connected to the Dock's mDP and USB DP adapter = Crash, reboot loop and BSODs.

Another twist I tried. The Dell P2715Q supports DP Multi-Stream (MST), which allows to daisy-chain monitors on a single DP. However due to the Surface 3 Pro's GPU limitations, you cannot have 2 monitors running 4K when chained through MST.

Anyhow the scenario remained the same:
1 external monitor connected to Dock's mDP = no problem.
2 external monitors connected to the Dock's mDPs = no problem
3 external monitors connected to the Dock's mDP with 3rd monitor running thru MST = Crash, reboot loop and BSODs.

So my basic question and help I need, how can I get 3 external monitors running at the same time_

When it comes to checking up on drivers and BIOS/UEFI on my friend's Surface, I feel like I hit the wall.
From what I can tell, all updates will come through Windows Update.
I found the manual driver packages for the SP3, and so far it seems like the SP3 was not completely up to date. But the driver package did not come with an installer, just the bunch of folders for every part of the SP3 and the files. Do I really have to go through every single folder and rightclick the INF file for installation/update of the driver?
 
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bjoeg_dk

New Member
Forgot SP3 comes with different specss. It is the HD5000 which is the GPU (cant remember the exact CPU), so based on your link it supports 3 independant digital display.

And remember I tested with a USB GPU for the third monitor, which counts 2 monitors on the HD 5000, and it crashes as well.
 
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bjoeg_dk

New Member
That specific USB Graphic Adapter uses the DisplayLink Video Card and the drivers that are stock seem to be pretty old, go to DisplayLink: Windows Software and download the latest drivers and see if that helps.

Good suggestion, and I have read the release notes of DisplayLink's newest driver and there are actually some fixes to BSOD when unplugging til adapter (aka as in unplugging the dock from Surface), so I will try this next time I can get hold of the Surface and report back.
 
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