Solved Surface Book 4k Woes (Single Monitor)

[AntonioG]

Good evening Gents – I’m in need of a little assistance. I’m a proud Surface Book owner (Corei7/16GB/512) and today I (convinced?) my wife into letting me upgrade my old monitor to a 4k one (I picked up the Samsung U28E590 from Best Buy on sale.) I have spent the better part of 4 hours trying to get the monitor to connect to the Surface Book via the Surface Dock @ 4k 60Hz with no luck. It will connect @ 4k 30Hz just fine…

I went back to BB and was told that I needed a “high speed” HDMI cable because the one that shipped with the monitor likely didn’t have the needed bandwidth to support 60Hz… Um… Ok – at this point I’ll try it (and there goes $30 on a new HDMI cable.)

My setup:

Surface Book -> Surface Dock -> Surface m-DP to HDMI dongle -> “high speed” HDMI -> HDMI input #2

The monitor’s manual states that HDMI input #1 supports 3840 x 2160 @ 30Hz; HDMI input #2 supports 3840 x 2160 @ 60Hz. Also, I downloaded the latest monitor drivers from Samsung and they are installed. When connected to HDMI input #2, I get nadda… it just keeps cycling on/off – and the Surface display will do the same. I check Device Manager and see the monitor continually being added and removed… When I connect to HDMI input #1 – things work fine… except that I’m limited to 30 Hz.

When I connect the monitor directly to the SB I get limited to 1920 x 1080 whether I use HDMI input 1 or 2.

So, am I missing something? This shouldn’t be rocket science… does the Surface Dock support a single 4k monitor @ 60Hz? What about the m-DP to HDMI dongle? (I can’t find anything definitive from MS.) Must I use a m-DP to full DP cable (I see a couple on Amazon that are far cheaper than the recommended $30 HDMI cable from BB.) Crappy monitor? What gives!?

Any info or guidance is greatly appreciated!

-a

 

[Seneleron]

From the documentation online, the E590 SHOULD do 60Hz over HDMI, though the D590 will not.
If I were setting this up, I'd skip the whole thing and just go Mini Display Port.

Actually if it were me I'd see if:

Dealmaster: Get a Dell 3440x1440 curved monitor and a $250 gift card for $679

was still available, but that's just me ; )

 

[AntonioG]

From the documentation online, the E590 SHOULD do 60Hz over HDMI, though the D590 will not.
If I were setting this up, I'd skip the whole thing and just go Mini Display Port.

Actually if it were me I'd see if:

Dealmaster: Get a Dell 3440x1440 curved monitor and a $250 gift card for $679

was still available, but that's just me ; )

I have the E590, but 60Hz isn't working. I'm going to follow that bit of advice and try Display Port. Ordered a mini-DP to DP cable around 2a; should be delivered soon. (TGF same day delivery!)

-a

 

[protip]

Based on the Amazon Q&A for that monitor and my general opinion of DisplayPort versus HDMI, I agree with Seneleron: use a DisplayPort cable and avoid HDMI. DisplayPort 1.2 will support 60 Hz and you should have no problem connecting a single DisplayPort 1.2 4K monitor to your Surface Book via the dock.

Things get interesting (to use a euphemism) when you attempt to connect two 4K monitors.

 

[AntonioG]

Based on the Amazon Q&A for that monitor and my general opinion of DisplayPort versus HDMI, I agree with Seneleron: use a DisplayPort cable and avoid HDMI. DisplayPort 1.2 will support 60 Hz and you should have no problem connecting a single DisplayPort 1.2 4K monitor to your Surface Book via the dock.

Things get interesting (to use a euphemism) when you attempt to connect two 4K monitors.

Yup - the DisplayPort cable I ordered from Amazon works perfectly. 4k @ 60Hz from the Surface Dock.

Thanks!

-a

 

[leeshor]

Love it when a plan come together.. Marked solved.

 

[Wenhao318]

Hey guys,

I'm having a similar issue, but I am using a proper using mini-DP to DP cable from Surface Book to an LG 31" 4K monitor. I have a Surface Book i5 256GB dGPU.

Here is what I'm seeing:

As you can see, the 4K display flickers on and off. If I disable Displayport 1.2 on the Monitor OSD, it works fine, but I'm stuck at 30Hz and 3840 x 2160.

With DisplayPort 1.2 enabled on the monitor, I should be able to get 60Hz at 4096 x 2160 resolution, but it flickers as seen in the video.

Things I've tried:

• 2 different miniDP to DP cables.
• The same miniDP Cable from my desktop to this same monitor works fine
• Even if I set the monitor screen resolution to 1920 x 1080 (or any resolution for that matter), the screen still flickers just the same, as long as Displayport 1.2 is enabled on the Monitor OSD
• I have the latest updated firmware and display drivers (as of 1/10/2016) from Microsoft.

It feels to me that I may have a defective DisplayPort on this machine, since I haven't seen any reports to my knowledge of people having issues with a single monitor flickering, while using a proper Display Port cable, and not going through the dock. Let me know what you guys think, any help is appreciated.

Thanks!
Wen

 

[elee532]

Actual Wen, I'm experiencing the same flickering as you with a 2560 x 1080 monitor with MiniDP to DP cable using the Surface Dock. So frustrating!

 

[Wenhao318]

Hey elee532, yea it sucks Does it happen when you plug it in directly to the Surface book (i.e. not via the dock)?

 

[Seneleron]

I use a mini DP to DP cable to connect my SB to a dell 34" 3440 x 1440, which is daisy chained via ANOTHER Mini DP to DP cable to a 29" monitor, and I have no issues running 60Hz on both simultaneously. In troubleshooting, I'd start with the cable first and trace it from there. I've gotten my share of sketchy cables in the past. If you're 100% SURE the cables work, tested by, say, hooking up another machine and verifying, THEN I'd start to look at settings and hardware issues.

 

[Wenhao318]

Seneleron, that's a pretty cool setup, a lot of pixels I had tried with the DP cable that came with the monitor, and also this one, which I purchased from amazon: Amazon.com: Cable Matters Gold Plated Mini DisplayPort (Thunderbolt Port Compatible) to DisplayPort Cable in Black 3 Feet - 4K Resolution Ready: Computers & Accessories

If I use this exact same physical cable though from my Desktop Rig Geforce GTX970 to the same 4k monitor, it works perfectly

Any further recommendations on cables I could try?

 

[Seneleron]

At this point best suggestion is to uninstall both Intel and nvidia GPU drivers and restart. The SB will auto detect and reinstall drivers after restarting. Make sure you download the driver package from ms before doing this JUST TO BE SURE that you won't need them. Safety first

If that does not resolve, realizing this is kind of a pain: next step would be to take the cable and SB to a retail location that has 4K monitors and asking if you can perform a Functionality test. If you can duplicate the issue across another 4K screen (recommend different manufacturer product if available) if issue persists, see if they have a cable you can use to test. If the issue STILL persists, then you've isolated the issue to the dp port on the surface. If it functions as intended with your cable, you have a compatibility issue. If if functions with the new cable, it's a cable issue. If it still has an issue, ask if they'd can try a different SB to verify different unit works.

If a different unit has the same issue, with a new cable and supported 4K monitor: go mad, pretend you're an olive and jump in and out of a giant gin n' tonic. Do not fear the men in the clean white coats, they will resolve your issue while escorting you to an executive waiting room.



If it comes to going to a retail outlet, don't settle for just anyone. Ask them for the it tech that works on the weird problems.. The guy that loves figuring out transient issues. Give that person as much detail as to what the issue is and what steps you've attempted to isolate the issue.

[sorry, slow day @ work]