Surface Book + Surface Dock - 'Too Many USB hubs are connected together'

[MattS]

I've been getting an error (see image below) whenever I disconnect and reconnect my Surface Book to my Surface Dock. My dock is connected to one Anker AH241 USB hub with only two devices plugged into it. Granted, my USB hub is a 13 port, but it never gave me errors when it was connected to a SP3 or any other computers I have used it with.

I should also mention that all my USB devices appear to work fine once it settles after the connection to the dock is made.

Just curious if anyone else has seen this.

 

[jnjroach]

That usually happens due to a detected electrical surge via the USB...

 

[MattS]

That sounds plausible, but why doesn't the SP3 give an error when I connect it to the same surface dock? Maybe the surface book is more sensitive? Actually, from my experience with the surface book, I'd say it's very sensitive, and not in a completely good way.

 

[jnjroach]

That sounds plausible, but why doesn't the SP3 give an error when I connect it to the same surface dock? Maybe the surface book is more sensitive? Actually, from my experience with the surface book, I'd say it's very sensitive, and not in a completely good way.

More likely is that the Surface Book as additional I/O on the BUS internally....

 

[Wayne Orwig]

The keyboard base would have a hub.
The Dock would have a hub.
The 13 port hub may actually be a 5 port first level hub with two second level 5 port hubs (5+5 and 3 left from the first level hub = 13)
So that is 4 levels.
One of the devices you have may have a hub even though you don't know it, or the Clipboard may actually have a hub for some I/Os in it before it even gets to the keyboard.

So yea, I can see there being 5 levels, and the SP3 doesn't have the keyboard hub to pass through, so would have one less level.

I would try a 5 port hub in place of that 13 port.

 

[GreyFox7]

Id think a surge error would say exactly that and I have gotten surge errors before that were quite explicit. This message as well seems pretty clear. Too many USB hubs chained together. so... if you move the USB hub from the dock to one of the ports is the message still received? How about the port on the clipboard?

Note I'm not trying to suggest this is a solution, just a troubleshooting step.

 

[MattS]

I think there might be something more sinister going on. I disconnected the extra hub altogether as a starting point. A few minutes later, my mouse and keyboard stopped working, the system tray started popping in and out USB connected devices (currently only mouse and keyboard) and eventually fixed itself. It's done it a few times already.

I'll be able to test if it is the surface book itself, as a replacement unit is supposed to show up today for a different issue (screen imperfection, 1/3" white spot). Once I finish a system restore on the new one, I guess I'll see if it's the dock or surface.

Thanks for the troubleshooting tips guys. I'll post an update after I try the new SB.

 

[GreyFox7]

I think there might be something more sinister going on. I disconnected the extra hub altogether as a starting point. A few minutes later, my mouse and keyboard stopped working, the system tray started popping in and out USB connected devices (currently only mouse and keyboard) and eventually fixed itself. It's done it a few times already.

I'll be able to test if it is the surface book itself, as a replacement unit is supposed to show up today for a different issue (screen imperfection, 1/3" white spot). Once I finish a system restore on the new one, I guess I'll see if it's the dock or surface.

Thanks for the troubleshooting tips guys. I'll post an update after I try the new SB.

you might want to test before restoring because you may restore this problem on the new system.