Surface Pro 9 and Thunderbolt™ 4 Dock-Issues with Firmware update, two external monitors and Network Speed

[zimbrich]

I apologize for rolling three (3) issues into one here but it all seems to be related to the Dock. I bought a new Thunderbolt™ 4 Dock last summer when I upgraded from an SP6 to a Surface Pro 9. I noticed that I was only getting about 85Mbps download speed (I have Xfinity 1200 Mbps Service). Other PCs in the house can get up to 760 Mbps speed so I am confident that it is now my network/router/modem. Today I kept on dropping Internet/Network connections through the Thunderbolt™ 4 Dock so I went out and purchased a new Thunderbolt™ 4 Dock this morning. Here are the issues I am seeing:

• After connecting all USB and network to the exact same positions on the new dock, and connected my SP9, everything came up the same as the old Dock, with both external monitors connecting just fine and in the same locations.
• I opened the Surface app and saw that the new dock was recognized but indicated that a new firmware was available.
• I checked network speed and still was getting 85 Mbps download speed.
• I went ahead and started to upgrade the firmware of the new Thinderbolt™ 4 Dock and the download started.
• After a minute or two, a message came up and said "unplug the USB-C connector for 90 seconds.
• I unplugged the USB-C for approximately 2 minutes and it never connected.
• I waited about 5 minutes with nothing happening (SP9 was fine but only with its own display).
• I cycled power (I know, I'm asking for a brick...) and the dock came up, connected to the SP9 but only showed one (1) external display and it was set to "duplicate" mode.
• I set it to "Extended desktop" mode and the first external monitor worked just fine, but the 2nd external monitor was undetectable.
• I switched USB-C to HDMI cables and the other monitor started working as expected but the first became undetectable.
• I saw that the Surface app still indicated that the Thunderbolt™ 4 Dock needed a firmware upgrade.
• I started the firmware upgrade again and the progress bar goes to 100% but the "Update" button is grayed-out.

So now I have a new Thunderbolt™ 4 Dock that doesn't work any better than the old one (it's ok, I have plans for the extra dock) and I am stuck in a firmware "limbo" and can't complete the firmware upgrade and can only get one (1) of the two (2) external monitors to function.

Any help is most appreciated!

 

[zimbrich]

UPDATE: As soon as I posted this thread, I unplugged the dock and repowered it. Both monitors came back up, working as expected. The Surface app now indicates "Firmware is up to date" on the dock. So this is good. But the network speed is still the same: ~85-88 Mbps download speed. I have a network monitoring software running so I will see in a few hours if connectivity issues are resolved.

So slow network speed seems to be the main issue right now. Should I only expect ~85-88 Mbps download speed from the Ethernet connection on the dock? That seems a little slow considering it's a brand new $299 dock.