Monitor USB-C to DP glitch

[citoyen]

When I'm WFH, I have my Surface Book connected to a second monitor, using a USB-C to DisplayPort connector.

It's fine except that every so often, the screen of the external monitor blacks out for a couple of seconds, seemingly without provocation. It never lasts more than a few seconds before it comes back on again but it is rather irritating.

Any suggestions as to a cause and fix?

The only outputs on the Surface are USB (A and C). I do have the necessary to connect to the HDMI input on the monitor if the panel thinks that is worth trying.

[ScumOfTheRoad]

No idea of the fix. Technical support stock answer is to update your BIOS and drivers. I would suggest this before going further.

On a Linux laptop I would suggest looking at dmesg and system logs.

[ScumOfTheRoad]

Another suggestion - get one of those USB-C dongles with a DisplayPort output and use a DIsplayPort cable.
I know that is no guarantee of things working if the problem is at the Surface end of the cable.

[citoyen]

You know what, just for the sake of trying the basics first before doing anything more drastic, I tried wiggling the plug at the monitor end to check it was firmly placed in the socket...

Seems to have done the trick. At least, it hasn't happened again for the last hour or so.

 

[ScumOfTheRoad]

(I know this is at the DisplayPort end)
I read that UCB-C sockets and connectors are made to a much higher standard than the cheapo USB-A.
If I recall rated to 10 000 connect cycles.

Having said that Mrs Scum's Chromebook is faulty on one socket and wont charge via that one.

[citoyen]

That doesn’t surprise me at all - the connection at the USB-C end does feel very solid, even though that’s the end that gets unplugged regularly.

The DP end shouldn’t be working loose since it remains permanently plugged in but I suppose the port is on the underside of the monitor so gravity probably plays a part.

But I’m naturally suspicious of things like USB-C pretending to be DP, so would tend to
 assume such glitches are probably software related.

[citoyen]

Update, if anyone is even remotely interested...

I'm now pretty certain it's a driver/BIOS issue rather than a hardware issue.

Lately, the problem was getting so bad that the external monitor was unusable, but I swapped out my regular laptop charger cable for one with an inline docking station. The monitor is now connected to the docking station via HDMI and the problem has not recurred since.

In the office the other day, I connected my laptop to the display in a conference room, USB-C to DP, and had exactly the same problem I'd been having at home, with the connection dropping intermittently for no obvious reason. Very annoying when you're trying to have a meeting with a number of people in the room and a number of people joining online via Teams.