ASUS MB169B+ does not work with Surface Studio
 

ASUS MB169B+ does not work with Surface Studio

I could swear that this USB monitor had worked with my previous Surface Studio (with AU, aka. anniversary update), but ever since my new Surface Studio replacement (with CU, creators update) I could not get this monitor to work at all! All the drivers are latest.

After some testing, it's increasingly likely that this is an unknown compatibility issue. I have two other USB monitors - one Lenovo LT1423p, one USB to VGA adaptor made by Pluggable. The Surface Studio has no issue connecting both of them at the same time. But it simply won't recognize the Asus monitor. The device manager keeps refreshing its list of hardware automatically (working hard to identify the monitor), but the monitor simply won't show up in the device manager in any forms (no question mark, no unknown device, nothing). As for the Asus monitor, it is in a blank state all the time with no indication of power.

This suggests that the Displaylink driver is working (as indicated by the other two USB monitors). But the computer is not compatible with the Asus monitor for some reason. The Surface Studio has highly powered USB ports, so I don't understand why the Asus monitor simply won't display anything (at least showing its starting logo would help). Also the fact that my previous Surface Studio (w/ AU) did work with this monitor indicates that the combination of this computer with CU crumples its ability to work w/ this monitor.

I have tried factory resetting my Surface Studio (still CU), installing the latest Nvidia driver, and hooking up only the Asus monitor - the device manage still keeps refreshing without being able to identify the monitor. Of course, when I unplugged the monitor, the device manager stops refreshing instantly.

For comparison, my Mac Mini running bootcamp (w/ AU) has no problem connecting the three USB monitors at the same time. My Macbook running bootcamp (w/ CU) has no problem connecting to the Asus monitor either.

Any help is appreciated.

Oh! My goodness! I was just trying to record what I had described (flashing device manager) using the Xbox App (Win+G). I noticed that the device manager stopped flashing as soon as I hit 'Record'. Guess what? The monitor was finally recognized!

So I concluded that there must be some convoluted Windows bug that hindered the monitor recognition that was reset once I tried to record a video. The Xbox App must have reset the monitor recognition dead loop and therefore the proper recognition of the Asus monitor.

Too bad I wasted a day factory resetting Windows and reinstalling everything. I do know that the 'refresh' option often does not fix things, especially hardware related.*

Unfortunately, I called it too early. The monitor stopped working after a reboot.

Same phenomenon. Device manager keeps refreshing itself to identify the monitor. The monitor is in gray (hidden) in the device manager (which also means it has worked previously), indicating it is not connected.

I recorded the device manager response below -
https://youtu.be/zv8skROczwY

Tried plug the monitor into a USB 3.0 hub that is connected to the computer. Now it shows 'recovery mode' as well as the hidden (disconnected) Asus monitor. The monitor is still not recognized. No flashing this time though.

https://95eolg-sn3301.files.1drv.com...&cropmode=none

I found the issue. The computer does not have enough power to power on the monitor.

I tried a USB Y-cable on the monitor, and the monitor worked instantly.

This makes me wonder why Asus did not include a USB Y-cable in their package.

My other USB monitors are self-powered, so no issue with them. The Asus monitor is USB powered. That's why it's not working.

Hello Wataru,

Thank you for the posts and taking the time to post your solution.
This type of devices does draw a lot of power to be able to power the panel and backlight.
Not all USB ports can handle the amount of current necessary to start them. You may see that once running, you could reuse the additional port.

The Y-cable is indeed a good solution. Sometimes using a good short cable is enough to stop the brown-out effect.
Also good is using an externally powered USB hub. Then the current is not drawn from the host.

Again, thank you for taking the time to post your results.
Kind regards,
Alban