Surface Pro 4 will not display on TV

There is a suggestion (Solution 5) in the article below to clear the display cache.  Some of the other things (cable) do not appear to apply here.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-ca/help/4023496/surface-trouble-connecting-surface-to-a-second-screen

Check and see (Windows Updates on a Surface) that BIOS is up to date as well.

Check the resolution of the Surface against the resolution of the Insignia TV.  Chances are that they do not match.  This is a show-stopper if the Insignia can not display that resolution.

The user's manual will list the display resolutions that the TV can display.  Typically a TV has a very limited set of displayable resolutions (four or five) as compared to a computer monitor (twenty or thirty).

If that is the case, look in the user's manual for both devices and see if there is a resolution that is compatible with both the tablet and the TV.

When the surface pro is in normal mode and plugged into the TV, if you hit Windows+P do you see any options? This is the project settings that can send it to TV, Original screen, both and their options. Maybe something like a wrong setting in these options too on top of the other suggestions.

I second the opinion of Dr. Klahn.

The native screen resolution of your Surface Pro is only  2736 x 1824 and it will not display 4K while most new Insignia TV does display 4K and your partner's Surface Book 2 does display 4K.

If you use the right lightning to HDMI cable from Apple, you can mirror your iPhone screen to your new Insignia TV.

https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/MD826ZM/A/lightning-digital-av-adapter

In short, you need to upgrade to Surface Pro 5 or above if you want to use the native screen resolution for screen mirroring.

Out of curiosity since nobody has asked yet, you mentioned the make is Insignia, that it's new (new to you, or new new?) and that it is not smart, but what is the exact model you are trying to connect to? I ask because as a fellow Surface Pro 4 owner I have used it in the field on a wide array of TVs of varied configurations smart or not (including my own 4K TV) and have rarely encountered the issue you speak of. I concur that resolution may be a factor, however in my experience most devices I have encountered handle upscaling/downscaling without much of an issue. I have, however, encountered problems similar to yours so I will ask a few leading questions just in case it's not a resolution mismatch.

1. Have you tried it while the device actively has power to it (not through the docking brick)? If not can you try it and see what happens?
2. The Surface Pro 4s (well, all of them actually) are notorious for display driver issues, especially if you have gotten them directly from the chipset provider or upgraded them out of sequence. This can and has for me lead to problems like this with the device locking up when accessing peripheral functions. One thing I might suggest as it is something I do religiously now because of these issues: Uninstall your graphics driver completely and re-install it fresh. This can be the cause even if you connect to other external displays without issue - every handshake is different so I do highly suggest you give it a go.

First, thanks to all of you for your responses. I have tried to address them all below to the best of my ability. --Elizabeth

John, I followed your instructions re clearing the display cache. It did not help. My partner checked to make sure the BIOS is up to date, and it is.

For those of you who have raised questions about resolutions, my Pro 4 Desktop Resolution is 1920 x 1080, and Active Signal Resolution while docked is 1920 x 1080 but 2736 x 1824 while not docked (It is not docked while connected to the TV.)  I could not find a place to change the Active Signal Resolution. The TV's resolution is 1920 x 1080. The TV is neither HD nor 4K, as we don't like the (to our aging eyes) extreme sharpness of HD or 4K.

James, Windows + P will not work for us because our keyboard is not working and the Pro 4 screen blacks out. I thought we were losing the keyboard only after connecting to the TV, but this is not the case. The Pro 4 keyboard is not working at all. Another issue I have to figure out, I guess.

Jackie Man, my iPhone does display to the TV, as does my partner's Surface Book 2.

Richard, both devices have power to them (the Pro 4 on battery). How does one go about uninstalling the graphics driver? Just deleting it in Device Manager? Will it reinstall automatically when I restart? What ramifications would that have on anything else?

In checking the keyboard issue, there is no keyboard driver for the Pro 4 Cover Type Keyboard under Keyboards in Device Manager. I looked into downloading the driver package, but I only have 17G free on my C drive. I am looking into getting an external drive to move some of my files off, but I am also concerned about the effect downloading and installing the driver package will have on my computer. Will it mess up anything in my current setup? I would not want to lose my desktop, customizations in Firefox, etc. I don't know enough about this (yet--haven't had time to do research) to proceed. My partner suggested uninstalling the graphics driver and reinstalling it fresh

You can try uninstalling / reinstalling the graphics driver, but you said it was current. So try that and see.

You need to free up some space so all updates can download and install.

It seems to me it is a hardware problem of the motherboard and you need a replacement of your Surface Pro.

Thanks to all of you--especially, Richard. Richard, thanks for all the information, and you were so right about the Pro 4 being finicky. I reinstalled the graphics driver as you suggested, but that did not help. I also installed the latest "Features" update for Windows 10. No help there, either. What finally worked was interfacing with the TV through the Pro 4's docking station, which probably better handles the graphics display.

So either we have to find a display adapter that works for the Pro 4 or buy another docking station ($150--ouch). But at least we have a working solution.

Now if I can just get my keyboard working again!

Thanks, again, everyone.

That's great that you found a solution, what a frustrating problem! Out of curiosity did you try my other suggestion of connecting to the TV using your SP4 directly, but also having the power connected to SP4 directly? I ask this because the issue could also be about the lack of power to get a proper interface while running on battery. In the docking station you get the power, but along with some extended interfaces as you know. Normally I would just declare victory and move on, but if you didn't try it yet there is a good reason why you might give it a bit more trouble - namely a power brick for a SP4 is a LOT cheaper than buying a 2nd docking station and there is a chance it might give you the same results. :)

Regarding your keyboard, one thing that can quickly unstick the SP4 keyboard/mouse/etc. when you only have control of the touch display (and are NOT in tablet mode) is to Start Menu > Power Button (bottom left corner) > Sleep, and then go ahead and immediately wake it. Or as an alternate, if the option is there for you, is Start Menu > Your Account Icon (usually at the top of the icon stack above the power button) > Switch User and just go straight back into the user you are already using. Either method will break the cycle of the OS enough to reset the peripherals etc. but not enough to lose your current working state etc. This can be a quick trick to get yourself out of a lot of non-responsive situations without having to give up and power it down manually. :)

I hope one or both of those work for you, good luck!

Richard