Is anyone else having issues with their Surface Book and/or Surface Dock USB power? In the past, I have seen issues with the USB ports on the dock when using them to charge my phone (I have since stopped). I use my Surface to record low level screen captures (like BIOS screens) using a USB capture device from Epiphan. I have never had an issue in the past with the device getting enough power from the USB port. I recently got another one (same model) from my new employer and was going to use it to get some BIOS screen shots on a new Dell test laptop. However, I could not get it to work plugged into my Surface Book or Surface Dock. At first I thought it might be a driver issue since Device Manager kept enumerating the devices when it was plugged in. No conflicts or interupts. Nothing in the device events or event logs. Reloaded Windows 10 1703 and even went back to 1607 - same issue. Both the Surface Book and Dock are running the latest firmware.
Just by chance I decided to pick up a powered USB 3.0 hub and give it a shot. Sure enough, plugged it into the Surface Book and the capture device into the hub and it worked fine. So, it seems like the USB ports are under powered or limited some how. Maybe something that changed in a newer firmware. I am happy to discuss more with someone from the Surface team (if any one from that team in here). Otherwise, hopefully this will save someone else some trouble with USB devices that require a certain amount of power.
