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Updating BIOS to 2.1.0 makes support for TB16 even worse
After more or less having given up on Dell being able to provide a working setup with their own products I today found the new BIOS firmware version 2.1.0 and gave it a try.
My setup: xps13 (9360 running Ubuntu with kernel 4.10) with a TB16 with updated firmware.
I upgraded previously and spend quite some time trying to solve various issues. Had different docking stations from Dell before and ran into huge issues. That got better with the second TB16 I received (the first was some early bird model apparently and did not work reliable at all). With the current TB16 which I have been using for month now I can boot with a connected dock. Hotplugging will sometimes work, sometimes not. I can attach a screen through the dock (DisplayPort) which works ok-ish, did not even bother to check HDMI because of endless reports that it does not work. Back side audio does not work but the front one, ok, not nice but who cares. The ethernet is unusable, works for maybe a minute, then starts to drop and pick up the connection all the time. Unusable, so I have to use WiFi all the time. Great for a docking station... At least USB in the dock worked for my keyboard and mouse, so for slow devices.
After upgrading to the current BIOS (2.1.0, had 1.3.2 previously) things have not improved, ethernet still unusable. But to my horror I found out that USB on the dock does not work any more reliably. Keyboard and mouse are recognized and work for maybe a minute, then they die. Replugging them reactivates them, again for maybe a minute. So unusable too now. Great!
I have to plug both USB receivers into the Laptop itself. Exactly one of the reasons why I invested lots of money into the dock: to not having to attach all sorts of plugs manually.
This is sooooo frustrating.
Apparently Dell gave up to find a solution to the problems with their own hardware.
Why is there a "project" and messages that they are working on a solution, when nothing happens even after month? Frankly I doubt anyone actually works on those huge issues. To me this looks like Dell simply gave up on fixing their own hardware they sold for much money. Very sad.
Or does anyone have a hint for me that helps solving at least the annoying new issue with the USB ports on the TB16?
Can I downgrade to a previous version of the BIOS (1.3.2) or will that ruin the system?
rboerner
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28 Posts
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September 6th, 2017 10:00
Hi Justin,
Thanks for the link to the latest BIOS. Are there any other fixes in this release? I ask as there does not appear to be any release notes on the download page at present...
Thank you for help in getting us this information!
arkascha
13 Posts
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September 6th, 2017 11:00
Just flashed the update, low risk, since my docking station is more or less a hyper expensive power adapter anyway...
Result:
- USB peripherals attached to the dock work, but die after about a minute
- Ethernet still unusable
- backside audio jack is dead
Bottom line:
no change at all
At least things did not get worst as with the last update...
arkascha
13 Posts
1
September 6th, 2017 11:00
Just flashed the update, low risk, since my docking station is more or less a hyper expensive power adapter anyway...
Result:
Bottom line:
no change at all
At least things did not get worst as with the last update...
cypher435
4 Posts
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September 7th, 2017 02:00
I would download to give feedback, however I have returned my TB16 for a full refund. Do others concur with arkascha's results? I might consider re-purchasing the dock if / when things are better.
antipolis
3 Posts
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September 7th, 2017 07:00
I flashed the new BIOS this morning and did not encounter any issues, also the staggering problems I had with keyboard/mouse looks fixed
ThibG
4 Posts
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September 8th, 2017 01:00
Updated to 2.2.1 and did not experience any issue with my Thunderbolt 3 (USB + AC + HDMI) adapter yet. Still having PCIe Bus Error messages in my logs, though, and wifi still is unreliable on linux 4.12, but that last thing may be a kernel issue (going to investigate later)
ThibG
4 Posts
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September 10th, 2017 01:00
@Arkascha not that weird, I have ACPI issues logged on my system: “ACPI Error: [SPRT] Namespace lookup failure, AE_ALREADY_EXISTS (20170119/dswload2-330)”, “ACPI Exception: AE_ALREADY_EXISTS, During name lookup/catalog (20170119/psobject-227)” etc. It could very well be related.
Anonymous
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274.2K Posts
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September 15th, 2017 02:00
@Justin C - I've just received the TB16 brand new replacement. I'm using 9360 with the mentioned BIOS (2.2.1) and the latest ASMedia driver.
However the dock issue is even worse than it was before - it used to disconnect and reconnects USB devices every couple of seconds, but now also network connection is affected. And what happens is that the USB & network are connected for a couple of seconds at startup and later on they got disconnected completely! In the device manager I can see that Windows shut down the USB Root Hub due to its malfunction. When I reset this device, it behaves exactly the same - connects, disconnects and get disabled. Hopefully it's not the stability you mentioned. It's a huge disappointment.
Has the cure supposedly brought by 2.2.1 BIOS been confirmed by anyone?
antipolis
3 Posts
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September 15th, 2017 02:00
as mentioned above everything works perfectly for me after upgrading to 2.2.1
antipolis
3 Posts
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September 15th, 2017 03:00
I flashed with dock connected (with lid open), but I don't think it matters really... my bet is during the upgrade process there is nothing going on between the laptop & the dock
maybe your issue is different and not related to the bios
Anonymous
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274.2K Posts
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September 15th, 2017 03:00
OK, I got some insight for Windows users - in my case, even though I installed the ASMedia driver, the dock still used MS drivers. I needed to enforce manual installation of the ASMedia drivers and now the dock is more stable (yet not entirely perfect).
I do seem to have more or less constant USB and network signals, but I'm still having issues with my display (Dell 2715) - it won't go into sleep mode, but instead it wakes up after several seconds and falls asleep again - it goes over and over. I don't think I can update any dock driver for this case... Any ideas please?
arkascha
13 Posts
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September 16th, 2017 08:00
Unfortunately I rejoiced too early about the ethernet connector in the TB16 finally working:
I have to correct my earlier statement, the ethernet connection is still not stable and usable. Frequent connection drops, countless dropped packages. So no improvement here. Which actually would have been surprising if that issue were somehow linked with power management.
So the TB16 is roughly "half usable" now, just as many month before, no improvements at all over the last months:
- usable: USB front and back, display port, power supply, front audio jack
- broken: ethernet, HDMI, back audio jack
- unknown: VGA
Great for such an expensive peace of hardware actually recommended for my setup by Dell.
But at least USB works again.
hvbakel
9 Posts
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September 18th, 2017 15:00
@arkascha: what kernel are you using? The ethernet issues have been resolved in the latest 4.12 and 4.13 mainline kernels and the changes should also have been backported to the hardware-enablement kernels.
arkascha
13 Posts
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September 20th, 2017 09:00
@hvbakel Thanks for the hint, but no:
I installed kernel 4.13 for a test and have to report that it makes no difference whatsoever.
Ethernet is unreliable, frequent connection drops/changes and corrupted transfers.
=> not usable, broken
codebrewer
7 Posts
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September 25th, 2017 10:00
I should clarify, Precision 5520 with BIOS 1.5 now has corruption issues using Ethernet via TB16 on Ubuntu 16.04 (kernel 4.4.0-96).