Precision 5530 and TB16 black screen flashing/flicker

Today I installed latest BIOS for my P5520:

https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=mgk6w&oscode=wt64a&productcode=precision-15-5520-laptop

- besides I also installed latest Intel Display driver version 26.xxx from here: 

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/de/download/28731/Intel-Graphics-Windows-10-DCH-Drivers?v=t

As soon as I'am at home I will connect the machine to my TB dock to see if these changes fixed the issue for me - after some hours of testing I will let you know the result.

I'm after bios 1.9 update. Straight after that, 5530 was disconected from TB15 (2xqhd display, lid closed) no flicker when I opened a lid and log on to windows.

Working aprox. 3h, few times I've put 5530 to sleep and woke up after that I dind't get any flicker (includind that "quick one" after login). It looks promising. I'll check it with 5530 + QHD display at home.

I was getting / I'm getting flicker problem when:

1. 5530+TB15+2xqhd monitors

2. 5530 stand alone (blulid in display)

3. 5530 + QHD display connected on USBC->DP

Additional configuration:

1. Modern Standby - OFF

2. Drivers from Windows Update - OFF

3. BIOS C-states - OFF

4. BIOS USB powershare - ON

5. Windows USB powar save - OFF

6. Intel driver - 25.20.100.6471

7. Nvidia P1000 -stwitched off in device manager

Seems people here still trying anything but mainly trying to fix their notebook. I am still quite convinced that is at least a 50/50 issue between the TB16 and the 5530, if not entirely TB16.

So here something else to try. I did 2 days ago and haven't since had any case yet. I know we have all been disappointed before, so no guarantee that this will fix all your problems, but doesn't hurt to try anyway.

I downloaded the Dell TB16 firmware utility here: https://www.dell.com/support/home/dk/da/dkdhs1/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=7tj1h (actually I didn't know it existed).I run it and 4 out of about 6 different firmwares in the TB16 were out-of-date. Updated and (after a scary moment as the utility died after updating the TB16), I plugged the box off from the 5530, unpowered it, powered up again and connected again to the notebook. Run the utility again and all the firmware shows now up-to-date. 

Whether this is the final fix, or not, I don't know. But as said no harm to update it.

Attached how the various firmware versions look right now on my TB16.

PS. Apologies if somebody else also wrote about this before.   

In my case - next few "no flicker" working hours with 5530 as stand alone and 5530 + QHD display conected through USB-C to Displayport
I've turned on "modern standby" in Windows - still no flicker.
Configuration for this moment:
1. Modern Standby - ON

2. Drivers from Windows Update - OFF

3. BIOS C-states - OFF

4. BIOS USB powershare - ON

5. Windows USB power save - OFF

6. Intel driver - 25.20.100.6471

7. Nvidia P1000 -stwitched off in device manager

@snruebes 
Ive checked Bios description for 5520 is missing one thing: In 1.9.1 Bios Discription for 5530 they wrote something like fixed "TB16 and mouse issue" I can't give a link with a detailed description because 5530 1.9.1 Bios just disappeared from 5530 Bios list - WT.....? 

@Dell-Alan Dany thoughts about why Bios 1.9.1 was avaliable to download from Drivers List somewhere between 9:00 - 11:00 (UTC+2) and now is not avaliable?

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@snruebes wrote:
Newest P5520 bios and newest Intel display driver did not resolve the issue for me - the external display still goes black for 3 -5 seconds from time to time....

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@snruebes Just out of curiosity, did you try the TB16 firmware utility to check the versions of your firmware as I described above? Would be interesting to know if there is a pattern there.

Brg.

For those looking for a solution to the 5530 flicker with the WD15, I seemed to have it fixed at the moment.

https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/sln308209/dell-dock-wd15-troubleshooting-an-issue-with-the-external-monitors-blinking-between-video-and-no-video?lang=en

Make sure that the two RealTek USB drivers for the devices in the WD15 are up to date.  Get them from Dell Support.  I also followed the above and turned off powersaving on PCI Express in power plan.  Also in BIOS, made sure that C States was unchecked, and USB PowerShare was turned off but that last may not have made a difference.  Make sure to have Dell Command Updates installed, The dock firmware up to date as well.

We'll see if it lasts.  Seems to be okay now even without a reboot for several hours.

ONLY VALID FOR 5530 + TB16

To anybody interested in a solution for the 5530 + TB16 (since this thread has been hi-jacked to all possible combination of notebooks and docking stations), I can confirm that after updating the firmware of my TB16 (see previous post) I haven't had any issues for several days.

The notebook has been turned on from morning to eveining, no sleep, no undock, no turning on and off.

Just to complete the picture, at the moment:

1. I don't have any outstanding update either in Dell Command Update or Dell SupportAssist

2. I don't have any outstanding Windows updates (I am on Windows 18.09) except for a Bios update (Dell, Inc. - Firmware - 2/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - 1.8.1) which I haven't done as it sounds weird because I already have 1.8.1 and there is no need ot experiment with other Bios updates)

3. There might be newer driver versions on Dells support page. I never install directly from there because all newer drivers are posted there but they are not always compatible with each other and usually Dell Command Update has a better control of those dependencies.

Hope this will help others with 5530+TB16 (Most certainly this does not apply to any of the other combinations and especially not to WD15 which is not a Thunderbolt, so most certainly would be a nightmare to make it work with the 5530 drivers).

Wish good luck to all 5530+TB16 owners. Regards

@Alex_60 :

I don't use the Dell TB16 but the 'Lenovo ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 Workstation Dock' but have the same issue as you see with TB16 - therefore I can't use the Dell TB16 firmware update although someone stated here that both docks come from DisplayLink originally - the latest Firmware for the Lenovo ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 Workstation Dock" is from Feb 2019 :-(

I hope Lenovo will also update that soon....

Btw. I already use Windows 10 Enterprise 64 Bit English Version 1903, which is the just released latest official Windows 10 version and the issue is still there.

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@KP_KUG wrote:

In my case - next few "no flicker" working hours with 5530 as stand alone and 5530 + QHD display conected through USB-C to Displayport
I've turned on "modern standby" in Windows - still no flicker.
Configuration for this moment:
1. Modern Standby - ON

2. Drivers from Windows Update - OFF

3. BIOS C-states - OFF

4. BIOS USB powershare - ON

5. Windows USB power save - OFF

6. Intel driver - 25.20.100.6471

7. Nvidia P1000 -stwitched off in device manager

@snruebes 
Ive checked Bios description for 5520 is missing one thing: In 1.9.1 Bios Discription for 5530 they wrote something like fixed "TB16 and mouse issue" I can't give a link with a detailed description because 5530 1.9.1 Bios just disappeared from 5530 Bios list - WT.....? 

@Dell-Alan Dany thoughts about why Bios 1.9.1 was avaliable to download from Drivers List somewhere between 9:00 - 11:00 (UTC+2) and now is not avaliable?

 

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@KP_KUG thanks for the updates. Generally a BIOS will be pulled if issues are raised after it has been released that were not found during the testing phase. 

I'm wondering if your system is now stable as a result of the 1.9.1 BIOS update?

Alan

@Dell-Alan D 

In my case, it seems that BIOS 1.9.1. resolved the issue with black flickering.
First day with configuration:
1. Modern Standby - ON

2. Drivers from Windows Update - OFF

3. BIOS C-states - OFF

4. BIOS USB powershare - ON

5. Windows USB powar save - OFF

6. Intel driver - 25.20.100.6471

7. Nvidia P1000 -stwitched off in device manager

Second day configuration:
1. Modern Standby - ON

2. Drivers from Windows Update - ON

3. BIOS C-states - ON

4. BIOS USB powershare - OFF

5. Windows USB powar save - ON

6. Intel driver - 25.20.100.6471

7. Nvidia P1000 -stwitched off in device manager

Nvidia P1000 was off, because when I try to turn it on Windows Manager give me an error 43 - probably the result of my driver/Windows 10 bulid juggling.

Hi all, 

Until a fix for the screen flickering issue is released it is recommended to run the following graphics driver, rev A01 as a workaround

5037 A01 - https://www.dell.com/support/home/ie/en/iebsdt1/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=MYY4X&osCode=wt64a&productCode=precision-15-5530-laptop

As soon as I know anything else I'll be in touch.

Alan

One update from my side: it seems that Lenovo has the same issue with their TB 3 dock:

https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Displays-Options-and-Accessories/Screens-flickering-with-Thunderbolt-3-Dock/td-p/4340774

This makes sense as someone stated that the general design and chips of both docks (Dell and Lenovo) are from the same vendor (DisplayLink). So I think it is now time for Dell and Lenovo to put pressure on DisplayLink to fix this!

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@snruebes72 wrote:

One update from my side: it seems that Lenovo has the same issue with their TB 3 dock:

https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Displays-Options-and-Accessories/Screens-flickering-with-Thunderbolt-3-Dock/td-p/4340774

This makes sense as someone stated that the general design and chips of both docks (Dell and Lenovo) are from the same vendor (DisplayLink). So I think it is now time for Dell and Lenovo to put pressure on DisplayLink to fix this!

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@snruebes72 whilst this is a valid suggestion, rolling back the Intel driver to a previous revision has been shown to fix the issue in testing. Have your Lenovo users tried this suggestion?

Alan