Precision 7530, USB Issue, TB18DC

I have exactly the same issue and updated all the drivers, firmware and BIOS for both my laptop (Precision 7520) and the Thunderbolt TB16 to no avail. I just realized however that our corporate IT has installed Crowdstrike to manage our USB ports and when I look at driver details for the ASMedia 3.0 eXtensibe Host Controller driver I see an additional CSDeviceControl.sys driver associated with it. My gut feeling is this CS driver is not letting go of the AS Media 3.0 driver and hence cannot reconnect all the USB devices unless I reboot. Perhaps check if your workstations have the same issue or some other driver associate with it ?

I have the same issue with my Precision 7730 and TB18DC.

Sometimes everything works for a few days but the problems always return. Almost everything connected to the dock stops working.  Network, audio, USB all fail (but DisplayPort keeps working).

I have to disconnect everything and reboot repeatedly until the bloody thing starts working again.  What a waste of time.  These ongoing issues are an impediment to productivity. I've installed all the latest drivers for both the laptop and the dock. And I know I'm not alone in this. There are so many complaints about the Dell docks at Notebook Review.

It seems the only way I can get it work again is to follow a process like this:

• Power down 7730.
• Unplug TB18DC from 7730.
• Pull power cord from TB18DC.
• Unplug EVERYTHING from TB18DC.  (Network cable, monitors, USB devices, external audio.)
• Wait a minute.
• Power TB18DC back up.
• Plug back into 7730.
• Wait for Windows to boot.
• Power off 7730.
• Plug everything back into the TB18DC.
• Power the 7730 back up.

This is the only sequence that seems to make the TB18DC recover from these issues.

I'm cranky as all get up about paying so much for a flaky product.

I guess I was dumb enough to keep the TB18DC, thinking that surely Dell would fix the issues with such an expensive product.  But after several driver and BIOS updates, it's even worse now.

I too wonder if anyone is using the dock without experiencing issues?

I was finally able to get my TB18DC dock to work correctly on my Dell Precision 7530.  I have the latest everything (Except for Windows 10) loaded on the Precision 7530

Dell Precision 7530

BIOS: v1.9.0

Intel IME Components: A04 release 22May2019

Thunderbolt Controller Driver: A12 release 6Mar2019

Thunderbolt 3 Firmware:  A07 release 22May2019

Intel Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework:  A01 release 5Jul2018

Intel Chipset driver: A00 release 04Apr2018

Intel HID Event Filter Driver: A08 release 19Apr2018

Windows 10 v1809 with June 2019 cumulative updates applied

Dell TB18DC dock:

Dock Firmware: v1.0.8 release 12Feb2019

Realtek USB Audio Driver:  A14 release 22May2019

Realtek USB GBE Ethernet Driver: A16 release 22May 2019

I did try the suggestion earlier in this post to uninstall the Crowdstrike agent from my machine, however that didnt fix the issue.  I wasnt able to get my TB18DC Dock to recognize USB ports after undocking and re-docking.  Restarting or powering down the laptop and back one seems to fix the issue.  

I went though the list of drivers applications to remove and finally found that the ASMedia USB Extended Host Controller Driver when removed, allowed me to properly re-dock to the TB18DC.  All USB devices worked including USB3.0 external HDDs and USB microphones/speakers. Even the TB18DC Dock Realtek USB Ethernet port was working just fine!  I didnt need to reboot my machine after I uninstalled ASMedia USB Extended Host Controller Driver.  I will do more testing on my end but it seems very reassuring even after a reboot that this is working correctly. 

Let see if this works with the Crowdstrike agent installed. 

There have been times after updating drivers that I thought things were working, but the issues have always come back.

I'd be curious if everything works 100% for you after a few days.

Just to add, this seems to be issue on LTSB windows as well.

Currently, as long as I'm not using the Ethernet port on the dock, and using it only for display and USB port, it works with plugging and unplugging.

I had exactly the same issue but I solved it today together with the DELL support.

In my case it was the VMware 15 Player installation that starts 4 processes during windows booting.

I think one process keeps the ASMedia driver alive after undock.

After deactivating the 4 VMware processes in msconfig and reboot the docking works fine.

The Dell Support told me that this also happens with VirtualBox.

I have a Precision 7730 with a TB18dc and dual Dell monitors.

That TB18dc thing has never worked right for me either. It freezes everything and does not recognize the second monitor.  I reboot and the thing works for several more hours until something stops working again.

Hi everybody, 

In my opinion the reason is the dock and cable connector. Plug which is connected to the bocks socket is very loose. Try to move the plug.