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January 8th, 2020 02:00

Can't connect Dell Docking Station WD15 to my MSI laptop

Hi guys,

Recently I bought a new MSI gaming laptop which I want to connect to my Dell Docking Station WD15. This DS works perfectly in combination with my Dell laptop from work. But once I connect this DS to my MSI laptop it doesn’t do anything. Main reason for using this DS for me is connecting both laptops to my two external Dell monitors without having to reconnect different cables all the time.

Laptop: MSI GE65 9SF-Raider-026NL, 15.6”
Specifications: https://www.alternate.nl/MSI/GE65-9SF-Raider-026NL-15-6-inch-laptop/html/product/1560683?event=search

Docking Station: Dell WD15

<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

External monitors: 2x Dell Flat Panel Monitor U2719DC
https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/model/9b261591

When the DS is connected to my Dell laptop I can connect a monitor through HDMI and it works immediately. When it is connected to my MSI laptop nothing happens when I connect the monitor the same way. A big difference seems to be that my cable lights up when connected to the Dell laptop but it doesn’t when connected to my MSI laptop.

However, when the DS is connected to my MSI laptop I can connect other USB devices and they work without problems. My mouse for example work fine when it is connected through the Docking station. It is the monitors that just won't work.

Connected to my Dell laptop: https://ibb.co/VgxJM6w
Connected to my MSI laptop: https://ibb.co/KWQ364c

Unfortunately I’m not very skilfull when it comes to matters like these. And after hours of Googling I haven’t been able to find a solution. Hopfully someone on these forums can’t help me to get this working. If you need more info please let me know as I am not sure what else could be relevant. In any case thanks for taking the time to read my question.


Kind regards,

Jonathan

9 Legend

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14K Posts

January 8th, 2020 07:00

@SpanishYN  actually I can tell that there's a fairly significant issue with your WD15 setup that would even affect your Dell work system, even if you don't currently realize it because you say everything works perfectly.  But I'll address that at the end.

First, the light on the WD15 cable only seems to light with supported Dell displays, even if it still works completely correctly with non-Dell systems.  My wife has a Lenovo laptop for work and the WD15's light doesn't come on when she plugs that in, but the dock works.

In terms of the lack of video, the likely cause is that the MSI laptop does not have a GPU output wired to its USB-C port.  That capability is optional on USB-C ports and is necessary to send a video signal to the WD15.  The specs page for that laptop here makes no mention of video capabilities on the USB-C port.  While that by itself isn't proof that they're absent, typically specs pages would mention a capability like that, and the real-world observed behavior that you don't have video output even though the other devices work (all of which just communicate over a conventional USB data channel) is further evidence of that being the case.

But the issue I see that would affect even your Dell laptop is that you're using a WD15 with two displays whose native resolution is 2560x1440.  The WD15 doesn't support running two displays at 2560x1440.  It only supports dual displays up to 1920x1200 or a single display up to 2560x1600.  So if you're running those displays simultaneously and they're at the same resolution, they're probably running at 1920x1080, which is the typical resolution of a 24-inch display.  That means you're putting up with blurriness from running a display at a resolution lower than its native resolution, and of course significantly reduced display workspace, all because you've got the wrong dock for your display setup.  If you identify the exact Dell laptop model you have, it's possible that it would work with another dock that would support dual 2560x1440 displays.

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June 30th, 2020 06:00

I had the same thing with previous laptop (lenovo and anker dc). Unfortunelly, i did'nt find any good solution. I just bought another docking station (some of these if i'm not mistaken (and changed my laptop to acer later). But did you tried to delete drivers and install again? Usb drivers, i mean

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