Dell D6000 dock randomly disconnects from XPS 15 9550

@kjstech  if you haven't already, try getting the latest DisplayLink software directly from DisplayLink.com rather than Dell, and then try manually running a D6000 firmware update in case Dell Update isn't picking that up.  The latest release as of this writing is here .

As for poor performance, that's related to the fact that the dock uses DisplayLink "indirect display" technology rather than tapping into native GPU outputs, which introduces some drawbacks.  I wrote about all of that in more detail in the post marked as the answer in this thread if you're curious as an IT professional (I am as well).  The only real upsides to that dock are that a) it allows you to deploy a single solution for all systems since you just need either a USB-C or USB-A port, b) DisplayLink allows you to exceed normal GPU limits on maximum number of displays, and c) DisplayLink compression allows you to run display setups that might not be possible from a particular system based on the native GPU outputs it offers.  Those things have value in certain business use cases, but sometimes the drawbacks outweigh the benefits.

Very good informative post.  I'm curious if the XPS 15 9550 can utilize the TB16 and if so, the lag I get scrolling web pages or the transition when you click to make a web video "full screen" or just maximizing a web browser, etc wouldn't feel so laggy.

I'm not 100% sure the difference between USB 3.1 only and Thunderbolt. I thought that was a term used interchangeably and I thoguht Apple coined the term Thunderbolt while everyone else used USB 3.1.

I can tell you the current d6000 dock is plugged in using USB 3.1... its the same reversible style port like on the Nintendo Switch AC Adapter, or my wifes Samsung Galaxy note 8.  It is nice that the dock powers and keeps the laptop charged.

In Device Manager I'm not seeing the term Thunderbolt anywhere.  I do see Intel USB 3.1 eXtensible Host Controller though.  The lighting bolt next to the usb port I thought meant it can be used to charge but maybe it means thunderbolt since it is a lighting bolt.

@kjstech  glad you found my post informative, because I'm about to share a lot more based on your reply.  You've got a few misunderstandings and pitfalls going on here.  And if you're using the D6000 to power the XPS 15, that would be another reason for your poor performance.

First, USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt are absolutely 100% not interchangeable.  And it seems you're also using USB 3.1 when you mean to say USB-C, terms which are also not interchangeable.

USB 3.1 is a data transport protocol, running at a speed of either 5 Gbps (USB 3.1 Gen 1) or 10 Gbps (USB 3.1 Gen 2).  That protocol can be carried on a physical USB-A port ("regular USB") or the newer USB-C port.  Neither of those port types are required to support those protocols because support for them is not mandatory in the specs of the USB-A or USB-C physical port type, but it is possible for USB 3.1 Gen 1 or 2 to be carried over those ports.

USB-C is a physical port/connector type.  That is the reversible connector you're using for connecting the D6000.  A USB-C port can carry all sorts of traffic, including USB 2.0, USB 3.x, DisplayPort video, Thunderbolt 3, and even a significant amount of power in either direction using the USB Power Delivery specification.  But all of those capabilities except USB 2.0 are optional in the USB-C port spec, i.e. not every USB-C port you find on laptops will support all of those capabilities.

Thunderbolt 3 is a completely different data transport protocol from USB 3.x.  It is a high bandwidth signal type that can include a DisplayPort video signal and PCI Express, which is normally only available within the system but which Thunderbolt makes available to external peripherals.  If you have a Thunderbolt dock that supports USB, it handles that by having a USB to PCI Express bridge chip built in, since Thunderbolt 3 does NOT include USB natively.  The original Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2 were carried over a Mini-DisplayPort physical connector, whereas Thunderbolt 3 is carried over a USB-C connector.  But again, not all USB-C ports support Thunderbolt 3, and the fact that Thunderbolt 3 uses a USB-C connector doesn't mean it's USB.  It's just using that particular physical connector to run a completely different type of signal.

If you're relying on the D6000 to charge your XPS 15 9550, then that would cause poor performance even apart from the DisplayLink issues I mentioned originally.  The D6000 can only provide up to 60W to the attached system.  The XPS 15 models are designed for a 130W power source, and when they're connected to an undersized power source, they will do things like reduce battery charging speeds and even throttle CPU and GPU performance to try to adapt to the reduced power budget.  You're giving your system less than half the power it's designed to have available, so you're probably getting some pretty significant performance throttling and glacial battery charging speeds.  The easy fix for that problem that doesn't involve buying any new hardware would be to simply connect the XPS 15's actual power adapter directly to it, in addition to the D6000 dock, thereby giving it an adequate power source that it will then start using instead.  At that point you might still see performance issues due to DisplayLink, but you should still see a marked improvement.

The XPS 15 9550 comes with Thunderbolt 3 as standard.  You're not seeing it in Device Manager because the Thunderbolt controller is kept powered off unless there's an actual Thunderbolt device attached (or when it's forced on for a firmware update) because the Thunderbolt controller actually consumes a fair amount of power. So you could use the TB16 dock, although that has since been replaced by the WD19TB, and considering that the TB16 had more than its fair share of issues, I would recommend the latter.  And as it happens, those docks are capable of providing the full 130W that the XPS 15 is designed to have available.  However, in order to achieve that, if you go with the TB16, you need to get the version that comes with a 240W power supply, not the 180W version it was also sold with and that will not provide enough power for an XPS 15.  If you get the WD19TB, it's only available with a 180W power supply, but on that dock model that's enough for the dock to pass 130W through to the attached system.

There's also the WD15 and its replacement the WD19.  They are essentially the non-Thunderbolt versions of the TB16 and WD19TB, respectively.  As a result, they can only get 25% of the display bandwidth out of the system that the Thunderbolt docks can, but that would actually be enough for your current purposes.  The WD15/WD19 can handle dual displays up to 1920x1200 each or a single 2560x1600 display.  By comparison, the TB16/WD19TB can handle dual displays up to 4K 60 Hz each and even some triple display setups.  So unless you want futureproofing, you can save some cash by not going with the Thunderbolt versions of those docks.  Note that if you go with the WD15/WD19, you'd need the 180W version to power the XPS 15 properly, NOT the 130W version they were also available with, the latter of which can only pass 90W through to the attached system.  But ALL of these docks -- WD15, WD19, TB16, and WD19TB -- will tap into the native GPU outputs available on the system's USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports, and as such they would not have the issues that can arise with DisplayLink.

So, to sum up:
1) Plug the XPS 15's power adapter in and you should see an immediate performance improvement, and faster battery charging.

2) If you want a different dock, go with one of these:
- WD15 w/ 180W power supply (not 130W)
- TB16 w/ 240W power supply (not 180W)
- WD19 w/ 180W power supply (not 130W)
- WD19TB (always comes w/ 180W power supply)

I would recommend one of the WD19 options.  The regular WD19 will work fine for your purposes, but you might want to get the WD19TB in case you might ever want to move to higher resolution displays in the future.

Hopefully this helps.

Another question, if you think this will help...

My second monitor uses an HDMI cable.  I moved it from the HDMI port on the dock to the HDMI port directly on the laptop.  Now the NVIDIA control panel actually opens up, whereas before it said I didn't have any NVIDIA graphics cards (which was wrong).

In task manager I'm still showing GPU 1 (NVIDIA) at 0% and GPU0 the Intel around 2 - 28% if I move a window around vigorously...  but maybe directly connected will help.

Just the power cable alone has made a great difference, so I might be good.  However if someone else in the company needs a dock, I have no problem giving them mine and getting a better one for me!

@kjstechthe confusion about dock power ratings is that there are two different figures: the wattage of the power supply feeding the dock, and the wattage that is then available to be passed through to the system.  Docks have to reserve some of the input power for themselves to run their internal electronics and to power any USB peripherals you might want to attach to them.  For example, your Dell D6000 dock has a 130W power supply but only makes 60W available to the attached system.  Here's how it breaks down for the other dock models:

- WD19 w/ 130W power supply can make 90W available to the attached system.

- WD19 (and WD19TB) w/ 180W power supply can make 130W available to Dell systems, and 90W to non-Dell systems.  130W is actually above the 100W max of the industry standard USB Power Delivery spec, so Dell did something proprietary here to stretch the spec to carry 130W over USB-C specifically for systems like the XPS 15.

- WD19DC makes 210W available to Dell systems, but it achieves this by plugging into two USB-C/TB3 ports on the system.  That isn't possible on the XPS 15, and while that dock can be used in single connector mode, it behaves like a regular WD19 in that situation, so it would serve no benefit for you.  It's designed for systems like the Precision 7000 Series models that have high power requirements.  I'm not sure what wattage power supply the WD19DC comes with, but I think it's 240W.  Or maybe Dell had to go up to their next standard size, which would be 330W.

In terms of using the built-in HDMI port, yes that might help because in that case that display will then be using an output that is directly controlled by a GPU.  It will still be the Intel GPU, but the Intel GPU having direct control of that output means the NVIDIA GPU can step in to accelerate performance when needed (using a technology called NVIDIA Optimus), whereas with DisplayLink "indirect display" technology, only the primary GPU can ever be used, and in systems with both Intel and NVIDIA/AMD GPUs, that will always be the Intel GPU.  Using the built-in HDMI output also means you bypass DisplayLink's need to use CPU and GPU resources to compress rendered video and transmit it as regular USB data, which frees up those components to do other things.

In terms of giving the D6000 to a coworker, try to find somebody who's using a system that only requires 45W-65W of power so they don't end up in this same situation and wouldn't have to connect a secondary power supply just to avoid it.  Systems that fit that profile would be the XPS 13, 12-14" Latitude systems, and some 15" Latitude systems depending on the hardware configuration they were ordered with.  For the 15" Latitude option, if the coworker uses a 65W AC adapter for their system, they'll be fine using the D6000 with 60W (the 5W difference won't matter), but if their 15" Latitude came with a 90W power adapter, they won't be a good candidate.

Glad things have already improved with the updates and connecting the power supply though!

@kjstech excellent! I’m not surprised that the difference is significant given that you’ve installed some updates that seem to have enhanced stability, have more than doubled the power available to your system, and have cut DisplayLink’s video compression load in half by moving one of your displays to a native GPU output. The only catch of course is that you now have 3 cables to connect or disconnect when you want to dock or undock, but if that becomes an annoyance, it sounds like there are plenty of potential new homes for that dock.

Hi everyone,

sharing with you what worked for me. Dell D6000 started randomly disconnects from my XPS 13 9350. After several tries (updating FW, drivers, etc.), I have found a 100% solution for me.

The problem is with power management. When you use the Wi-Fi module, the module takes so much energy that it is not enough for D6000. So it's get disconnected. When you use Network Cable via D6000, the problem disappears.

Don't worry, you can also use your Wi-Fi. Choose one from the listed solutions. 

Solution A (lowering Power Output of the internal Wi-Fi adapter in Dell XPS):

1. Open Device Manager
2. Expand the ‘Network Adapters’ category
3. Right-click on the entry for the Wi-Fi adapter and select ‘Properties’
4. From the ‘Advanced’ tab, scroll down and select ‘Power Output’ from the ‘Property’ column, and then select 75% in the ‘Value’ drop-down (example screenshot below).
5. Click OK to commit the change.
6. Reboot the system

If you don't see option Power Output - follow solution B.

Solution B (install older drivers and deny Windows Update to install new one):

1. Download older version of drivers for your Wi-Fi module (this worked in my situation - DW1820A_1830_WiFi_Win10_x64_1.566.0.1_SETUP_ZPE)
2. Open Device Manager
3. Expand the ‘Network Adapters’ category
4. Right-click on the entry for the Wi-Fi adapter and select ‘Uninstall drivers’
5. Install the older driver version 1.566.0.1
6. Download Windows Update management "wushowhide" from here
7. Run it and deny update to the latest drivers your Wi-Fi module via Windows Update. Otherwise, the problem will appear again after you did Windows Update.

Have fun! 

Hi everyone,

sharing with you what worked for me. Dell D6000 started randomly disconnects from my XPS 13 9350. After several tries (updating FW, drivers, etc.), I have found a 100% solution for me.

The problem is with power management. When you use the Wi-Fi module, the module takes so much energy that it is not enough for D6000. So it's get disconnected. When you use Network Cable via D6000, the problem disappears.

Don't worry, you can also use your Wi-Fi. Choose one from the listed solutions. 

Solution A (lowering Power Output of the internal Wi-Fi adapter in Dell XPS):

1. Open Device Manager
2. Expand the ‘Network Adapters’ category
3. Right-click on the entry for the Wi-Fi adapter and select ‘Properties’
4. From the ‘Advanced’ tab, scroll down and select ‘Power Output’ from the ‘Property’ column, and then select 75% in the ‘Value’ drop-down (example screenshot below).
5. Click OK to commit the change.
6. Reboot the system

If you don't see option Power Output - follow solution B.

Solution B (install older drivers and deny to reinstall new one):

1. Download older version of drivers for your Wi-Fi module (this worked in my situation - DW1820A_1830_WiFi_Win10_x64_1.566.0.1_SETUP_ZPE)
2. Open Device Manager
3. Expand the ‘Network Adapters’ category
4. Right-click on the entry for the Wi-Fi adapter and select ‘Uninstall drivers’
5. Install the older driver version 1.566.0.1
6. Download Windows Update management "wushowhide" from here
7. Run it and deny update to the latest drivers your Wi-Fi module via Windows Update. Otherwise, the problem will appear again after you did Windows Update.

Have fun! 

To anybody finding this thread, check your system to see if the Wi-FI card is a Dell BroadCom 1830. If your are having disconnect problems with a Thunderbolt dock, replace the card:

I replaced mine with this card,following these instructions.

It does not appear to happen with Intel and Killer equipped machines, just the Dell BroadCom like mine. Others have reported that the connectivity stabilized and overall performance improved after this upgrade. I can confirm that it seems to have totally healed my machine.

Note that I have a CalDigit dock rather than a Dell one.

Hope this helps at least a handful of you. It's like having a brand new machine again for me.

Hello All,

I'm having a similar issue but with two WD19s and a Inspiron 7391 2n1s. Both do the same thing. Random disconnects several times a day and they reconnect as an Unknown USB Device. The fix so far has either been unplug and replug until it behaves or go into device manager. Delete the unknown device and reboot.

I have it narrowed down to networking. As soon as the Dock's RealTek USB GbE gets stressed it disconnects.

Dock firmware and Inspiron are 100% fully patched/updated.

@JW117  Given that you have a different dock model and system model, it might be better to create a different thread, or perhaps take a look at some of the linked threads below that discuss this behavior with the WD19:

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/Dell-WD19-Docking-Station-with-180W-randomly-disconnects-XPS-15/td-p/7652164

https://www.dell.com/community/Latitude/WD19-docking-stations-network-dropout-USB-dropout-across/td-p/7370114

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/XPS-15-9560-WD19-ethernet-dropping/td-p/7333326

Wow that first link is 22 pages long, a year old and describes my issue perfectly. I added to it but it appear Dell bowed out of it some time ago. 

Thanks for that. I was able to share that with my client. At least we know we're not alone.

Why did you mark your reply as the solution?