XPS 13 7390 and WD19TB Issue

What do you mean the 7390s are hooked up to the docking station via DP to HDMI or DP to DVI?  The system hooks up to the docking station using a cable built into the dock.  Do you mean the displays are attached using those types of cables?

(EDIT: The theory suggested in the paragraph immediately below was based on an understanding that DP to HDMI and DP to DVI cables weren't working at all, which turned out not to be correct.  So the theory below would not account for the issue discussed in this thread.  I'm keeping the paragraph below only in case somebody might find it interesting to learn about DP++.)

Based on your finding and the note that a DP to VGA adapter works, I'm guessing that the DisplayPort outputs on the WD19 family don't support Dual Mode DisplayPort, aka DP++.  That is an optional feature of DisplayPort outputs, and it allows them to fall back to HDMI/DVI signaling, which is how DP to HDMI/DVI cables work.  Lack of this feature would NOT affect DP to VGA cables because DisplayPort outputs never supported VGA output, and consequently DP to VGA adapters/cables have a converter chip built into the adapter/cable itself, which means the dock would be sending native DisplayPort out.  There are "active" DP to HDMI/DVI adapters and cables, fyi.  They're a bit less common and a bit more expensive, but they do exist -- and if you have a large quantity of these systems and you can't connect your displays any other way, you might want to order a few to test with.

In terms of having to set the lid close action to "Do Nothing" in order to close the lid while docked, the Power button on the dock is meant to act as an external Power button for the attached system, mimicking the system's Power button in every way, i.e. being able to wake it up, power it on, and even forcibly shut it down.  That's all explained in the WD19TB's manual on support.dell.com.  If you're unable to wake or power up the system by pressing the dock's Power button, then I'd check whether there might be a BIOS update for your system and/or a firmware update for the WD19TB, because that is absolutely supposed to work.

First off, thanks for the response!  You are correct that I meant monitors connected to the display port to DVI or HDMI cables.  I edited the original posting.  While I appreciate your explanation it does not make sense that Dell's flagship (and highest priced) docking station does not work properly with the the XPS 13 7390.   All firmware and drivers have been updated.  The WD19TB only has two updates available and both are from 11-2019 and have been applied to all docking stations.   I  turned on all TB settings in the BIOS.  I read the manual and troubleshooting steps but nothing works.   I've tested this with multiple 7390's and WD19TB along with different cables and none of the combinations works properly.  I have DP to VGA cables on order.   Active cables are not an option.  If the VGA cables end up not fixing the option then we may return all of the laptops ( a lot!) and docking stations and go with Surface Pros.   

As you read in the Reddit link it's a common problem that 7390 and WD19TB users have to find a cumbersome work around to get it to work properly.

Our current laptops are latitude E5270's and we spent at least a year fighting with Dell to get the flashing external monitor issued fixed which they did through a docking station firmware update.   It took countless support calls, replaced motherboards, lemon exchanges and escalations to get that fixed.  We don't want to go through that again. 

Thanks

@bpb1970  EDIT: Removed a large chunk of this post that turned out not to be relevant to this issue.

If the other hand the compatibility issue you're referring to between the dock and XPS 13 relates to the Power button not working as expected, then I'm not sure how to account for that.  But I'm not sure that's the case because you didn't address that at all in your reply.  You just talked about a compatibility issue between the dock and XPS 13 and then talked about displays.

For the E5270s with flashing video, the E Port docks don't have firmware that can be updated.  But since I had that experience myself with E5550s, I'm guessing the update you're referring to was for the MST hub firmware.  The MST hub is built into the system itself, but it can only be updated while the system is docked and a display attached to the dock is active, because that's the only time the internal MST hub is actually active.  But yes, that flashing display issue was highly irritating to several users that I support as well.

Update:  The DP to VGA adapters arrived and they do indeed work properly.    When a powered off 7390 is attached to a WD19TB with DP to VGA adapters and the power button is pressed on the docking station then the external monitors power on instantly.  Same goes for a 7390 in sleep or standby mode, the external monitors turn on instantly once the power button is pressed on the docking station.   

Too summarize:  When a Dell XPS 13 7390 2 in 1 laptop is hooked up to a Dell WD19TB docking station which is hooked up to two external monitors via either DP to DVI or DP to HDMI cables then the external monitors will not power on unless the laptop screen is opened and logged into windows.   BUT when using DP to VGA adapters for the external monitors the monitors will turn on every time whether from a powered down state, sleep, or standby.  

The negative to this workaround is, of course, image quality.   Knowing my users (and probably most users out there) they will take the reliable docking to any sort of image degradation.

I have not tried active DP to HDMI or DP to DVI cables because they are cost twice as much as the DP to VGA adapters.  

I would hope that Dell would find some sort of fix for this issue or at least add the above to their documentation.  

@bpb1970  Ok, I obviously missed a crucial data point in your original problem report.  I thought that external displays connected via DP to HDMI or DP to DVI didn't work at all.  I didn't realize that they worked normally as long as you had the laptop lid open and docked the system while it was already running.  In that case, lack of Dual Mode DisplayPort support isn't the issue.  If the dock didn't support that, then regular passive DP to HDMI and DP to DVI cables would never work at all.

The fact that that those passive cables work in certain circumstances and the by-definition-active DP to VGA cables work all the time makes me think this is a dock firmware issue.  In that case, active versions of the HDMI and DVI cables might still work better simply because they might sidestep whatever is responsible for this issue as the active DP to VGA cables seem to be doing, but if they're cost-prohibitive and not worth the image quality improvement, then we may never know.  Still, the fact that passive cables work in some situations suggests that this might get fixed.  The WD19 dock family could certainly use a firmware update.  They've been around for a while now and there's at least one other widely reported and very irritating issue with them, which is that the fan built into the dock seems to spin up to a very fast and very loud level for no apparent reason, sometimes even while the attached system is simply asleep.  I've observed this personally, and although a thread exists here with multiple users reporting the same behavior, unfortunately there has been no response from Dell.

Exact same issue here - brand new Dell XPS 13, WD19. Doesn't switch to external monitors on startup - have to unplug dock, open up the lid, then plug back in - then it will switch to the attached monitors. Same dock works flawlessly with other laptop (Acer). Dell - please address this - both are Dell products! My graphics driver is the latest from Intel, same goes for all other drivers and BIOS on XPS. 

There's a workaround listed - but it's totally not acceptable for my use case, as the laptop is stacked on a tray, and opening lid is not an option:

https://www.dell.com/support/article/en-us/sln320315/xps-7390-2-in-1-no-video-on-external-screens-when-powered-on-with-closed-lid-on-wd19tb?lang=en

I had the same problem and I solved it by using daisy chain and two DP cables