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XPS 15 9570, TB3/USB Type-C failing to detect monitor and devices
Recently tried to connect my XPS 15 to my set up of two monitors, one of which uses the thunderbolt 3 port for 144hz abilties etc. However after connecting the cables there was no reaction, whereas my monitor connected by HDMi was already up and "projecting".
Unplugged and plugged in both ends of the type-c to displayport cable on my laptop and monitor and still no change. Just a loop of the windows 10 "device plug in/out chime".
I then tested it on a type-c 16gb drive to make hopefully pin point it was my cable at fault, however my XPS wasn't even reading the drive. It must be the tb3 port.
Went through dell support assist found some BIOS updates installled restarted and still no change.
Further "symptoms" :
- "Laggy"/delayed main keyboard input on the XPS when attempting to type with device plugged in ; however when using external keyboard XPS types fine
- Using a type-c charger works perfectly fine (90w)
Lastly something i just thought of which could be the source of the problem. I recently went on holiday and instead of pulling out my main 130w powerbrick/cables from my home set-up, i took my smaller 90w type-c instead. Used it for 3 days - prior to which my thunderbolt 3 was working fine - and now having returned nothing else but the power supply works on the tb3/type-c port.
Any ideas? I really don't want to send off my only "device" other than my phone for 2+ weeks to get checked if i don't need to
Ty in advance!
jphughan
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May 17th, 2019 18:00
@A.SK interesting result with that adapter, but it doesn't entirely "exonerate" the USB-C connector. When you use an adapter to plug a USB-A device into a USB-C port, even if the device supports USB 3.0, only two of the four high speed lanes in the USB-C connector get used, one each assigned to USB 3.1 Transmit and USB 3.1 Receive, and the other two lanes are unused because they're unneeded. When you use a USB-C to DisplayPort adapter, all four high-speed lanes are assigned to DisplayPort Alt Mode. So I suppose it's possible that there's an issue with part of your USB-C connector, or it could be that there's an issue specifically with the DisplayPort Alt Mode functionality. But hopefully you were just unlucky with that initial test, as you said. Best wishes!
A.SK
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May 17th, 2019 17:00
okay so...i just dug around found a USB-A to Type-c adapter to maybe try an external hard drive through the port as a last check..and umm. Well it worked. So, i'm guessing both the display port to type c cable and my little type c usb drive both became faulty and i just got unlucky as those were the only type c devices i had...*face palm*.
Anyways, now i have faith that my port isn't damaged..i'm going to order a replacement display port to type c cable and try it once again.
Fingers crossed, i don't see any logical problem that should stop this from working :'D other than my ignorance :P
Sorry for wasting your time J!
A.SK
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May 17th, 2019 17:00
Thanks for your time and reply!
Right so to answer your questions:
- "Driver and Download" wise on dell's support page shows that everything is up-to-date. However if you suggest i force download the latest versions of everything you've listed i can.
- My displays in question are 2x MSI - Optix MAG271C Full HD 27" Curved LED Gaming Monitors (https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/pc-monitors/pc-monitors/msi-optix-mag271c-full-hd-27-curved-led-gaming-monitor-black-10188685-pdt.html) .
~ One connected using display port to type-c cable which allows me to game at 144hz (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B075V27G2R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and the other connected by hdmi which is limited to 120hz. And i can confirm it does work at 144hz as gaming at fps 144+ is absolutley liquid.
- As for testing the dp to type c cable on different display i have (other monitor i was using hdmi on) with the same result.
- And i'd like to bring back up that even when i simply plugged in a type c drive (usb drive) into my type c port it didn't even detect/read it. Which is why i'm leaning more towards my port being the problem here.
- I will be able to test with a different cable and different display tomorrow at a friends place. I will update this then.
- And yes i still have my year garuntee/warranty thing. It's just the 2 weeks+ wait that's a bummer.
- I'm based in the UK
Thanks for your time again :)
jphughan
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May 17th, 2019 17:00
The other charger shouldn't have damaged your TB3 port if it implements USB PD properly. The XPS 15 9570 supports charging via USB-C, and when using an undersized charger (90W when the system is designed for 130W) in the worst case would just your battery to charge slower and your system to throttle its performance. Even if the system's USB-C port didn't support charging, connecting a charger that supports USB PD properly wouldn't damage anything because USB PD power sources don't provide power until they negotiate with the device they're connected to, and ports that don't support charging wouldn't perform that negotiation.
I've seen SupportAssist occasionally fail to offer some updates, and there are some others to consider. So if you haven't already, go to support.dell.com and then download and install any of these updates your system doesn't already have, in the order listed below:
- BIOS
- Thunderbolt software/drivers
- Thunderbolt 3 controller firmware (not part of the BIOS update)
- Intel Graphics driver
By the way, does your display actually tap into Thunderbolt 3, or does it just expect to use regular USB-C? If you're using a USB-C to DisplayPort adapter, then it's just USB-C, in which case the Thunderbolt updates above wouldn't change anything. As a general point of advice, when asking technical questions like this it's good to mention the exact model of the devices involved, in this case the display that isn't working. (Side note: The USB-C port on the XPS 15 is physically wired to the Intel GPU, and I'm not even sure that it supports 144 Hz output. The NVIDIA GPU works indirectly through Optimus, so its capabilities wouldn't matter in this particular case. And if you're planning to use G-Sync, that definitely won't work. That requires the display output to be wired directly to the NVIDIA GPU rather than operating through Optimus.)
A couple of other ideas: Have you tried connecting a different display to the USB-C to DisplayPort adapter? Have you tried your 144 Hz display using its DisplayPort input on another system, ideally another one that has a USB-C port so you can also test the adapter setup you're trying with the XPS 15?
As for potentially returning the system to Dell, I'm not sure where you're located, but in many areas Dell offers warranties that include on-site service. Obviously one would hope never to need warranty service in the first place, but I've found that if you won't have ready access to a secondary PC when your primary PC fails, on-site warranties are worth the extra cost, because exactly as you say, you don't want to be without your PC for potentially weeks. And I always advise business users to get that option, even if they have spare systems. Just something to consider for the future.
RoyBoersema
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October 17th, 2019 07:00
How did you fix this in the end? I have a new xps15 7590 and it has the exact same issue. But my older 9570 works fine. So weird..