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September 8th, 2020 08:00

P2720DC, XPS 13 9350, multiple issues

Hi,

I bought a Dell P2720DC to serve as secondary monitor for my Dell XPS 13 9350 (graphic card is Intel Iris Graphics 540) to work from home. I received it today and I have two issues : 

I connected the XPS 13 9350 directly by USB Type-C with the cable provided to the P3720DC (without any adapter). A message on the screen says "No USB Type-C signal".

After going through this forum it seems that this won't work no matter what I do because this is "daisy chaining", and that it fails between XPS 13 9350 and some Dell monitors. I ordered today a USB Type-C to DisplayPort cable. But I doubt it will work because there is no DisplayPort logo near the USB Type-C port.

U2719DC, XPS 15 9550, USB Type-C not working



XPS 13 9350 No video with Dell USB Type-C monitors

Now things get worse.

I connected the USB Type-C of the laptop to a Dell adapter DA200 (HDMI/VGA/Ethernet/USB) and connected the adapter to the screen by HDMI. The screen works but my maximal resolution in Windows 10 is 2048x1080 and not 2560x1440 as expected (see picture below). I couldn't find any thread related to this problem on the forum. 

Now I am kind of lost because I don't even know if I will ever be able to reach 2560x1440 resolution on an external monitor with my XPS 13 9350 or if it is just an issue with this monitor. Therefore, I do not know if buying another screen would solve this issue or if my XPS 13 9350 won't be able to output more than 2048x1080 on an external monitor.

Many thanks

resolution max dell.JPG

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September 8th, 2020 10:00

@Fenixman  I can offer a bit of clarity here -- as well as some hope!

First, the issue with the XPS 13 9350 not working with USB-C displays isn't related to daisy chaining, which involves running multiple external displays from a single PC output.  The issue occurs even when only trying to run a single external display, and it's some bizarre issue with the XPS 13 9350.  It also affects the XPS 15 9550 and Precision 5510, even though those aren't mentioned because that wasn't discovered until later and Dell evidently never bothered to update the KB article.  Dell has never been forthcoming about the underlying cause of the problem, but the bottom line is that the XPS 13 9350 does not send video when connected to Dell USB-C displays using a USB-C cable, even though the XPS 13 9350 works fine with other USB-C displays (and docks), and Dell USB-C displays work fine with other USB-C systems.

The USB-C to DisplayPort cable WILL work, however.  You don't have to worry about the lack of the DP logo because the XPS 13 9350 supports Thunderbolt 3, and video output over USB-C is mandatory for TB3 systems.  That's why Dell systems that support TB3 show the Thunderbolt logo instead of the DP logo.  And it has been confirmed that even on the XPS 13 9350 that can't send video over USB-C to Dell USB-C displays, connecting to that same display using a USB-C to DisplayPort cable does work.  The drawback is that in that situation, you're only sending video to the display over that cable.  You can't charge your system from the display anymore, nor do you have USB data connectivity if you want to use the USB ports built into the display.  And since the USB-C port on that display is the only way to draw power from it AND the only way to get USB connectivity between it and the system, I don't know of a way to use that port for both power and USB data but NOT video.  If you want to use it for USB data, you can use a USB-C to USB-A cable to connect the display to your XPS 13's USB port -- but then you'd have to power your XPS 13 using its regular power adapter.  If you want to use the display's USB-C port for power, you can get an adapter like this one.  You'd connect a USB-C cable from the display to the power input of this adapter, then connect a DisplayPort cable between the display and adapter as well.  That will cause your system's USB-C port to be used for video output and power input, but not USB data.  And again, since the P2720DC's only USB "upstream" port to connect to a PC is that USB-C port, that would leave your USB ports unusable, in which case you might just need to get a USB 3.0 hub instead.  I realize this is a huge inconvenience that totally defeats the point of having a USB-C display for single cable "docking station style" connectivity, but having to work around this compatibility issue between the XPS 13 9350 and Dell USB-C displays means the only solutions are a bit clunky and limited.

The issue with the DA200 is that it's limited to 1080p output.  This is stated in its documentation, available on support.dell.com.  It's not a problem with the device or anything related to the XPS 13 9350.  It's just a limitation of that particular device.  The newer DA300 when paired with that system will support up to 1440p 60 Hz or 4K 30 Hz.  (With newer systems it can run 4K 60 Hz.)  But the fact that you're limited to 1080p on the DA200 does NOT mean that you'll be limited to 1080p when using a USB-C to DisplayPort cable.

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September 8th, 2020 11:00

@Fenixman  If it helps any further, I forgot to mention that my wife has an XPS 13 9350 right here.  I have a pair of U2711D displays (2560x1440 resolution) connected as a daisy chain.  I have previously used a USB-C to DisplayPort cable to connect my wife's XPS 13 9350 to the first display in my daisy chain, and when I did that, her system saw BOTH of my displays AND ran both of them at 2560x1440 60 Hz, in Extend mode, through that single cable.  So you'll be ok once you have the proper cabling to work around this issue.

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September 8th, 2020 12:00

Wow @jphughan , I cannot believe you took the time to write such a complete and crystal-clear answer, thank you so much. 

The "docking station style" connectivity was the cherry on the cake but is not a key buying point as far as I am concerned so your solution for video output and power is absolutely perfect and you have solved my issue!

Thanks again

 

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September 8th, 2020 14:00

@Fenixman  Excellent, happy to help!

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October 19th, 2020 00:00

@jphughan I now have a Dell 2415Qb screen over USB C and it worked fine for a month but now I cannot get it to detect my laptop anymore.
I used it 3 days ago and everything was fine. This morning the screen was blinking so I unplugged and plugged back in the usb c (on PC and monitor side) and since then the monitor doesn't detect any signal from the computer anymore. I already had this problem once or twice before but the screen would be working again quickly, however this time I am stuck. Maybe this was caused by a recent update to the dell display manager?

Do you please have any idea of what I could do? This is becoming quite a problem as I cannot work from my desk anymore.
Thanks a lot
Nicolas

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October 19th, 2020 16:00

@Fenixman  My guess would be an updated Intel Graphics driver.  Dell Display Manager seems unlikely to cause that since it's pretty much just a tool to help arrange application windows and such.  Somebody else just PMed me saying their XPS 13 (generation unspecified) had unexpectedly stopped working with their TB16 dock, so I'm wondering if there may indeed have been a buggy update push somewhere, either Dell Update/SupportAssist or possibly even Windows Update.

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