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August 31st, 2022 19:00
monitor problems with docking station
Here's my setup.
- Dell Precision 5510 laptop (NVidia Quadro M1000M and Intel HD Graphics 530)
- Windows 10 21H2
- Dell K16A USB-C Docking Station
- Dell 3007WFP-HC 30" Monitor
- HP 24m 24" 1080p Monitor
The docking station is plugged into the laptop via USB-C. The docking station HDMI output is plugged into the HP monitor's HDMI input. The docking station DisplayPort output is plugged into the Dell 30" monitor's DVI input using a DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI adapter (https://a.co/d/hIPaDgL).
The HP monitor works great and displays at 1920x1080.
The issue is the Dell 30" monitor only seems to work with a 1280x800 resolution. The same monitor, when hooked into my desktop machine directly via DVI works as expected and provides 2560x1600 resolution.
I'm attempting to switch to using the laptop via the docking station so that I only have to keep one machine updated and can just pull it and take it with me and then when at home leverage the full size keyboard, mouse, and dual monitors.
Originally I attempted this with a basic DisplayPort to DVI cable and a similar problem. In that case, in display settings it didn't even recognize that the monitor could achieve a higher resolution (higher values weren't even available in the drop-down. However, I found a thread here (https://www.dell.com/community/Monitors/3007WFP-HC-cannot-change-resolution-from-1280x800/td-p/7773217) where @jphughan explained that you need the DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI to get this to work. So I ordered that adapter and tried with that, but am still stuck.
With the recommended adapter, in display settings, I can now pick 2560x1600 but as soon as I do, the Dell monitor shows a really strange looking pattern of colors. So something is not working. The attached image is from a photo taken of the screen in this condition.
I've updated all the drivers I can think of but still no luck. Any ideas?
jphughan
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14K Posts
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August 31st, 2022 19:00
@bytebucket Glad you found a post of mine useful. Hopefully I’ll be able to help solve the rest of the puzzle here.
First, “K16A” is a regulatory code, not an actual mode. But it appears that K16A corresponds to the Dell TB16 dock. You may want to check the underside label to see the actual model to confirm.
If that’s the dock you’re using, then it’s actually a Thunderbolt dock, not a USB-C dock. And since it’s a Thunderbolt-only dock that doesn’t support regular USB-C backward compatibility, it wouldn’t be possible that it’s running in reduced functionality USB-C mode (which is a shame, because that situation or using an actual USB-C dock that didn’t offer Thunderbolt at all would have perfectly explained your symptoms, because in those cases, you wouldn’t have had enough video bandwidth available to run your QHD+FHD setup at the standard 60 Hz and 8-bit color setup.)
So if you are in fact using the TB16 dock and have already updated drivers, the only items I can think that you should try updating would be the system BIOS, system TB3 controller firmware, and TB16 firmware. Links to the latest releases as of this writing below:
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=pxgxk&oscode=wt64a&productcode=precision-m5510-workstation
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=6j7f8&oscode=wt64a&productcode=precision-m5510-workstation
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=7tj1h&oscode=w732&productcode=dell-thunderbolt-dock-tb16
If that doesn’t work, then as a possible workaround, have you tried connecting your Dell display to the HDMI output built into the 5510 itself? I realize that this reduces the single cable convenience of the dock setup, but it would be a good data point if nothing else.
bytebucket
12 Posts
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August 31st, 2022 20:00
@jphughan , thanks for the reply and info! The label on the bottom of the docking station is attached.
So I guess it is the TB16. I did go through a number of updates (BIOS, Windows updates, Dell updates, Intel updates), but I will try the links you provided.
jphughan
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14K Posts
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August 31st, 2022 21:00
@bytebucket Bummer that everything was already updated. As for the direct connection option, I misspoke. I meant to suggest connecting the HP display directly to the system, since it has a native HDMI input and you mentioned that the Dell display already works at its native resolution of 2560x1600 when connected through the dock.
bytebucket
12 Posts
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August 31st, 2022 21:00
@jphughan so it looks like I was just confused about USB-C vs. TB. To me, visually, the plug appeared to be USB-C and I was not aware they used the same plug. So, as you suggested, it is a TB docking station.
I ran the BIOS update and the BIOS was already updated, except when I ran it this time it did list a couple extra lines at the bottom which weren't in the current version (see attached screenshot, "System Map", and "PCR0 XML").
I then ran the TB firmware update and it indicated the firmware was already up to date. Same thing with the docking station firmware update, it listed a number of items and they were all up to date already.
I've never tried connecting the laptop directly to the Dell monitor. The Dell monitor only has DVI input (well, and VGA), so I guess that would require another adapter, HDMI to DVI? Which I guess would need to also be dual-link DVI?
bytebucket
12 Posts
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September 1st, 2022 04:00
@jphughan
HDMI direct to the laptop works great. I've used that many times and, for example, connected to projectors. The HP monitor works without issue.
I've only used the Dell display in the past connected direct DVI to DVI to my tower machine here. The video card in that machine happens to have a DVI output. It's an older machine.
I'm now experimenting with the docking station and trying to get the Dell monitor to connect through that. With the simple DP to DVI cable, the laptop only thinks it supports 1280x800 and will only allow choosing that. With the DP to dual link DVI cable, the computer seems to recognize higher resolutions, but when I pick 2560x1600 I just get that strange pattern on the screen.
jphughan
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September 1st, 2022 06:00
@bytebucket Ok, so the system itself has no problem driving that overall display setup. It’s just that running both displays on that dock is a problem. In that case, I have one more suggestion: If you’re up for purchasing another cable/adapter and returning it if it doesn’t help, try connecting your HP display to the dock using a Mini-DisplayPort to HDMI cable/adapter, so that you’re using the two DisplayPort output ports on the dock. (Since that display is only 1080p, you can go active or passive for this one.) That SHOULDN’T make a difference, but you obviously shouldn’t be having this problem either, so sometimes changing variables that shouldn’t make a difference will make a difference anyway, and that’s the only other cabling setup I can think of that would allow both displays to run through the dock at native resolution without resorting to ancient analog VGA.
If that doesn’t work either, then you may have stumbled on some sort of interoperability glitch that affects your specific combination of equipment. I know that’s not a very satisfying answer, but it does happen in the increasingly complex tech world. For example, I once ordered a dock for my wife’s new MacBook Pro. She had a pair of Dell U2415 1920x1200 displays, and whenever she docked her laptop, one of the displays would blink off and back on every few seconds. But this problem did NOT occur when any of FOUR other laptop models I tested were docked, or when I swapped her dock out for my different dock model as a test, or when I used her laptop and her dock with different displays. It ONLY happened when using her laptop AND that dock AND those displays. Ultimately I fixed it by getting her the slightly older variant of that dock model that had dual DP outputs rather than dual HDMI 2.0 outputs, and that worked.