XPS 13 9300 and WD19TB linux problem

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I have very similar issues since getting my WD19TB dock yesterday.  I'm on an XPS 13 9300 developer edition upgraded to Ubuntu 20.04.  The dock is plugged into a 4k monitor via DisplayPort and a USB keyboard and mouse.  Plugging in the dock to the XPS results in one of the following:

1) USB devices constantly power cycle and the monitor keeps trying to find a signal, as if the dock keeps getting connected and disconnected rapidly.

2) USB devices are powered stably.  Monitor tries to find a signal, but fails and eventually gives up and goes to sleep.

3) USB and monitor work, perhaps after one or two cycles of flickering.  Monitor might go blank after some length of time (e.g. 30 minutes).

It seems to take around 3 attempts on average of plugging in the dock to get a picture on the monitor.  I tried downgrading to an earlier BIOS; this seems to make it slightly more reliable, but it could just be random chance.

Kernel logs are full of nasty-looking messages.  I'll see if I can narrow in on what's relevant to the problem.

I updated my dock firmware and will see if it makes a difference in reliability.  Here is how to do it from Linux:

Download the cab file here: https://dl.dell.com/FOLDER06279838M/1/WD19FirmwareUpdateLinux_01.00.14.cab

Install it.  Your dock will disconnect and reconnect during the update:

sudo fwupdmgr install ~/Downloads/WD19FirmwareUpdateLinux_01.00.14.cab

When it's done, unplug your dock, wait 60 seconds, and plug it back in.

Any progress on this guys? I am running current Arch Linux on XPS 13 9300 and have the same issues with my WD19TB dock. Note I am running the latest 9300 bios 1.0.11 and WD19TB dock firmware 01.00.14.01.

No, still experiencing instability without resolution.  I might have to return the dock and try a different brand.

I will add that I have since updated to the new BIOS 1.1.0 for the XPS 13 9300 but the problem(s) still occur.

Hi,

I've pretty much done the same as @5p05qS .

I have a Dell XPS 13 9300 that came shipped with Windows, and installed xubuntu 20.04 onto it (alongside Windows) which attaches to the WD19TB thunderbolt dock.

I have two DisplayPort monitors connected to the dock, as well as the usual USB keyboard/mouse and networking port.

Everything works OK apart from the monitors.  I also was getting the monitors shutting down, flickering, etc., but the update to the latest firmware "seems" to have settled it down (updated today 2020-08-13).

However I can't get the display to show on all monitors.  I can get xubuntu to show the laptop screen and the first displayport screen.  It knows there is a second displayport screen but enabling it doesn't display anything on the screen.

If I try to ensure the screen is showing the correct source, by pressing the source button on the offending monitor, it can knock out the display on the first displayport monitor or even sometimes on the laptop monitor.

If I boot into Windows, the dock and all monitors seem to behave and display as you would expect.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you for working on this, I was also thinking of buying this dock. Has this problem been resolved?

Hi all,

my problem still persists, although it happens less often.

The Feedback from the Dell support was: "Your Notebook came with Windows, you installed Linux your self, we won't help you."

I think the next bunch of hardware we order will be from an other brand.

@5p05qS I also got a support prompt from Dell merely because I commented in this thread above. I'm guessing the others here did also. Dell asked from my service tag etc but then said because I installed Linux myself they offer no support.

I just got a new message, they again asked for my service tag.

After my question why they need it and if they help my this time I just got the response that "In order to proceed further and note the input, we'd need the system's Service Tag."

Before buying the notebook I thought the prices of the Dell hardware are this high because they offer great service and support...

Hi,
I have replied to your private message.
Regards,
Mausam

yeah, really helpful .... not:

> Are you reaching out to us regarding the same issue(monitor connectivity issue)?
> If yes, our support options regarding Linux is limited. You could search online Linux forums for further
> assistance.

Same Issue here.
We bought two XPS 13 developer editions with preinstalled Ubuntu 18.04
We had exactly the same Issues as described above: randomly black screens, X-Server crashes, etc.
We tried three different setups, upgraded to 20.04, updated firmware, etc. without success. So it is obviously not a custom setup-thing.
It's really annoying, we spent a lot of money on dell equipment for having a working and supported Linux environment.