I use a 7730 and a TB18DC dock, and would experience periods where a USB mouse did not move smoothly, or the USB keyboard had multiple key repeats. Work-around thus far has been to go into BIOS and "Disable C-states". See if that helps.
For the other problems, I'd try BIOS setting "Disable USB Power-Share".
There is a listing of BIOS settings for the 5530 here, but unfortunately, the descriptions are a bit terse:
FWIW - I too experience difficulties adding and removing USB devices from the Dock. I have also experienced instances where the only way I could wake the 3 external displays (HDMI to DVI, miniDP to DVI, and DP to DVI) was to unplug one and plug it back in.
Thanks for your reply. Nor disabling USB power share or C-states has no positive impact. However, when I was troubleshooting this, I used an old Lenovo L2440P monitor connected to the dock via a DVI to Displayport adapter. This was not the best test case, so when I got hold of a Dell U2518D which we use, I got another test result.
With the U2518D I could undock/dock the TB16 without any issues, but if the built in USB 3 hub in the monitor was connected to the TB16, the picture froze and all USB ports stopped working. Probably the ethernet interface too.
I thought this could have to do with the U2518D firmware, but when I checked it, it had the latest firmware.
The workaround is to connect the monitor USB 3 hub directly to the laptop (if the hub is needed). Other USB devices like keyboard, mouse, headset etc can still be connected to the TB16 on either the USB 2.0 or 3.0 ports, and still work without any issues.
My conclusion: Do not connect the U2518D monitor's USB hub to the TB16. At least not when using the mobile workstation Precision 5520/5530. I have not been able to test if any other USB 3.0 hub will have the same negative impact on the TB16, but I know that the USB 2.0 hub in the Lenovo L2440P monitor did not cause any issue.
Other people in other threads indicated that their keyboard repeat and mouse move issues were mediated when they connected directly to their laptop. Makes sense then that a USB hub, plugged directly into the laptop would be less problematic. There's probably a dock firmware / USB driver issue that is common across the TB16 and TB18DC.
sfortin
2 Intern
•
199 Posts
0
November 29th, 2018 02:00
I use a 7730 and a TB18DC dock, and would experience periods where a USB mouse did not move smoothly, or the USB keyboard had multiple key repeats. Work-around thus far has been to go into BIOS and "Disable C-states". See if that helps.
For the other problems, I'd try BIOS setting "Disable USB Power-Share".
There is a listing of BIOS settings for the 5530 here, but unfortunately, the descriptions are a bit terse:
https://topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/precision-15-5530-laptop_specifications_en-us.pdf
FWIW - I too experience difficulties adding and removing USB devices from the Dock. I have also experienced instances where the only way I could wake the 3 external displays (HDMI to DVI, miniDP to DVI, and DP to DVI) was to unplug one and plug it back in.
ivmbe69
1 Rookie
•
5 Posts
1
November 30th, 2018 02:00
Thanks for your reply. Nor disabling USB power share or C-states has no positive impact. However, when I was troubleshooting this, I used an old Lenovo L2440P monitor connected to the dock via a DVI to Displayport adapter.
This was not the best test case, so when I got hold of a Dell U2518D which we use, I got another test result.
With the U2518D I could undock/dock the TB16 without any issues, but if the built in USB 3 hub in the monitor was connected to the TB16, the picture froze and all USB ports stopped working. Probably the ethernet interface too.
I thought this could have to do with the U2518D firmware, but when I checked it, it had the latest firmware.
The workaround is to connect the monitor USB 3 hub directly to the laptop (if the hub is needed). Other USB devices like keyboard, mouse, headset etc can still be connected to the TB16 on either the USB 2.0 or 3.0 ports, and still work without any issues.
My conclusion: Do not connect the U2518D monitor's USB hub to the TB16. At least not when using the mobile workstation Precision 5520/5530. I have not been able to test if any other USB 3.0 hub will have the same negative impact on the TB16, but I know that the USB 2.0 hub in the Lenovo L2440P monitor did not cause any issue.
sfortin
2 Intern
•
199 Posts
0
November 30th, 2018 02:00
Other people in other threads indicated that their keyboard repeat and mouse move issues were mediated when they connected directly to their laptop. Makes sense then that a USB hub, plugged directly into the laptop would be less problematic. There's probably a dock firmware / USB driver issue that is common across the TB16 and TB18DC.
FLorinG
1 Message
0
February 27th, 2019 07:00
I am using a K 16a dock with a XPS I9 (LINUX OS) that cost a LOT and steel have the same issue.
Hey DELL what is going on , can not use any monitors and if I disconnect the thunderbolt I am losing my mouseability ...
Can you help us ?
Windows works fine, most of the times ....
Linux drivers ??? where, how ?
jahnreektor
3 Posts
0
May 13th, 2019 07:00
For what it's worth, I couldn't get the dock (TB16) to work with my XPS 13 when I was running Ubuntu 18.04.
However, it all works great with Ubuntu 19.04 right out of the box -- no configuration.