3.0 Docking Station

I recently purchased your usb 3.0 universal docking station to use with my Samsung Series 7 Chronos laptop at work. I had been using the Toshiba Dynadock with usb 3.0, but wasn’t getting the performance I was looking for. I was hoping your universal docking station would be the solution, but so far has underperformed. I have two main issues with the docking station.
First, I have two monitors connected to the docking station in addtion to the laptop. One is connected directly to the VGA port, and another through a Plugable usb 2.0 UGA. It takes several minutes for the docking station to recognize the additional monitors and I am experiencing a lot of pixelation on both monitors once connected. Is there a solution to avoiding the pixelation? I have to wiggle the mouse or move the window in order for the normal view to return. This is quite frustrating as it happens throughout the day while working.
Second, and more annoying, is the docking station completely shutting down on me while working. At least once a day, the docking station completely shuts down and I have to reconnect the usb cable in order to for it to fire back up. Also, the cable cannot be plugged in all the way or else it is not recognized. I have to plug the 3.0 cable in about half way for the docking station to be recognized. I did have the same issue with the Toshiba Dynadock, but it seemed less touchy. Could this be why the docking station shuts down on its own? Is there a solution? Please let me know. I enjoy Plugable products and would like to keep using them pending some help and solutions.

Thank you,

Kevin

Hi Kavin,

Thanks for posting! We’ll should be able to get to the root cause here.

What you describe with having to plug USB devices only half-way in – and this was both with ours and the Toshiba – that’s a very important detail.

USB connectors are designed to physically be in perfect alignment when fully plugged in. If that’s not happening on a certain system or port, there’s a problem that shouldn’t be ignored.

Unfortunately, it sounds like the Samsung Series 7 Chronos laptop unit may have a problem with that port.

It looks like that laptop (at least the 700Z7C model) has 2x USB 3.0 ports on the left side, and 2x USB 2.0 ports on the right.

Can you say which port you’re connecting the UD-3000 to, and what happens if you switch to the other USB 3.0 port?

We’d like to get that issue understood first, as it might be the cause of some of the other issues.

Thanks again for posting and giving us a chance to help!
Bernie

Hey Bernie,

I am connecting the UD-3000 to the USB 3.0 port on the left side closest to the power supply port. If I switch to the other port , I get the same results. I notice that once everything is connected I can push the cable in for a more solid connection, but it doesn’t stop the docking station from completely shutting down. Twice already today. The USB 2.0 ports fire up right away, but I purchased this computer and docking station to utilize the 3.0 capability.

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for the quick reply! OK, I don’t know if there’s more we can look at there about the laptop’s female A ports – although I’m a little nervous given the description of the behavior.

So let’s look at things closer from a software perspective. Many times with USB 3.0 an older piece of firmware or drivers can create problems.

DisplayLink’s Support tool gathers what versions of hardware and software you have, and will show us what’s up. Could you run it and email the .zip file it generates to us at support@plugablle.com? Here’s how:
http://plugable.com/support/tools/dis…

That should give us the clues needed to figure out next steps. Hopefully something simple like a USB 3.0 driver that can be upgraded. We’ll let you know.

Thanks for your patience!
Bernie

Hey Bernie,

Have been able to come up with any solutions? Did you get the zip file? Also, how do I safely remove the device? I can’t seem to find that anywhere.

For others who are interested–

This problem was being caused by a combination of things - physically loose ports on the host computer and out of date USB 3.0 host controller drivers and a down rev. DisplayLink driver.

Currently waiting on update from the customer after repair of the ports.