Alienware 13 R3 not finding plugable UD-ULTCDL in thunderbolt control

1

Everything seems to be working except it wont charge the laptop and nothing is showing up in the thunderbolt control. i can’t seem to get it to recognize the plugable UD-ULTCDL. I have updated all the drivers as well. I was able to solve the open lid problem by making the nvdia card set to the standard card used though. Any ideas on what i can do to get the plugable device to show on the thunderbolt controls?

2

Hello Wade,

Thanks for contacting Plugable support. I’d be happy to assist you.

The UD-ULTCDL is a USB-C dock, not Thunderbolt 3, so you won’t see it in the TBT3 control panel.

For the dock not charging your system, it’s possible your model doesn’t support charging over USB-C/Thunderbolt 3. Or if it has more than one USB-C/TBT3 ports, it may only charge from a specific port.

I do know that the Alienware 15 R3 does not support USB-C charging.

Thank you,
Joshua Henry
Plugable Technologies

3

I noticed on the plugable website it shows how to get the device to show up under the thunderbolt management system.

https://plugable.com/thunderbolt-3/su…

So i am not sure I follow, shouldn’t I be able to pull it up on the thunderbolt software or is the one i purchased not correct for what I am after?

4

Hi Wade,

The dock you purchased is not Thunderbolt 3 - therefore it will not show up in the Thunderbolt 3 utility.

You purchased our UD-ULTCDL which is a USB-C dock and it is compatible with Thunderbolt 3 systems, but is using a different technology to operate with the computer hence why it will not show up in the utility.

Thanks,
Josh

5

Ok thank you much for the info! Do you all sell a device that is USB-C and thunderbolt compatible?

6

Hi Wade,

Well Thunderbolt 3 is a superset of USB-C, so if it is Thunderbolt 3 it supports USB-C by default. Is there a particular function you’re looking for in a dock that you believe you require Thunderbolt 3 support for over just a standard USB-C dock?

For all intents and purposes most users will not notice a difference unless they are needing 4K @ 60Hz video.

You could look at our TBT3-UDV dock, though I also expect it to not charge your system. http://plugable.com/products/tbt3-udv

I would also expect only one video output to function, but we’ve not tested it here to verify that.

Best wishes,
Josh

7

Hi Wade,

If you have any further questions please just let us know at support@plugable.com

Best,
Josh