I’ve recently changed companies and this company blocks all access to their internal systems, gmail, VPN, everything unless we’re on their company issued laptop. I have a home desktop w/ 4 monitors that I can’t use for work and so I’ve purchased this Pluggable dock to help share my peripherals with my Macbook Pro 13" (2020 Intel version)
The issue I’m having is when I plug the Dock Host TB3 port into my Desktop’s TB3 ports, my device manager is constantly reloading and my tray is flickering as if something is loading, then unloading. I know in the instruction booklet, it says Windows users need to authenticate the Dock, but this never pops up.
I’ve got my PC Desktop Plugged in as the HOST machine and this is where I get the flickering Device Manager and Tray
What I’ve tried:
Disconnecting everything, let the device power down for 1 minute… then connect power, wait 30 seconds, connect TB3 Host port (front) to my TB3 Host port on my Expansion card on my PC using the provided Pluggable TB3 cable - Flickering Device Manager, no authentication asked for Dock
Connecting TB3 Cable to the USB-C port on back of device to my Host TB3 port (no flickering, but not no display captured) - No Flicking, no authentication asked for Dock
Connecting TB3 Cable to the USB-C port on back of device to my Host TB3 port and connecting 27" Samsung to HDMI port on Pluggable device - No display detected
Connecting TB3 Cable to the USB-C port on back of device to my Host TB3 port and connecting 27" Samsung to HDMI to Pluggables provided HDMI to DP cable and plugged into the DP port to on Pluggable device - No display detected
Plug the Macbook Pro into the HOST port on dock, using the Pluggable provided TB3 cable - Macbook Recognises Dock
Plug the Macbook Pro into the HOST port on dock, using the Pluggable provided TB3 cable and plugin my Keyboard and Mouse - Macbook Recognises Dock and devices
Plug the Macbook Pro into the HOST port on dock, using the Pluggable provided TB3 cable and plugin my Keyboard and Mouse and Webcam - Macbook Recognises Dock and devices and webcam
Plug the Macbook Pro into the HOST port on dock, using the Pluggable provided TB3 cable and plugin my Keyboard and Mouse and Webcam and plug USB-C cable from USB-C port on Dock to USB-C port on Expansion card in PC - *Windows does not recognise any of the devices, Macbook still works as #7 above
So it looks like Windows will not recognise the Dock and I am unable to use it as intended to share my devices between the two systems. I can get my Macbook to use all my devices, but to go back to my Windows, I need to unplug and replug everything back in again and that defeats the purpose.
Hopefully enough information has been provided here and I have ran the debug tool and have the zip, but did not want to send it without capturing all these details here.
Thanks in advance for reading and appreciate any help I might be able to get.
So I’ve solved the flickering Device and Tray… The Install booklet only had half of the instructions and I found an online guide by ASUS which has more details. I had to also plug in the USB header, Power connection, and set BIOS details for the TB to start to work.
So when I plug in the provided TB cable into the Host port on my Windows machine, there’s no flickering, but still not authentication requested.
Thank you for reaching out to Plugable Support and for providing all of these details!
In general, we do not support Thunderbolt 3 add-in cards with our Thunderbolt 3 docks, as we have had many users report issues when attempting to connect our docks to these add-in cards.
However, it sounds like you were able to get the dock to work after following an online guide from ASUS. Can you clarify whether everything is working (USB peripherals, monitors, etc.) and the only issue now is that it does not ask for you to authenticate the dock, or are your devices still not recognized when the dock is connected to your Windows machine?
Thanks for the response! I noticed I didn’t post the link, so I’ll put it below in case others come across the same expansion card.
While I have been able to get the expansion card to work and get my all my USB peripherals to work when plugged into the dock, I cannot get a display to be recognised in either the HDMI or DP ports on the Windows desktop.
With the Macbook, I can get my desired Displays shared as well as the Webcam, Keyboard, Mouse and Audio, but I have to unplug the devices from the dock and put them back into my Windows desktop due to the above issue.
What I have noticed, is while I am using my Macbook, I get inconsistent frequencies of KB/Mouse disconnecting but screen stays. Sometimes it happens after an hour, other times it happens after 6 hours, then happens again shortly after. Sometime I just need to unplug the TB cable from the Macbook, other times when I get frequent disconnects, I do a power cycle.
I also wanted to ask, what’s the difference between your TB3 cable and a different brand TB3 cable? I’ve read from other posts that you guys always recommend to use your cable which means I need to put my laptop underneath my desk, which isn’t ideal.
…what’s the difference between your TB3 cable and a different brand TB3 cable?
We tend to only recommend using the included Thunderbolt 3 cable as Thunderbolt 3 cables can vary in maximum throughput (20Gbps - 40Gbps), and our cables are the only ones that we can guarantee compatibility with our docking stations. Additionally, as soon as you get cables longer than 1m in length, you need “active” cables in order to function properly. Some vendors will try and sell cheaper cables longer than 1m that are passive instead of active. We actually have a video about active vs. passive cables on our YouTube channel. https://youtu.be/z0OcuKGYzPA
Can you confirm that you are running into disconnection issues when the dock is connected to the MacBook via the included Thunderbolt 3 cable?
In regards to your desktop, can you confirm whether you have Thunderbolt Control Center installed? This app comes pre-installed on most Thunderbolt-enabled laptops, but you may have to manually install it on a desktop. If you do have it, would you mind sending a screenshot of the main window that pops up when you click on the app? It should look something like this, but hopefully with the TBT3-UDC3 showing up.
Thanks for the detailed follow-up and the note about the software for the TB ports. I’ve installed this but I still don’t see the device when I plug in and as I was troubleshooting the issue, I read that the Expansion card I purchased is apparently not compatible with my board, but I’ve emailed ASUS for clarification.
The USB-C slots work and I can share devices when they are used, but the TB ports do not work and do not detect anything… so I’ll wait and see what happens when ASUS responds.
I did purchase your TB4 cable at 2m so I can try to avoid the constant disconnects, but that has not solved the problem and I still have to unplug and replug the cable 3-4 times in a working day (8 hours)…
Is it best I open a new thread for this or can we keep it here?
I also would like to hear what ASUS has to say about your add-in card, but I just want to remind you that our Thunderbolt 3 docks technically are not supported with Thunderbolt 3 add-in cards, so I am not sure if there will be anything else that I can suggest if ASUS is unhelpful.
In regards to your MacBook, I’d like to request some logs from your device using our PlugDebug diagnostics tool. With everything still attached to the dock (even if it appears to not be working) please follow the instructions on our PlugDebug page and email us at support@plugable.com with the subject line, “Ticket 359134” and the ZIP file attached so I can look more into the disconnecting issue.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
Bit of an update here… I did some more digging around on a tech forum and found others have gotten my card to work, so I followed a few of their implementations and the Dock is now recognised in Windows and I’ve authorised it, I can share all my peripherals, but I can’t share my monitor.
I’m going to keep playing with it, but wanted to give an update on the Expansion card progress.
I am glad you were able to get the dock at least authorized in Windows. Please let me know if there are any other updates in regards to getting the dock working with your PC.