DVI Port dead

1

I’ve had the plugable USB 3.0 docking station device for about a year, without using it, About a week ago (after I bought a high-end notebook) I started using it. This morning I found the DVI port “dead”. My laptop will no longer recognise a monitor plugged into it (either vga to DVI, or HDMI/DVI.} I’ve rebooted, restarted, unplugged, replugged everything etc - doesn’t work. All other USB connections seem to be working fine.
I’m in Australia. What are my options?

2

Hi Christevan, thanks for posting. I am sorry to hear that the DVI port on our dock is not working as expected and I will be happy to help!

Thank you for the description of the behavior you are seeing and the steps taken to troubleshoot. Based off of your description, it could be that the DVI port on the dock is faulty itself, but we will want to try a couple of things to see if we can get the port working again. We will want to reinstall the DisplayLink drivers and run the DisplayLink cleaner tool to make sure that the software is in a good state. To do so, please follow these steps:

  1. Disconnect the dock from the system and please remove the power cable from the dock so it turns off completely (this is important so the unit resets). Please keep it disconnected until the last step.
  2. Uninstall any and all software with ‘DisplayLink’ in the title that is present from within the Control Panel -> Programs and Features. Don’t worry if these entries are not present or if the process does not work, just move onto the next step
  3. Download, extract and run the DisplayLink cleaner tool, found here –> https://s3.amazonaws.com/plugable/bin… and ensure it displays “Cleaning Complete” when done (video walk-through if you need it -> https://youtu.be/AcVV1gD_FvI)
  4. Once the Cleaner has been run, reboot (even if not prompted to)
  5. Now download and install the 8.1 M0 DisplayLink software, found here –> https://s3.amazonaws.com/plugable/bin…
  6. Reattach the power cable to the dock first. Once the dock is powered on, reconnect it to your system which will trigger the final portion of the installation. If the device is not detected, please click the ‘Skip’ button to allow the process to complete and then reboot the system.

If these steps help, great! If not, we’ll want to examine some log files from your system to see if any other variables jump out to us and to prevent a potential replacement dock from behaving in the same manner. To help us do so please download and run our diagnostic utility PlugDebug –> http://plugable.com/support/plugdebug with everything connected. Please send us the file that is created on your Desktop by attaching it to an email to our direct support email address at support@plugable.com with ‘Ticket Number 176174’ in the Subject Line so we can match everything up. We will examine the logs and determine next steps from there.

Thank you,

David W.
Plugable Technologies
www.plugable.com/support

3

Thanks for your help, David.
Before I read your email, I checked the connection again on another usb port (out of curiosity) and it now, miraculously!, it works.

All I did was unplug the docking system and turned it off over night, purely to save power, and plugged it into another USB port on my notebook this morning, not expecting this to solve the problem. But this is clearly what happened.
I shall try plugging it back into the other USB (the one where the video connection (only) no longer worked,) later today.

So that’s good news! Regardless, I shall keep your instructions in case I have an issue again in the future.

  • BTW, will turning off the docking system at the wall every night be detrimental to its performance?

Thanks again.

Richard

4

I just tested the original port and is now working too.
Perhaps it just needed to be reset, by turning the power off and removing the power cable for a few seconds/minutes?

5

Hi Richard,

Thanks for the update and glad to hear that things are working. Let us know if the behavior reappears and we can help further.

Thank you,

David W.
Plugable Technologies
www.plugable.com/support

6

Thanks David.

Last question: Will turning off the docking system at the wall every night be detrimental to its performance?

Richard

7

Hi Richard,

Unplugging the power from the dock every night should not have a negative impact to the performance.

Thanks!

David W.
Plugable Technologies
www.plugable.com/support