I purchased a Plugable Thunderbolt 3 Docking Station with 60W Charging for MacBook Pro Late 2016/2017 off of amazon for use with my new macbook pro. Intent was to use it as a hub for charging, usb (hard drive, keyboard, printer) and display.
Upon plugging into the hub thunderbolt port on the right, I’m receiving a “Cannot Use Thunderbolt Accessory” message and it only appears to be working for charging. Please advise on any solutions to use the hub for connection to usb devices and display.
Most of the time this message is a result of using a non-Thunderbolt 3 USB-C cable, like the Apple charging cable that came with your Mac.
Can you please confirm if you’re using the Thunderbolt 3 cable which was included with your TBT-UDV dock?
If it’s happening with the Thunderbolt 3 cable which was included with your dock, the next best step will be to have a look at the System Report. Can you please collect a System Report with the dock attached? (Apple Menu -> About This Mac -> System Report -> File/Save)
You can email that file to support@plugable.com (Subject: Ticket 216556) and we’ll see how things look there.
Thank you for the assistance. Switching to the cable you provided has fixed the issue with the usb devices. However, I’m still not getting picture from my external display. I’m running your thunderbolt 3 cable to my computer and a display port to dvi cable to the external monitor. Any suggestions?
Thanks for getting back with the update. My name is Bob and and I am jumping in for Gary, and I am glad using the included Thunderbolt 3 cable has allowed us to make progress.
In regard to the display issue, our docking station requires an ‘Active’ adapter to convert the built-in DisplayPort output to any other type of video signal. This is why we include in the box an Active DisplayPort to HDMI adapter. The cable you have with a DisplayPort connector on one end and a DVI connector on the other is a passive cable that will not work with our dock.
To connect your DVI display to the dock, you can use the included DisplayPort to HDMI adapter and then purchase separately an inexpensive HDMI to DVI cable like this -> http://amazon.com/dp/B014I8UQJY
As an alternative, you could purchase our USB-C to DVI adapter -> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FIR1O4A/ which will connect to the dock’s second Thunderbolt 3 port.
Please let us know if you have any additional questions!
