On my 3rd USB Replicator in 4 months!

Discontinued Products UGA-2K-A
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I have an HP Pavilion DV6 -3100CTO Laptop that has cooked 3 USB port Replicators in the last 3 months. HP says that it is due to my laptop having “switchable graphics” Can any of your products help me

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Hi Jim,

Thanks for posting.

Switchable graphics has been a source of software problems for USB graphics devices of all sorts (driver conflicts because of three drivers interacting: nvidia/intel/displaylink or ati/intel/displaylink), but most of those problems are solvable with the right mix of driver versions. And cooking hardware is a different thing entirely - it wouldn’t be caused by switchable graphics in and of itself.

Knowing your laptop model is a good start. What models of USB port replicators have you used? And what were the symptoms you saw? Did the 3 USB devices all work, and then exhibit similar problems in the end?

With a little more info we should be able to at least give a clearer picture of what might be happening, and whether we could have confidence that one of our products would provide a better experience …

Thanks again for the post!
Bernie

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I went through HP replicators (VY843AA)
The HP help center took over my pc all three times and updated the latest Displaylink driver. I am not a PC expert so go easy on me. After the 3rd time, and a million hours with the HP tech support center, they determined that the HP replicator would not work with my PC because of the “switchable graphics”. They are in the process of sending me my money back rather than a new replicator. I saw your devices on Amazon and thought they might work, but I don’t want to buy one and have to return it for the same reason.

What would happen is the external monitor would freeze and “jiggle” after a month or so of using it. I don’t do any kind of movies or games on the pc. Maybe a YouTube video once in a while. The last time it happened I was just using an excel spreadsheet. When I disconnect the frozen monitor from the replicator and plug it directly into my laptop, it would work fine. Once it crashes, I would get a message that an “unknown device” is connected to your PC. If I disconnect the replicator, the message would go away. I figured someone else must be having the same problem or another company (yours) may have a newer one on the market that could handle it.
Thanks for your time,
Jim

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Hi Jim,

We try to stay on top of driver and product updates as much as possible, so we may be able to help.

It sounds like you may have been experiencing two separate problems. Could you run the tool at http://plugable.com/support/displayli… and email the resulting .zip file to support@plugable.com? We should be able to tell more about what versions of stuff you were running, and whether it maps to our known problems & solutions.

But until/unless we get back with a definitive answer, I wouldn’t buy a different brand like ours - we’d want to know that we have the problems you’ve experienced understood.

Thanks!
Bernie

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By the way, don’t worry about having the other product connected or anything - just gathering your old logs on your system as-is is fine. Thanks!

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You have lost me with all that data collection stuff. Sorry, but that is too advanced for me.

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Hi Jim,

I’m afraid we don’t have an easy answer for you, given the past problems this laptop had with the HP docking stations.

All the top-selling USB docking stations with video out there today have very similar hardware, so when compatibility problems crop up, it’s usually in the details of software and firmware versions.

We try to be more informed and active in helping customers solve any problems that crop up, but we don’t have perfect answers in every case.

There are some big picture things we could help with (it sounds like you last ran DisplayLink driver version 5.2, when you really need 5.5 M1 or later for compatibility with that laptop). But from your description, there are also some other separate problems happening.

Without being able to look at the details of those problems (the DisplayLink Support Tool output), it’s really probably best to avoid USB graphics products on that laptop (both separate adapters and multi-function docks) and just make do with the laptop’s built-in graphics features.

Sorry we don’t have a happier answer, but we want to steer you clear of any trouble. Hope that helps.

Best wishes,
Bernie

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Thanks for your help. I was running Displaylink update 5.2.2. I may still give it a shot and keep my fingers crossed. I’m thinking of the UGA-2K-A or the Universal docking Station with Displaylink. Which one do you think I may have a better chance with?

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pls try the following way to look whether it can be solved: First, pls let us know whether all 3 USB ports of Replicators connect with devices when your monitor freeze , if so , pls disconnect any devices from 3USB ports ,then only DVI /VGA/ port connect to your monitor, next restart your PC, and try to find whether problem can be solved.
If can solved , it means PCB design of replicators has problem .
of course , buying one new device maybe is the best way to solved it

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The only USB port that was in use was the one from the replicator to the pc. No other USB port was in use. The only other thing that was connected to the replicator was speakers and the external Monitor.