TBT3-UDZ + MSI GS66 11UH No Displays Detected (HDMI)

[Poofiemus]

It’s very much what it says on the tin, to be honest lol

Just got a laptop, an MSI GS66 11-UH Stealth, and wanted to be able to use my dual monitors from my old desktop setup. Monitors are using HDMI; they don’t have DisplayPort.

Tried the TBT3-UDZ, and while USB ports and headphone/speaker jack work perfectly, the HDMI/monitor hookup does not. The laptop mirrors to one monitor, but does not recognize it as a separate display to do extended desktop. It does not even attempt to mirror to the second monitor at all.

I did ensure that 1, I was using the original Thunderbolt cable from Plugable; 2, it’s plugged into the computer TBT port on the back of the dock and the sole TBT3 port on the computer; 3, I did reboot the dock several times by unplugging literally everything and plugging it back in; 4, I did also update the drivers for TBT as per instructions on MSI’s own website. The Thunderbolt manager tool application from Microsoft does see the dock as a Thunderbolt device, and even accurately labels it as being Plugable brand. Still no luck getting WIndows to recognize that there’s even one full-fledged dislplay plugged in, much less two.

Side note, Thunderbolt charging doesn’t seem to be working either, but that I half expected because apparently MSI machines are power hungry beasts, lol.

[Evan_K]

Hello there,

Thank you for reaching out to Plugable Support!

I am sorry to hear that you are running into issues with your TBT3-UDZ, but I would be happy to help diagnose the issue.

To best help out here, I’d like to request that you send us a set of log files from our PlugDebug diagnostic tool with the dock connected to your PC. However, we are unable to exchange files on this forum, so can you send the ZIP file to us at support@plugable.comwith the subject line, “Ticket #378746”. Make sure to have everything connected to the dock when running the PlugDebug tool (even if it appears to not be working).

Thank you!

Evan
Plugable Technologies
www.plugable.com/support

[Evan_K]

Hello there,

Thank you for the log files.

After taking a look at them, I did notice that the BIOS was not the most recent version that MSI offers for your laptop. Could you try updating the BIOS and letting me know if it helps at all with the display issue?

BIOS:
https://us.msi.com/Laptop/GS66-Stealth-11UX/support?sku_id=73205#bios

Thank you,

Evan
Plugable Technologies
www.plugable.com/support

[Poofiemus]

So, we have SOME progress–after updating BIOS (which, thanks for pointing that out, that probably should have been updated regardless) I was able to at least extend to one of the two monitors. So, that’s something!

Whichever monitor is plugged into the first/left port on the dock responds just fine. Whichever is plugged into the other slot acts strangely: Windows does apparently detect it, but the actual monitor detects no signal. If I swap which monitor is plugged into which port, then it basically swaps which monitor is active. So, basically, the left/first port definitely works correctly, but something is up specifically with that second/right port.

I did run PlugDebug again; should I reply to my original ticket email, or start a new one?

Edit to add: Also still doesn’t detect/pull any power from the Thunderbolt cable. Bit resigned to that one, it’s apparently known that this laptop model is picky about its power, but thought it may be good to know since from descriptions sounded like the TBT3-UDZ should at least trip the charging circuit, which needs 65W minimum apparently. No idea if this means anything overall.

[Evan_K]

Hello there,

Thank you for trying that.

In regards to the log files, you are free to send a new email with the logs.

However, one thing that I would like to try next is to update the firmware on the dock. We are in the process of rolling out this firmware that improves display compatibility on our TBT3-UDZ.

To update the firmware, please follow these instructions:

1. Please connect the TBT3-UDZ to the Windows system with Thunderbolt 3.
2. Please download this updater tool: https://media.plugable.com/downloads/drivers/products/tbt3-udz/ehddpz_secondsource_mst-hub_tool_20220225.zip
3. To install the update first extract the downloaded firmware updater tool zip file to a folder.
4. Once the updater is extracted from the zip file you should be able to run the “ReadVersion.bat” file from the folder which will show you the current firmware version on the dock and by doing so will verify that we can successfully update the firmware in the next step.

It will look like below if successful, currently the existing firmware should be “FWVersion=8” and “FWSubVersion=5”

5: If the read was successful you can close the window and next run the “Update_Latest_v00Bp0.bat” to upgrade to the new version.

It will look like this if successful:

6: Once complete, I recommend to power cycle the dock (unplug power for ~10 seconds then plug back in) and then run the ReadVersion.bat again to verify the update succeeded.

We should now see “FWVersion=b” and “FWSubVersion=0” like shown below indicating a successful update of the dock:

7: Test to see if there’s any improvement after the update.

Please let me know if this helps or if you run into any issues during the update!

Thank you,

Evan
Plugable Technologies
www.plugable.com/support

[Poofiemus]

So, uh. . . we may have just found the problem. Looks like instead of FWVersion is “a” instead of 8, and sub-version is 1 instead of 5.

Haven’t run the updater yet, wanted to make sure there wasn’t some intermediate update I need to do first. If there is, just let me know and I’ll get that installed.

[Evan_K]

Hello there,

The FW version you are seeing means that this firmware has already been updated once in the past. My instructions that I sent you assume that the firmware has never been updated on the device, but it should still be fine to update the firmware from version A to version B.

Thank you!

Evan
Plugable Technologies
www.plugable.com/support

[Poofiemus]

WE HAVE SUCCESS! Seems the firmware was the missing ingredient!

. . .though now I notice that the monitors are a little more blue than the laptop screen, and the laptop screen’s colors are probably more accurate. Now I have another project lol.

Thanks so much for the support, I appreciate it. Also, let me know if it would be helpful just for reference for me to run PlugDebug and send you logs; I know sometimes that comparative info can be informative, and if it could help someone else down the line I’d be happy to provide it.

[Evan_K]

Hello,

Thank you for the update, and I am glad to hear that the firmware update helped!

No need to send another PlugDebug, but I appreciate the consideration. Please do not hesitate to reach back out to Plugable Support if you have any other questions or concerns about your TBT3-UDZ!

Thank you, and have a great day!

Evan
Plugable Technologies
www.plugable.com/support