I have a personal and a (new) business computer. I want to be able to switch between them quickly. I’ve been successfully using one computer with three external monitors for a year or more. When I got the new computer, I plugged the USB-C cable from the dock into it and it all worked. I hope to be able to not unplug/plug every time that I need to switch between computers (several times per day). I just got a “USB-C Bi-Direction Switch DATA-VIDEO-PD100W”. The behavior is the same with either computer through the switch: Laptop monitor on, two monitors come on, third (normally replicates the laptop display) remains blank. The display that does not come on doesn’t show up in the Setup:Display monitor map. Any way I can achieve my goal?
Hi Bill,
Thank you for reaching out. I’m sorry to hear of this issue, and I’ll be happy to assist.
Based on our own testing and reports from other customers, we’ve found that USB-C switches like these can tend to be a little buggy, so we generally recommend manually switching the cable between two laptops if you need to share a triple monitor dock like UD-ULTCDL. That said, I’ll be happy to help look into this to try to find what may be going wrong.
This is a bit of a complex setup, so I have a few questions to start with:
- The three HDMI ports on the dock are labelled HDMI 1, HDMI 2, and HDMI 3. Which of these ports are not working?
- What is the specific model number of the USB-C switch you’re using? Alternatively, can you provide a link to it online?
- Does the dock work as expected if it’s plugged directly into each computer, without the USB-C switch involved?
Please let me know if you have any questions as well.
My apologies for the frustration, and thank you for giving us the chance to help.
Sam
Plugable Technologies
Sam, Your timely and helpful reply reinforces my love of my Plugable docking stations. When I originally set it up I had some issues and (I think it was you) I got great support then. Thank you.
- HDMI 1 is the port that is not working.
2.Sam, Your timely and helpful reply reinforces my love of my Plugable docking stations. When I originally set it up I had some issues and (I think it was you) I got great support then. Thank you.
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HDMI 1 is the port that is not working.
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The device is from Amazon. It do3s not expose an explicit link to the product that I can find. It appears to be an Arleeyd Model X004GDLT7V or LTH US USBC-
Appears that i sent inadvertently:
LTH US USBC-AB201-02-EC
- Everything works as expected on both computers without the USB-C switch involved.
Any help is really appreciated. If there is a better way to achieve my objective, I am not wed to this switch.
Thanks,
Bill
Hi Bill,
Thanks for providing all those details. Since the dock works directly connected to your laptop then the issue must have something to do with the switch you’re using.
The HDMI 1 port of UD-ULTCDL uses Alt mode over USB-C to produce video, and this requires that all devices between the laptop and dock support this optional USB-C feature. That is to say, the switch and both USB-C cables between the dock and switch, and the switch and laptop must support Alt Mode or video will not pass correctly.
Can you provide the model number of the second USB-C cable you’re using between the dock and laptop when you’re using the switch (assuming one of the two cables is the one included in the box with the dock)? I’ll use this to confirm its specification and see if it supports Alt Mode video transfer.
Please let me know if you have any questions as well. My apologies again for the trouble.
Sam
Plugable Technologies
Sam,
I don’t have any information on those two cables. If there are specific cables that do support Alt Mode, I will get them and try. I think that’s the most efficient.
Bill
Hi Bill,
The cable that was included with the UD-ULTCDL should support all of the necessary features, so if you can identify which cable that is then it shouldn’t need to be replaced. This cable should be marked with a sticker with the dock’s model number written on it.
As for other cables you could use, one option is the Plugable USBC-C100: https://plugable.com/products/usbc-c100
This is a 1 meter USB-C cable that supports up to 5Gbps data, 100W power delivery, and Alt Mode video. If the cables are the issue then I expect this would help to get things working as needed.
Please let me know if you have any questions as well. My apologies again for all the trouble.
Sam
Plugable Technologies
Sam, Thanks. I will try the cables and let you know.
Bill
Sounds good Bill. Please let me know if you have any questions in the meantime as well!
Sam
Plugable Technologies
Sam,
Some success, but not total. My work computer, Dell, worked perfectly with the new cables. My personal HP computer (the one that has been working fine for a year or more) did not show the laptop on the middle screen. It did know that it was there and it shows up on the display mapping in settings, just can’t see the cursor or the display on the attached monitor whether the laptop screen is on or not. The other two screens and the laptop screen seemed to work most of the time, but a couple of times it seemed like they didn’t.
I swapped the cables and it seems to be the HP laptop, not the cable.
Any thoughts? If this one glitch was fixed, I’d be very happy!
Bill
Hi Bill,
Thanks for your response. I’m sorry there hasn’t been a total fix yet, but I’ll be happy to help look into this further to see if we can find one.
Our next step is to get some additional information - wan you please send an email to our direct support email address (support@plugable.com) with “For ticket # 466555” in the subject line? In the email, please include the following information:
- The Amazon/Walmart/Newegg/eBay Order ID number for your docking station purchase. For Amazon you can find this at www.amazon.com/orders
- While the docking station and displays are connected to your affected computer (even if not working as expected), the output of our diagnostic utility PlugDebug: www.plugable.com/pages/plugdebug
This information will help us to determine the next steps.
** Please do not post the above information here in our public forum (it contains personally identifiable information) **
Apologies again for the frustration.
Sam
Plugable Technologies