X1 Carbon / ThinkPad USB 3.0 Dock: Issues with connecting with more than one Dock
 

Hello fellow users and DisplayLink staff, I posted the following on the Lenovo board as well but has gotten zero responses so far.

In our office we have several X1 Carbons and several ThinkPad USB 3.0 Docks (0A33970) located all over the office. We typically bring our X1 Carbons around and use each other's Dock during the course of work.

However, we recently face a problem with the Ethernet interface not working with other Docks, other than the Dock that the driver was installed with.

Using other Docks, the Ethernet interface comes up as a generic Ethernet device with a yellow warning triangle inside Control Panel. There is no network connectivity through this interface.

Using the Dock that the driver was installed with, the Ethernet device works as normal.

It should be pretty easy to replicate this behaviour, just get an X1 Carbon (fresh, Windows 8.1) and connect a USB 3.0 Dock to it, and install appropriate drivers.Verify that the Ethernet port works correctly.

Next, disconnect the Dock and connect another Dock to the X1 Carbon. Observe that the Ethernet interface does not work, and see the yellow warning triangle icon under Control Panel.

Uninstalling and Reinstalling the drivers with the new Dock doesn't work either. Only the Dock that the driver was originally installed with will work.

Hi

What is the Ethernet status in device manager when this happens? There was a timing problem fixed in 7.7 which could cause the Ethernet interface to come up with Error code 43 during state changes, which could include re-docking:

Its possible you are seeing the same. If this does not solve it, can you let me know what the error code number is?

Thanks

Wim

Finally, a living and breathing person responding to my post :o

I uninstalled the Lenovo Drivers, used the DisplayLink Cleaning Tool (http://www.displaylink.com/support/ticket.php?id=297) to wipe traces of the drivers.

Then I rebooted my Carbon, and installed the driver v7.7 M0.

With the original Dock that the first-ever driver was installed with, everything's fine, I see this,

http://i.imgur.com/kgOrwnc.png

But once I swap out the Dock to another exact one, the Ethernet interface fails to work, and I see this,

http://i.imgur.com/LB4DcMM.png

Should be pretty easy to replicate the issue, I did it with another colleague's Carbon that has a fresh Win 8.1 installation, and the issue persists (only the original Dock that was first ever plugged into the Carbon will work).

Weird, I posted a reply yesterday but it didn't seem to come up.

7.7 M0 was no dice. I cleaned out any existing DisplayLink drivers (using the DisplayLink Cleaner Tool), and uninstalled any Lenovo Dock drivers.

Rebooted the Carbon, installed the 7.7 M0, and rebooted again.

Using the original Dock that was first attached to the Carbon:
http://i.imgur.com/kgOrwnc.png

Plugging out the original Dock, and plugging in another identical Dock:
http://i.imgur.com/LB4DcMM.png

Dear fellow users, I've tried twice to post the results but the posts were never approved by moderators. What is up with that?

Long story short:

After installing 7.7 M0 (uninstall Lenovo drivers, clean with DisplayLink Cleaner Tool, reboot, install 7.7 M0, reboot), using the original Dock with which drivers were first ever installed with, gives:

Adapter Name: Lenovo USB Ethernet
Device Status: This device is working properly.

Swapping out the Dock to another identical dock gives:

Adapter Name: DisplayLink Network Adapter NCM #4
Device Status: This device cannot start. (Code 10) {Operation Failed} The requested operation was unsuccessful.

Hi - sorry missed that these needed moderation. The fact that one works and one doesn't and it is Code 10, then I think one of the docks is faulty. Code 10 basically means we can see the device on the USB bus but cannot talk to it.

I would suggest sending the one showing Code 10 back to Lenovo for a replacement.

Wim

Turns out, you were absolutely right. After swapping around the docks with those that are know to be working, the one showing Code 10 indeed looks to be broken, which swapping around the others worked fine.

Thank you for the prompt reply that was sadly lacking in the Lenovo forums :)