Dell D6000 - Screen Flickering

[nicola]

Hi,
this is my current setup:
- Notebook ASUS N580VD
- 3x monitor HP 24w (which I use at 1920x1080 resolution)

I bought the docking station DELL D6000 (as listed by the Products page in the DisplayLink website) in order to attach all the 3 monitors to the notebook, but I'm having a flickering problem.

The docking stations is attached to the USB-C port of the notebook.

The two monitors attached to the 2 DP ports are working w/o problems (I'm using a HDMI->DP adapter), but the one connected to the docking HDMI port is showing a very bad flickering which is annoying and also problematic.

In order to find the root cause of the problem I tried to connecting ONLY the HDMI port of the docking station (I removed anything else), but the flickering is still there.

Here a couple of video showing the problem:
- https://photos.app.goo.gl/Y63KRu6PoUnq8CRh9
- https://photos.app.goo.gl/ri3B1HCuoCDmro6f8
- https://photos.app.goo.gl/Bgb9xFQiG9x5aLDi6

I already:
- downloaded the latest driver from DisplayLink website
- updated the docking station firmware using the software provided by DELL website
- updated the notebook BIOS to latest version
- updated Intel graphic card drivers to latest version (downloaded directly from Intel website, which are newer than the ones provided by ASUS website)
- updated NVIDIA drivers (this I think they don't matter anyway...)
- updated chipset driver, downloaded from ASUS website

As mentioned, the HDMI port is the only one showing this problem. I tried different cables, different monitors. I also tried to completely change hardware (different notebook, different monitor, differente cable) but the flickering is always the same as shown in the videos.

Also, I tried a simple USB-C -> HDMI adapter to test the USB-C port of the notebook and is working very fine.

For the moment the only working solution I found is connecting 2 monitor to the DP ports of the docking station and one monitor to the built-in HDMI port of the notebook, by I'm trying to have a workstation with "one cable connect" (video, audio, lan, usb devices, ...)

Is this a known behaviour between docking stations and ASUS notebooks? (I'm wondering...), it is a very odd behaviour so I'm trying to understand if someone knows a problem like mine.
Maybe an hardware incompatibility that cannot be solved, I don't know...

I'm attaching you:
- "Cattura 1" which shows the version of DisplayLink driver
- "Cattura 2" which shows you the version on Intel graphic card driver
- "Cattura 3" which shows how Windows recognize the monitor attached to the HDMI port of docking station
- "Cattura 4" which shows the details of Intel graphic card
And finally... the Support Information provided by the Compatibility Check software

I already ran the "DisplayLink Compatibility Check" and there is no problems

---------------------------
DisplayLink Compatibility Check
---------------------------
DisplayLink compatibility check passed.
---------------------------
OK   
---------------------------

Thanks

[AlbanRampon]

Hello Nicola,

Thank you for taking the time to report this issue.
However, the problem you are experiencing cannot come from our technology and we have no way of influencing that behaviour with our code.

DisplayLink is a semiconductor company and we provide one chip in the Dell D6000.
The Dell D6000 uses two different display technologies when 3 displays are connected:
- DisplayLink over standard USB for the 2 DisplayPort outputs,
- DisplayPort over USB-C Alternate code for the HDMI output. That's why HDMI is limited to 4Kp30 when in 3 display configuration when the DisplayLink chip does 4Kp60. That's also why the 3rd output is only available over the USB-C connector.

Your report is very complete and I recommend you contact Dell with it. The only change I would recommend is that you include the version numbers for the Dell firmware utility you used as it will indicate to them what version the other chips are using. I use Dock_D6000_FW_Updater_A02_73F77 with mine.

Kind regards,
Alban

[nicola]

Hello Alban,
thank you for your reply.

I already contacted DELL support (support available only by phone, which is difficult to provide reports) and they suggested me to simply return the imt and ask for a replacement.

But the thing is I'm getting the same behaviour with a totally different docking station (different brand) so I'm try to guess which is the problem here.
Different stations, differente monitors, different notebook, ... I'm having an hard time to find a common variabile between all my attempts, but i'm unable to find a working combination to starts with.

Maybe ASUS notebooks have a congenital incompatibility for their USB-C port, so any triple docking station will provides the same error?
I think the USB-C port itself is working fine because using an HDMI adapter the monitor does not show any problem.

At the moment I'm having only 2 working solutions:
- Using an external USB->HDMI graphic card, also attached to the docking station
- Connect the third monitor the built-in HDMI, adding one cable to connect while i leave the workstation and come back.


I confirm you I used Dock_D6000_FW_Updater_A02_73F77.exe for firmware update.

[AlbanRampon]

Nicola,

Would you have brand and model for the other products you mention?
The HDMI converter and the other dock more precisely.

Alternate Mode is about passing non-USB traffic on a USB-C plug.

I wouldn't say the issue would be general to all 3-head docks. For instance, the Dell D3100 has 3 displays through DisplayLink technologt... and if it works for your displays on the Dell D6000 I would expect it to work on the Dell D3100 as well.
You might also wish to try with another refresh rate on the HDMI: this could be enough to stop the flashing/flickering. This is a bit burried in the settings, let me know if you wish guidance on that (if so, tell me the Windows version so I can find a relevant article).

Kind regards,
Alban

[nicola]

Would you have brand and model for the other products you mention?

I-Tec CATRIPLE4KDOCKPD

The HDMI converter and the other dock more precisely.

It is a simple adapter from USB-C to HDMI, sorry but there is not branding, model on the product which I can give you

I wouldn't say the issue would be general to all 3-head docks. For instance, the Dell D3100 has 3 displays through DisplayLink technologt... and if it works for your displays on the Dell D6000 I would expect it to work on the Dell D3100 as well.

I can see that this product is a USB-3 (not type-C), so I can understand that in this case I will not use the USB-C display support but all the video will be managed by the station itself.

You might also wish to try with another refresh rate on the HDMI: this could be enough to stop the flashing/flickering. This is a bit burried in the settings, let me know if you wish guidance on that (if so, tell me the Windows version so I can find a relevant article).

I already tried, but my Windows provides only 60-59-50, and none of them are working (50 maybe is even worse)

My Windows version is 1803.

As additional test, I bought on Amazon an HDMI cable with triple shield, maybe can solve the problem. I will not wait for delivery and test this additional case.

[AlbanRampon]

Thank you Nicola,

The i-tec uses the same principle, and you can see the same 4Kp30 limitation on the HDMI output.

For the Dell D3100, you are correct. This is a DisplayLink only solution. It has a dual-chip design of our previous generation chip. It can do 1x 4Kp30 + 2x 1080p.
The displays are driven directly from the dock output.
The dock isn't a GPU so the computation is still done on the laptop GPU.

Unlike Alt-Mode which doesn't go through standard USB hubs, you can daisy-chain DisplayLink technology. Therefore, you could wish to keep the future-proof aspect of the Dell D6000, and add a single head USB -> HDMI adapter. That adapter could also be useful when travelling or in meeting rooms as well: conference room system input, projector, TV...
Your next machine would have USB-C Power Delivery for charging, and this isn't possible over USB-A.

Kind regards,
Alban

[nicola]

From first tests with the StarTech USB3DOCKH2DP I just bought, I can say that all 3 external monitors are working fine, even with the notebook display enabled: https://photos.app.goo.gl/s5p6UEZcY5nW5Jnf8

The difference here is that is an older model which use only the USB3.0 port and not like the newer model which uses the USB-C port.

From Control Panel of Windows I can see that 3 monitors are managed by the external station (instead of 2+1 like other model) and only the built-in monitor is managed by the internal Intel chipset.


Also, just for test purposes, while the dock was connected I attached 2 additional displays on the built-in HDMI port of the notebook and on the built-in USB-C port of the notebook (with a simple adapter), and all 6 monitors are working correctly.

And in this case, 3 monitors are managed by the Intel chipset and 3 monitors are managed by the external station.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/T3P83vCFZzhnmH3FA


After all this tests and this success, I'm willing to consider an USB-C incompatibility problem or something related to the notebook hardware or Windows drivers.

I will try a couple of days with this station but for the moment is seems the problem to be finally solved.

[nonintanon]

I do have the same problem. The third monitor that connected via HDMI is flicking from time to time and it's really annoying.

I ended up connecting the HDMI directly to my labtop (Dell Inspiron 13 7370) which is shame as I bought D6000 to replace my D3100 just because I want to have a single USB-C connection to my machine

[nicola]

Originally Posted by nonintanon

I do have the same problem. The third monitor that connected via HDMI is flicking from time to time and it's really annoying.

I ended up connecting the HDMI directly to my labtop (Dell Inspiron 13 7370) which is shame as I bought D6000 to replace my D3100 just because I want to have a single USB-C connection to my machine

While I was trying differents USB-C docking station I was using 2+1 monitor as well (2 with the docking, 1 to the HDMI built-in port).
Now that I tried this USB docking station it seems that the problem is related to the USB-C functionality.
Have you tried the previous docking station using a USB->USB-C adapter?

[nonintanon]

Originally Posted by nicola

While I was trying differents USB-C docking station I was using 2+1 monitor as well (2 with the docking, 1 to the HDMI built-in port).
Now that I tried this USB docking station it seems that the problem is related to the USB-C functionality.
Have you tried the previous docking station using a USB->USB-C adapter?

No, I haven't tried with the adapter. The D3100 worked fine with USB3 port but it requires power line.

I thought that upgrading to D6000 would allow me to forget the power line and use only a single USB-C to connect to my machine.

Now I can get rid of power line but need HDMI instead

However, just a few days ago, Dell has updated the driver and it's less flicking. Hope they'll keep updating until the problem gone.