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Old 10-15-2018, 08:56 PM   #1
nicola
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Default Dell D6000 - Screen Flickering

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


Thanks
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Cattura 1.jpg (7.4 KB, 0 views)
File Type: jpg Cattura 2.jpg (14.1 KB, 1 views)
File Type: png Cattura 3.PNG (11.0 KB, 0 views)
File Type: jpg Cattura 4.jpg (13.9 KB, 0 views)
Attached Files
File Type: zip DL_Windows_Logs_20181016_083635.zip (1.16 MB, 1 views)

Last edited by nicola; 10-16-2018 at 07:38 AM.
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Old 10-16-2018, 02:44 PM   #2
AlbanRampon
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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
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Old 10-16-2018, 02:54 PM   #3
nicola
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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.
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Old 10-16-2018, 03:30 PM   #4
AlbanRampon
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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
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Old 10-16-2018, 03:43 PM   #5
nicola
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Quote:
Would you have brand and model for the other products you mention?
I-Tec CATRIPLE4KDOCKPD

Quote:
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

Quote:
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.

Quote:
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.

Last edited by nicola; 10-16-2018 at 03:58 PM.
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Old 10-16-2018, 04:16 PM   #6
AlbanRampon
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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
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Old 10-16-2018, 04:34 PM   #7
nicola
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I tried connecting a StarTech USB32HDPRO adapter (USB->HDMI) to the docking station, for the most part of time it seemed to work fine, but one time all the monitor (notebook included) crashed, going all black and turn back on after few seconds. This solution was using 2 monitor connected to the DP ports of the station and one to the USB-HDMI adapter.

But this was made using the USB-C port, so because I will not use the HDMI port anyway, I can try the USB port itself, but maybe it is a throughput higher than supported by a single USB-C port
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Old 10-16-2018, 06:03 PM   #8
AlbanRampon
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This is supposed to work properly.
I'm using a similar setup on my desk: Dell D6000 + Dell D3100, combining the same chips you have. You can switch to USB-A and see if behaviour changes.

There is more than ample bandwidth. We were demoing 8x 4Kp60 at CES last January over a single connection. The dock is dual 4Kp60. A single 4K is 4x FullHD... I'm running out of money buying 4K displays before I run out of bandwidth. The codec we have is adaptative, so even if bandwidth was to become scarce, we would squeeze the data more to make it fit.

The USB-C bandwidth here is identical to the one over the USB-A connection. The dock has a USB 3 Gen 1 hub for 5 Gbps. The reason it's not a USB 3 Gen 2 at 10 Gbps is because it didn't need it and would bring the cost up un-necessarily.

If you keep getting issues, please do use our customer support tool to gather logs (3rd link in my signature). I use the feedback to prioritise bug fixing in new driver/firmware releases.

Kind regards,
Alban
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Old 10-16-2018, 06:59 PM   #9
nicola
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AlbanRampon View Post
This is supposed to work properly.
I'm using a similar setup on my desk: Dell D6000 + Dell D3100, combining the same chips you have. You can switch to USB-A and see if behaviour changes.

There is more than ample bandwidth. We were demoing 8x 4Kp60 at CES last January over a single connection. The dock is dual 4Kp60. A single 4K is 4x FullHD... I'm running out of money buying 4K displays before I run out of bandwidth. The codec we have is adaptative, so even if bandwidth was to become scarce, we would squeeze the data more to make it fit.

The USB-C bandwidth here is identical to the one over the USB-A connection. The dock has a USB 3 Gen 1 hub for 5 Gbps. The reason it's not a USB 3 Gen 2 at 10 Gbps is because it didn't need it and would bring the cost up un-necessarily.
Maybe it was a coincidence, it has been days that i'm playing with drivers of various components in order to find a working combination.

I will now try to maintain the same configuration for couple of days:
- 2 monitor attached to 2 DP ports of docking station
- 1 monitor attached to USB->HDMI StarTech adapter, attached to USB port of docking station
- docking station attached to USB-C port of the notebook (or USB-A, if is giving problems)
and see what happens...

I will back to you next week with a further feedback.

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlbanRampon View Post
If you keep getting issues, please do use our customer support tool to gather logs (3rd link in my signature). I use the feedback to prioritise bug fixing in new driver/firmware releases.
I think I already added this log to main message, can you check if the same that you're asking now?


Best Regards

Last edited by nicola; 10-16-2018 at 07:03 PM.
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Old 10-20-2018, 01:21 PM   #10
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Hello again,
I'm back after few days with some positive news, but not all.

After I tried to the same D6000 station with same notebook but different monitors, I find out that the kind of flickering was different. Sometimes was almost solved, sometimes was really really bad, ...

Because the monitor was working fine with the solution USBC->HDMI adapter (so it was surely the docking presenting the problem) I tried to buy a different cable.
I bought a very high-quality HDMI cable "HDMI 4k 60Hz HDR | HDMI 2.0 a/b | 4K 3D UHD 1080p 3D HFR Ethernet | Full HD 1080p / ARC e CEC"
This cable is triple-shielded and it is certified for 4K. I know I'm using the port at 1080p, but it natively supports 4K maybe can be a hint....

Test 1) Well, with this new cable, the HDMI port of the station is working fine, w/o any flickering (for test1 i connected the dock to USB-C port of the station and only the cable to the HDMI port).

Test 2) I attached the second monitor, to the first DP port of the station (using the previous cable), and now I have 2 monitor working

Test 3) I attached the third monitor, to the second DP port of the stations (using the previous cable), and now the HDMI-connected monitor is flickering again.

This is somehow strange, it does not seem the problem to be to the port itself, but the amount of monitor attached.
Because it seems to a interference of some kind, I bought another 2 triple-shielded cables that I will use for others 2 monitors, and then I will see the result.

I will be back to you next week with this result.
For the moment, the first hint to solve to problem seems to be related to poor-quality HDMI cables.
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